World traveler Paul O’Connor reads a lot of popular fiction these days, maybe while stranded in airports when flights are canceled. Fortunately for fellow fans, he also sometimes finds the time to write reviews and alert us to diversions we might enjoy.
Reviewed by Paul T. O’Connor
PARIAH. By Dan Fesperman. Knopf. 369 pages. $30, hardcover.
Since my retirement seven years ago, I’ve been reading a lot of popular fiction – spy, crime, historical novels.
I’ve noticed the similarities in the work of the most popular authors. They move their stories along quickly, with plot twists and original plot lines, although original only within established formulas. Some of the writing is good: Alan Furst is my favorite. Most is weak, cliché-ridden with the same superhero characters from their previous books and a cardboard supporting cast.
I enjoy Dan Fesperman’s books because he writes as well as Furst and, while sticking to the conventions of his genre, he fashions original storylines and unique characters.
Pariah, his latest novel, has maybe his most unusual lead character, Hal Knight, an action-movie star/comedian who somehow got elected to Congress as a liberal and then had to resign because he was caught on camera berating a woman. Now he’s hanging out on the island of Vieques, drinking and trying to forget his troubles, when he gets wrapped up in a spy adventure.
Bolrovia’s President Nikolai Horvatz is a big fan of Knight’s, especially his comedy, and he invites him to visit. Bolrovia, an autocracy, is on hostile terms with the U.S., so the CIA persuades Knight to accept the invitation and do a little spying while he is there.
Knight is no James Bond or Gabrielle Allon, the Daniel Silva superhero. He’s really a fool, and readers probably won’t root for him. After all, most of the people who know him, and the CIA operatives who recruit him, don’t like him, either.
So he goes off on this adventure, knowing full well that it’s dangerous, and we know he’s going to screw up. For most of the book, we don’t know what he’s supposed to find in Bolrovia or whether this is a serious spy novel or a farce. That’s part of the fun – but only after finishing the book.
That’s as much of the plot as I’m going to reveal, but for those unfamiliar with Fesperman, know that his novels always tap into the real world, and eventually Pariah does, too. So, what starts somewhat slowly really speeds up at the end.
Is this my favorite Fesperman novel? No.
Lie in the Dark, Safe Houses and Cover Wife are. But Pariah is still fun, and it’s different. Very different, which is something those far- better-known spy novelists might try someday.