This zany satire of Americans and other expatriates in the Middle East is set in Kuwait after the Gulf War. It is a tale of international intrigue and contains, within the spoof, suspense and a murder mystery. The American hero, Ed Duffy, an educated Tennessee ne'er do-well is sent to kuwait to teach English to Kuwaiti military personnel scheduled to come to the U,S. to learn to operate Patriot missiles. The novel is based on the author's own experience doing the same thing. Duffy is drawn into a web of intrigue involving wacko Americans, scheming Arabs, drunken Russians--and the feuds of rival intelligence agencies.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Any author who tries to turn Middle Eastern conflict into Middle Eastern comedy faces a daunting challenge in ordinary times, but in light of recent events, the timing of Hays's (Murder in the Latin Quarter) cultural and political satire set in Kuwait couldn't be worse. Not that timing is the only unfortunate aspect of this tepid comedy of errors, which spoofs the gulf-sized cultural divide between Arabs and Americans. The novel's hero, Tennessee native Ed Duffy, is approaching 40 and bogged down with debt. Embarking on his latest career, he joins a U.S. government program designed to teach English to the Kuwaiti military in exchange for two years of tax-free salary, which will put him in the black. Duffy expects to teach the Kuwaitis in a standard classroom atmosphere and lead a simple life while abroad. Instead, he hardly sets foot in a classroom, spends most of his time drinking vodka with a stressed-out Russian consul, plays high-stakes poker with other slacker Americans and searches for his vanished sinister roommate, Kirby Benson, whose body is later found floating in the Persian Gulf. As if there weren't enough intrigue in his life, Duffy also courts sexy and savvy American diplomat Karen Solomon in his spare time. A host of wacky characters and a story line that attempts the comic zaniness of M*A*S*H takes the reader on a roller-coaster ride that only induces motion sickness. (Jan. 1)Forecast: The book's provocative jacket collage of a man in an Arab headdress with an American rocket on his head will certainly attract attention. Whether it will help or hurt sales remains to be seen.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From the Publisher
Ed Duffy, an educated Tennessee ne'er-do-well, is sent to Kuwait after the Gulf War to teach English to Kuwaiti military personnel scheduled to come to the United States to learn to operate Patriot anti-aircraft missiles. He soon is drawn into a web of intrigue involving wacky Americans, scheming Arabs, a hard-drinking Russian consul and his wayward daughter, and an assortment of sinister characters.
In this zany "M*A*S*H"-like spoof, mixed with mystery and suspense, author Tony Hays satirizes Americans plopped down in strange cultures, other nations' expatriates, the local Arabs and the conniving ways of natives and foreigners alike in today's Middle East. The novel is based on the author's own experience teaching English in Kuwait. Its wit and satire targeting expatriates in unfamiliar lands are reminiscent of William Boyd's "A Good Man in Africa."
"The Trouble With Patriots'" hero, Ed Duffy, is assigned a roommate, Kirby Benson, who is convinced he is a combination Woodward and Bernstein, on the verge of exposing a major international scandal. Duffy meets and falls for an American woman diplomat, an oasis of sanity amid the manic colleagues and adversaries who roil his work and social life. When Benson suddenly disappears, all assume there is a benign explanation--until he is later seen being dragged into the same villa the Russian consul's daughter has entered and the next day his body is found floating in the Persian Gulf. When Duffy investigates, he finds himself in the middle of a plot involving undercover agents of the U.S. National Security Agency and Britain's MI6. A CIA operative is on the scene as well. The mysteries of Benson's murder and the Russian consul's daughter's movements are unraveled amid the feuds and antics of these rival intelligence agencies.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Tony Hays is a novelist and journalist who has visited nearly thirty countries, while living and teaching in six of them, including three and a half years in Kuwait. As he works on his latest effort, a new historical mystery series, set in Dark Ages Britain, for Tor/Forge, Tony continues to teach and lecture both at home and abroad. The first two volumes of his new series, The Killing Way and The Divine Sacrifice, have been released to critical acclaim. Both books received starred reviews from Publisher's Weekly and Library Journal. He currently resides in Tennessee.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Reviewers Blew it Again!,
By Gabriel Welch (Jackson, TN) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Trouble With Patriots: A Novel (Hardcover)
Despite their much vaunted status as book reviewers, after I read the The Trouble With Patriots, I realized that Publisher's Weekly and Kirkus don't know anything about American tastes. Americans love humor, anytime. Why do they think so many Osama bin Laden songs popped up in the wake of 9/11? And the PW reviewer had the protagonist playing poker with American "slackers" when it was with British soldiers.Hays' book has some problems. It moves at lightning speed and sometimes the drinking bouts are a bit much, but he keeps your nose stuck in the book and leaves you laughing out loud most of the time. I give it a big thumbs up.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A fun read!,
By
This review is from: The Trouble With Patriots: A Novel (Hardcover)
"The Trouble with Patriots" is a terrific read even the third time around. There were things that I looked "over" the first couple of times, and I think that I enjoyed it even more with the third read. The main character, true to the Hays trademark, turns out to be a detective with an altruistic, yet sarcastically humorous and down-to-earth approach, who is shocked by the reality of Kuwait. This story involves the southern-bred "Duffy" as he works as an ESL teacher in Kuwait, teaching Kuwaiti and middle-eastern students English, so that they can go to the US and learn to operate Patriot missles. This is a largely unsuccessful and thankless government program with all the confusing red-tape that one would expect. Yet Duffy manages to survive in an unbelievable Kuwaiti lifstyle and life-endangering traffic. For example, Duffy, who has a heart that is easy to touch, felt for a father concerned over his teen-age daughter, and was co-erced into saving her from a life of sin. To ease his friends pain, he found himself hip deep in foreign intrigue in an unsuccessful attempt to rescue the Russian counsel's, daughter, Marina, from the high-class Kuwaiti whorehouse, barely escaping by the skin of his teeth. Another example is his reluctant listening to his very controversial and undesirable ESL teacher roommate, Kirby, who said that he was secretly investigating the whole middle-eastern/western conflict which involved a wide-spread, and seemingly outlandish cover-up, and he, too, needed Duffy's help, though Duffy managed to extricate himself. Sort of. The ending was shady and extremely dangerous, with all the very unconventional ESL teachers playing a double role in world cover-ups, as Duffy finally solves the crimes. Interestingly, it all also coincides with Kuwait's double lifestyle. Definitely a different kind of read with a sarcastic twist. Fun.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Advice to Critics: More Books and Less Television,
By Liz (Tennessee) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Trouble With Patriots: A Novel (Hardcover)
This is a very well written tongue-in-cheek novel. Humour reigns supreme, with plenty of action and a murder mystery thrown in for good measure. A real page turner, the descriptions are realistic enough to suck you in. Not for the weak,however. You can almost smell the testosterone on these pages. ...
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
