Customer Reviews

Nightfall in Mogadishu

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4 star:		(8)
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The best part of this book is its description of Somalia and how the country rapidly descends into chaos as a result of corruption, aid dependence and warring clan factions. Veronica Li skillfully evokes the factors behind the collapse of the country and the reader is drawn into the increasingly frightening mood. A former World Bank loan officer for Somalia, her depiction of the foreign community of aid workers who - some idealistically, others for cynical power politics - attempt to support the failing state is an insider's account. All this serious political content is seamlessly built into a highly readable and fast moving thriller with characters that the reader starts to care about.

"Nightfall in Mogadishu" is a real page-turner that puts the reader behind the scenes of third world politics and the international aid game at a time of crisis and chaos. Those who knew Somalia in the 90's will recognize it; those who don't are in for an eye-opener. Either way you will feel like you are there, with undercover CIA operative Susan Chen, trying to stay alive and make sense of it all as the country collapses around you. Veronica Li brings a unique perspective to this story of a troubled country at a troubled time. Only someone who lived it could write it so well.

I just finished "Nightfall in Mogadishu," and I can't say enough about its realistic portrayal of a corrupt, third-world country and it's plunge into desperate anarchy. Set in the early 1990s, the book is based on real events that set the stage for later involvement by the U.S. military and a UN peacekeeping force. As Somalia descends into riots and banditry, you can smell the death in the decaying streets. Amid the danger, CIA agent Susan Chen hunts for a terrorist killer who is systematically assassinating international aid officials in this blighted, sun-blasted city, where the rule of ancient clans provides the subtext for business, law and love. The tension builds as the thin veneer of civilization begins to slip away from the city, and as the inevitable coup is prepared by a scheming general and greedy minister of finance against the brutal dictatorship of Said Barre. Author Veronica Li, who as a former World Bank representative was stationed in Modadishu, takes you into a world of international finance and intrigue that is little known to most Americans. Beautiful CIA agent Susan Chen moves through Mogodishu like a predator through a jungle. I kept turning pages, and I bet you will too.

You're going to love this novel. This is an thriller that grabs you and will not let you go, with page-turners that will surprise and greatly entertain you. You will become so engaged with the truthfully portrayed main characters that you will feel a personal stake in their welfare. You will know what Somalia was like in it's last days -- the corruption and greed that took it to the point of no return -- that made the collapsed of Somalia inevitable. Don't miss this one!

Buy this book!! Nightfall in Mogadishu transports you to that war torn country with an authentic feel for the place and time. The characters are well drawn and the story draws you in. The suspense builds and the ending does not disappoint! You will be reading far past your bed time to get to the end!! It is an excellant story, and well written. I can't wait for Ms. Li's next book.

This book is vastly different than Journey Across Four Seas but still sucks you right in. I was born in the mid-eighties so I really don't know much about the issues in Somalia during the early 1990s (except for Black Hawk Down; I know about that) so it was really interesting to get a little perspective on how truly crazy things were in that country at that point in time. I love books that truly give you a sense of place of where the characters are and what they are seeing and what they are doin...moreThis book is vastly different than Journey Across Four Seas but still sucks you right in. I was born in the mid-eighties so I really don't know much about the issues in Somalia during the early 1990s (except for Black Hawk Down; I know about that) so it was really interesting to get a little perspective on how truly crazy things were in that country at that point in time. I love books that truly give you a sense of place of where the characters are and what they are seeing and what they are doing. I think that creating a true sense of place can be really difficult a lot of times (it can be hard to make a place truly engage a reader if they don't really understand the context of the place)but Li does a really wonderful job.

I also really liked the character of Susan. She's smart. She's strong. And she knows how to kick some you-know-what. It's everything that I like in a hero. Thrillers are not my usual book fare but between the interesting location, the strong characters, and the great story, I found myself flying through the book in no time. I find a lot of times that thrillers are heavy on action but not heavy enough for me in substance. I most definitely did not find that in this book. It was fast-paced but still had a really good foundation.

Bottom line: Thrill seekers and non-thriller lovers alike will both like this fast paced story.

This book was very well-written and I especially enjoyed the background on Somalia. The author seems to really understand the situation there and the details about what it was like to work for an international agency in that setting seem very realistic. I also liked the main character--very appealing and nice to have an interesting woman hero for a change.

My one criticism is that many aspects of the plot weren't fully integrated into the story. The two romances and the street child, Jamal, were introduced with enough fanfare that I thought they would be significant parts of the plot but then they were dropped abruptly or just disappeared from the story.

Nightfall in Mogadishu brought all of the elements of a great story that I loved when reading Li's other novel, Journey Across the Four Seas. This book, however, is definitely a slower read; Li has packed information into it! I learned a lot from this extremely well-researched, well-written novel; I was born in 1986, so I didn't have any prior knowledge about the collapse of Somalia in the 1990s. This book contains a wealth of information in just 278 pages, but don't go into it thinking it a book to be breezed through.

While Li seamlessly weaves a history lesson in through her characters, there is still a lot of information and characters to process. Li does a great job of making the information accessible through Susan Chen, a likable, interesting, and dynamic character who is at once an employee of the World Bank and an undercover CIA agent. However, she is not the only character with hidden agendas and secretive operations--Li keeps reader engaged with many characters who find themselves in similarly dualistic roles.

Overall, this is a book one must experience for his or herself. Li immerses readers into the turmoil rampant in Somalia during the 1990s and leaves them breathless with this skillfully crafted thriller. Having read both of Li's books, I can certainly say Li is an author not to be missed.

I very much enjoyed Nightfall in Mogadishu. The descriptions of Somalia's (and so many other countries') dependence upon foreign aid leave one with a frustrated feeling. Despite the best intentions of the countries and groups who provide aid, unfortunately for the people intended, the aid gets skewed into greedy hands and never reaches the proper areas. Veronica Li does a good job of detailing just how this can happen, and showing the ultimate results, corruption and turmoil, and the accompanying unrest in the people who never see the aid or even its evidence. She also shows some intracicies into the alll-too-common abuse of power and position to the detriment of the common good. A very good, captivating story told in a manner which keeps the reader glued to the pages.

Move over, Lizbeth Salander; make room, Mr. Larsson. Veronica Li's CIA agent Susan Chen is today's superhero just waiting for a sequel, just waiting for Hollywood to take notice. The narrative is based on gritty, horrifying fact: the collapse of Somalia into tribal violence and the ultimate coup. The vivid sense of place built up with mountains of concrete detail is based on the author's personal observation. There is a wealth of research behind the story: if you want to know the history of the AK-47 or the tidiest way to commit a murder, read this book. It is the characters, however, that make this thriller memorable: the US-trained assassin originally from Afghanistan; the loyal assistant first saved, then lost, in his service to Susan Chen; Susan herself, with her combination of western can-do-ism and eastern spiritual power, the center of the action. When the chi starts flowing, she's unbeatable. This is the moment for a thriller with a feminist protagonist and a convincing historically based setting. Don't pass this one by!