Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 24, 1991 TAG: 9103260031
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Reviewed by LARRY SHIELD
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
"Wet work" is a vernacular expression used by the CIA to describe espionage assignments where people are killed.
In Christopher Buckley's novel "Wet Work," wet work abounds, but his wet workers offer the reader such a good time that their grisly occupations seem an afterthought. With humor reminiscent of Donald Westlake, Buckley describes the vengeance taken on foreign and domestic drug dealers by Charlie Becker, a man composed of equal parts Malcolm Forbes and Ross Perot, with the fortune of both.
When his only granddaughter dies of a drug overdose, Becker assembles a hit squad to trace the drugs to their ultimate source and remove all those who had a hand in the death.
The plot moves from New York to Miami to Peru with vivid descriptions of how drugs have altered the fabric of society. Leavening shocks with exquisite humor, Buckley presents a view of our drugged society that exposes the reader to the unpleasant truths of drugs while making the voyage entertaining enough to demand the book be completed.
Long after the chuckles of the writing have ended, the reader is forced to remember the vivid descriptions of lives ruined by drugs throughout the world.
by CNB