14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
(4.5) The dark side of the Dark Continent, January 9, 2004
This review is from: Instruments of Darkness (Harvest Original) (Paperback)
"This is Africa, where everybody has mastered the art of waiting." Wilson's first African mystery/suspense novel, introduces Bruce Medway, a fixer, negotiator, and manager who lives on the coast of West Africa and does the odd service for his expatriate clients.
Completing a shipping deal at the docks, one that involves transporting rice across state borders illegally, Medway incurs the wrath of the infamous Madame Severnou when he unknowingly conducts the transaction contrary to her wishes. The well-connected woman sends her armed goons on a midnight visit to teach Medway a lesson. Luckily, he is one step ahead of the game and anticipates the attack.
The next morning, Medway is hired to find a missing person, Stephen Kershaw, perhaps to draw his attention from the real implications of the Severnou deal. Kershaw has disappeared, leaving a dead woman behind. In the course of his investigation, and tangentially the murder, Medway meets one of the series' most endearing characters, the noble Inspector Bogado. A wily and subtle police detective, Bogado proves indispensable to Medway, in this novel and future works. His solemn physiognomy a familiar presence, Bogado offers his intelligent perspective and enduring friendship, often appearing just in the nick of time. Medway and Bagado sift through clues and half-truths, searching for answers to complex and intertwining mysteries with improbable solutions.
Medway is involved with some hard-drinking expats who walk the thin edge of the law. In the murky business affairs of West Africa, expediency is the bottom line. From Medway's first deal, moving rice into Nigeria, to the second, searching for a man who turns up dead, the situations become more convoluted and dangerous, involving illegal drug shipments, murder and police corruption. The cast ranges from wealthy entrepreneurs to hustlers, muscle men and beautiful women posing as art exporters, party girls and/or spies. To further complicate things, there is increasing political unrest, as the age of the dictator passes and the people anticipate a democracy, not anticipating the ensuing chaos and violence that comes with the changing of the guards.
In this first endeavor, establishing the Medway series and the characters that will populate the other suspense/mysteries, Wilson carefully lays the groundwork for an interesting character, a man who finds himself embroiled in a variety of schemes with nefarious characters that take all his skills to survive. With the help of the intrepid Inspector Bogado, Medway not only emerges in one piece, but the author paints a fascinating portrait of life in a part of the world filled with violence, imminent danger and political uncertainty. The next Medway adventure, The Big Killing, ratchets up the action even more, offering another series of adventures to test Medway's mettle. Wilson pens a mystery/adventure novel that is virtually impossible to put down, a great read. This is a quality of writing that leaves the reader begging for more. Luan Gaines/2004.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Graham Greene Territory, June 29, 2006
This review is from: Instruments of Darkness (Harvest Original) (Paperback)
Robert Wilson is a writer whose other thrillers I've read with interest, but this one took me someplace I've never been before and kept me there for every one of its 300 and some pages. This is an Africa I didn't know existed in fiction and one I can't wait to return to, so I'm personally delighted to learn that there are three other books featuring "fixer" Bruce Medway waiting for me.
The setting is very much a character in the book -- its sounds, smells, heat, colors, and moral equivocation animate every scene. This is a world in which right and wrong are luxuries, and the real dividing line is between survival and destruction. The layered approach and the complexity of the characters puts this in Graham Greene territory, and that's as high a compliment as I know how to pay. (it also reminds me a little of William Boyd's wonderful "Brazzaville Beach, which also has an African setting.)
And it's funnier than hell in places. If you're looking for something fresh, something that challenges you a little but delivers mightily for your efforts, get "Instruments of Darkness."
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7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Read it for the setting and imagery, not the story itself, September 30, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Instruments of Darkness (Harvest Original) (Paperback)
I hesistated between 3 and 4 stars. The author has a deep knowledge of the region and people. Delving into the protagonist's mindset was thoroughly enjoyable.
Wilson has enough analogies in this book to fill several novels. They're great, but there's just too much. The book is a murder mystery at some level. The premise and the high level plot is pretty good, but the story ties together at the end messily. Very James Bond / Desmond Bagley-like. You know -- tidy it all up with the bad guys volunteering all the missing pieces to the good guy.
I recommend this book for the West African setting and its substantial, grey characters. This is my first Wilson book; I would read another.
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