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Dan Fesperman is the best thriller writer in the world today bar none. His books catapult the reader into the world's current troublespots, including Afghanistan and Bosnia. And he can create time, place and atmosphere better than any writer I've ever come across. As I read THE WARLORD'S SON, I really felt I was walking the dusty streets of Peshawar in Pakistan, or was jammed on a rickety bus approaching the Afghanistan border, or sitting by camp fires with rebels. And permanently in the background is the shadow of Osama Bin Laden. Fesperman's books read like a movie, and any filmmaker brave enough to take them on would have a stonking tale to tell. In THE WARLORD'S SON, the action moves from the changing political landscape of eastern Europe that Fesperman portrayed in LIE IN THE DARK and THE SMALL BOAT OF GREAT SORROWS to the powder keg of Afghanistan. American war correspondent Stan Kelly -- known to all as Skelly -- has been recalled from the shopping malls and suburbs of the Mid West to hunt for one final scoop. So, as the Americans begin bombing the Taliban, Skelly is desperate to get across the border from Pakistan into Afghanistan, where the story is. With the help of guide and fixer Najeeb, he attaches himself to an exiled warlord's expedition. Skelly is the archetypical been there, done it all, burned-out hack with one or two too many failed marriages behind him. But he still has a nose for a good story. Aside from being a master storyteller, Fesperman, unlike many thriller writers, can create living, breathing characters that the reader believes in. Skelly, for all his faults, is likeable, and you soon root for him to find his way across the border. But perhaps more interesting still are Najeeb and his girlfriend Daliya, he desperate to return to the US where he studied, she trying to escape the strictures of her family. And lurking in the background are all manner of suspicious politicians, spooks and businessmen. Najeeb is nursing a guilty secret relating to his family, and would really rather not get involved in Skelly's hair-brained schemes. But influences from above are leaning on him very heavily. Fesperman can nail a time and place in history like no other writer. He's an assured storyteller, writing with authority and intelligence, whose stories encompass both the personal and the political. This isn't a quick, disposable read -- it's one that will leave you mulling over it many hours after you have finished the book. And the ending is like a punch to the gut.
Reviewed by Sharon Wheeler, September 2004
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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