Graham Greene Lite
The late British writer Graham Greene is a personal favorite. In fact, his The Quiet American, set in the final days of the French war in Vietnam—also the early days of U.S. involvement—is the only novel that I've read more than twice. (The only book that I've read more often is William Strunk and E.B. White's The Elements of Style. I alone am responsible for the continuing deficiencies in my writing style.)
So, when a publisher touts a novel as reminiscent of Greene, I usually take a look. I'm usually disappointed, of course.
That's what led me to read The Secret Keeper, a new novel by Paul Harris, the U.S. correspondent for Britain's Observer newspaper. And, there are similarities to Greene's work: a remote, dangerous setting; morally ambiguous characters; questions of right and wrong.
But, alas, author Paul Harris is not Graham Greene. That doesn't mean that his novel isn't worthwhile though.
The Secret Keeper, by Paul Harris. Dutton, $25.95 (321p) ISBN 978-0-525-95094-3
Foreign correspondent Harris draws on his four years in Africa for this uneven debut novel set in Sierra Leone, the site of a destructive decade-long civil war in the 1990s.
Harris' hero, British journalist Danny Kellerman, cut his teeth covering the fighting in Sierra Leone. Back in London four years later, Kellerman receives a cryptic letter from former lover Maria Tirado, an American aid worker who stayed behind after the killing stopped. Tirado, who works for an agency that rehabilitates child soldiers, writes that "I'm in trouble," and appeals to Kellerman, "I need you."
Kellerman soon learns that Tirado is already dead: killed in an apparent kidnapping attempt. Suspecting that there's more to the story, he heads to Freetown to uncover the truth.
Two parallel stories unfold here: the first set in the closing year of the war reveals Kellerman and Tirado's brief but intense affair and the second follows Kellerman's desperate—and increasingly dangerous—search for the truth behind Tirado's death.
Tirado was exotic, beautiful, and enigmatic. Even Kellerman didn't suspect the true nature of her secrets.
Harris' descriptions of Sierra Leone and the casual brutality that marked the war there are vivid and powerful. His characters, with one important exception, are sharply-drawn and credible, and he moves the action along briskly. The book's weak link is the author's hero—and apparent alter ego. Kellerman, naïve, weak, and self-centered, makes for a decidedly unsympathetic character. It's hard to believe that he would have lasted long in a place like Sierra Leone.
That's the key. Even Greene's protagonists weren't always sympathetic. But, they were always credible.
The late British writer Graham Greene is a personal favorite. In fact, his The Quiet American, set in the final days of the French war in Vietnam—also the early days of U.S. involvement—is the only novel that I've read more than twice. (The only book that I've read more often is William Strunk and E.B. White's The Elements of Style. I alone am responsible for the continuing deficiencies in my writing style.)
So, when a publisher touts a novel as reminiscent of Greene, I usually take a look. I'm usually disappointed, of course.
That's what led me to read The Secret Keeper, a new novel by Paul Harris, the U.S. correspondent for Britain's Observer newspaper. And, there are similarities to Greene's work: a remote, dangerous setting; morally ambiguous characters; questions of right and wrong.
But, alas, author Paul Harris is not Graham Greene. That doesn't mean that his novel isn't worthwhile though.
The Secret Keeper, by Paul Harris. Dutton, $25.95 (321p) ISBN 978-0-525-95094-3
Foreign correspondent Harris draws on his four years in Africa for this uneven debut novel set in Sierra Leone, the site of a destructive decade-long civil war in the 1990s.
Harris' hero, British journalist Danny Kellerman, cut his teeth covering the fighting in Sierra Leone. Back in London four years later, Kellerman receives a cryptic letter from former lover Maria Tirado, an American aid worker who stayed behind after the killing stopped. Tirado, who works for an agency that rehabilitates child soldiers, writes that "I'm in trouble," and appeals to Kellerman, "I need you."
Kellerman soon learns that Tirado is already dead: killed in an apparent kidnapping attempt. Suspecting that there's more to the story, he heads to Freetown to uncover the truth.
Two parallel stories unfold here: the first set in the closing year of the war reveals Kellerman and Tirado's brief but intense affair and the second follows Kellerman's desperate—and increasingly dangerous—search for the truth behind Tirado's death.
Tirado was exotic, beautiful, and enigmatic. Even Kellerman didn't suspect the true nature of her secrets.
Harris' descriptions of Sierra Leone and the casual brutality that marked the war there are vivid and powerful. His characters, with one important exception, are sharply-drawn and credible, and he moves the action along briskly. The book's weak link is the author's hero—and apparent alter ego. Kellerman, naïve, weak, and self-centered, makes for a decidedly unsympathetic character. It's hard to believe that he would have lasted long in a place like Sierra Leone.
That's the key. Even Greene's protagonists weren't always sympathetic. But, they were always credible.
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