A review of The Golden Hour
by Todd Moss, GP Putnam’s Sons, NY, 2014
This novel of diplomatic intrigue is set in Mali and
revolves around a coup d’etat where all is not quite what it seems to be. The hero of the piece is Judd Ryker a
university professor who has elaborated a theory, based apparently on
statistics (although that was never explained) , to the effect that to reverse
a coup d’etat one must act early before the politics, personalities and security arrangements of the coup makers
can jell, i.e. within the golden hour(s).
Duh... In any case this
codification of common sense has propelled Ryker into a job at the Department
of State where he has been given the responsibility to implement his
theory. Mali, a country that he had some
academic experience in, conveniently comes along.
Ryker, a political appointee, has to confront an unwelcoming
and unwieldy bureaucratic system. (This gives author Moss, himself from this
milieu, the opportunity to satirize the system; both State and CIA. Yet such
digs are not spiteful and descriptions of people and processes have the
ring of truth). Ryker finds that he has
to go personally to Mali to discover the truth.
Amazingly he already knows most of the players involved, and although
the truth is difficult to discern, our hero works his way through and, of
course, saves the day. Although Ryker is
a one man show, unknowingly, he is also a pawn. That is a nice twist in the
plot.
Because of author Moss’ background there is much inside
scoop on how the State Department reacts to a crisis. Those knowledgeable will be forced to laugh
at themselves. The Mali context was accurate as to places and culture. I thought the portrait of the ambassador,
albeit overdrawn, was fun. Readers do need
to be reminded that this book is fiction, the type of power, and ability to marshal
resources to the extent described, just does not exist.
However, the bottom line is that The Golden Hour is a jolly good read.
No comments:
Post a Comment