Instruments of Darkness

Posted on 22 April 2019 by Robert Wilson

From the author of the national bestseller A Small Death in Lisbon and The Company of Strangers comes Wilson s compelling first novel, never before available in the United States Bruce Medway s existence as a fixer and troubleshooter had been tough, but never life threatening until he crossed paths with the mighty Madame Severnou His life becomes even complicated by his search for a missing fellow expat, Steven Kershaw Against a backdrop of political disruption and endemic official corruption, Medway pursues the elusive phantom of Kershaw Instruments of Darkness powerfully evokes the atmosphere, politics, and people of West Africa With Medway s ironic voice, flashes of humor that may recall Raymond Chandler, and unforgettable characters, this compulsively readable thriller is the beginning of a remarkable series. Read Instruments of Darkness – kino-fada.fr Looking forward to book 2 in this series A very good murder, thriller, mystery book set in West Africa.Back in the 90s I had to order Robert Wilson s Bruce Medway novels from the UK Now you can find them in the US, though probably still only online This is the first of the quartet, followed by The Big Killing Blood is Dirt and A Darkening Stain. These four books are a lothardboiled than Wilson spopular novels starting with A Small Death in Lisbon, first published in 1999 Medway is a burned out Brit living in Benin, w...I ve got my eyes open for non cozy mysteries and thrillers that are located somewhere else andexotic.When I saw this book, I couldn t just pass it since I had enjoyed A Small Death in Lisbon by the same author But the books are completely different.Instruments of Darkness has Bruce Medway, a British expat, a fixer as its hero Bruce makes Philip Marlowe look like Miss Marple Take a thrilling mystery with a hero a bit like Philip Marlowe, but make himhard boiled, and add 10 % I ve got my eyes open for non cozy mysteries and thrillers that are located somewhere else andexotic.When I saw this book, I couldn t just pass it since I had enjoyed A Small Death in Lisbon by the same author But the books are completely different.Instruments of Darkness has Bruce Medway, a British expat, a fixer as its hero Bruce makes Philip Marlowe look like Miss Marple Take a thrilling myster...This book takes places in West Africa, including Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria The characters travel through those places in a car The heat is tangible as is the sound of the air conditioners and the difficulty breathing when the air conditioners are not working One can feel the humidity and the sweat that oppresses the people Bruce Medway is a fixer, mostly for white businessmen who may be involved in some shady dealings He is asked to find out what happened to Steve Kershaw who seems to This book takes places in West Africa, including Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria The characters travel through those places in a car The heat is tangible as is the sound of the air conditioners and the difficulty breathing when the air conditioners are not working One can feel the humidity and the sweat that oppresses the people Bruce Medway is a fixer, mostly for white businessmen who may be involved in some shady dealings He is asked to find out what happened to Steve Kershaw who seems to have disappeared In the process Medway and we meet many shady characters One is also amazed at Bru...Overall, I quite liked this book It has strengths in the mystery that develops not initially obvious , the characters from the quickly drawn to the fully developed they are all quite full fleshed and believable and the mouth of the central character and narrator he s got a smart mouth on him reminiscent of Sam Spade And it has weaknesses These I found to be most annoying in the beginning The greatest is also one of the books strengths Every paragraph, and sometimes it seems like every Overall, I quite liked this book It has strengths in the mystery that develops not initially obvious , the characters from the quickly drawn to the fully developed they are all quite full flesh...If you like pot boilers with femme fatales and dead bodies, wise guy tough guys and bullying bad guys, then this one is well done, and for you It is not really my kind of book, and I do not want to leave a bad review because I do not care for the stylistics of the genre Read this book in desperation for reading around the world project, could not find anything affordable or by a native writer for Benin I feel like I did get a good feel for what it must ...It was ok I enjoyed some of his other booksthan this one.Very much a man s book, this story of a fixer in West Africa was overly descriptive and not really my cup of tea It does however tick off Benin on my ATW challengeFascinating location and great character development wow The plot isthan a little sticky, but this was an entertaining read nonetheless I still do not want to go to Africa.I was looking for the Canadian author Robert Wilson in the virtual branch of the Toronto Public Library He wasn t listed, but this Wilson was The blurb sounded interesting, and evenrelevant, it was available to borrow right away Most books in TPL are on hold Instruments of Darkness describes a world I m not familiar with at all the grit of Africa, where violence roams next to pockets of people trying to earn a living, where booze and cigarettes are as ubiquitous as the heat, where I was looking for the Canadian author Robert Wilson in the virtual branch of the Toronto Public Library He wasn t listed, but this Wilson was The blurb sounded interesting, and evenrelevant, it was available to borrow right away Most books in TPL are on hold Instruments of Darkness describes a world I m not familiar with at all the grit of Africa, where violence roams next to po...

English
22 April 2019

Robert Wilson