Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 18, 1993 TAG: 9307180209
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
By Alison Baker. Chronicle Books. $9.94.
A couple of years ago, when I had some time to kill, I ducked into a library, picked up a copy of The Atlantic, and began reading that issue's story. I was soon laughing so hard that people were giving me dirty looks. I was late for my appointment, because I wanted to finish the story more than I wanted to keep my appointment.
That story was Alison Baker's "How I Came West, and Why I Stayed," one of the most wickedly funny and original satires on the battle of the sexes ever written. The other 12 stories in this slender volume are equally compelling, equally original, equally incisive. Baker's stories are astonishing. They're mysterious, weirdly magical, skittish little masterpieces. You won't like all of them. But you'll like more than one. I guarantee it.
- MONTY S. LEITCH
Natural Enemies.
By Sara Cameron. Turner. $19.95.
"Natural Enemies" is an intriguing and involving novel set against the conflict in Kenya over the ivory trade. The land, politics and culture of this fascinating country are brought to life with a rich vividness. Sam Hawthorne, an American journalist, comes upon the bodies of three people who turn out to have been VIPs; a well known environmentalist, his wife and driver. After being a suspect in their murder himself, Hawthorne finds himself being utilized by the murderers (who are masquerading as eco-terrorists) to pass along their messages.
The novel unfolds through the perspectives of Sam; his former lover, Maya Saito, a Maasi woman who has devoted her life to studying elephant behavior; and Sylvia, one of the murderers who has become an unwilling pawn in a most dangerous game. One could wish for a little more depth in the political arena and in the backgrounds of some of the characters (some of the motives are a bit murky); but the African setting and atmosphere make "Natural Enemies" worth reading.
- ANNA WENTWORTH
Dark Summer.
By Jon Cleary. Morrow. $20.
Now that John D. MacDonald is dead, Ed McBain seems to be winding down and Tony Hillerman has essentially fallen silent, what's a mystery reader to do? Why, give Jon Cleary another go. In "Dark Summer" the prolific Aussie writer presents a ninth adventure with Inspector Scobie Malone of the New South Wales police. It's been an off-and-on series, first begun nearly 30 years ago, but age hasn't hurt much.
This time, somebody tosses a corpse into Malone's swimming pool. The corpse is that of a two-bit Australian hoodlum whom Malone had been using for an informant. His death, however, had an odd cause: a quick injection with a rare drug. When other corpses follow, some dispatched in the same manner, it becomes obvious that there's a fight for control of organized crime in the Sydney area, now that old time boss Jack Aldwych, for whom Malone has a grudging professional respect, has put himself out to pasture.
There are illicit drugs a-plenty, as in most every crime story these days, and an ominous ex-German cop who stands out like a shiny nose from the git-go to the climax. Malone's cast of supporting characters makes this an above average tale, and helps remind American readers that the Australian Eden so many of us visualize his its serpents, too.
- ROBERT HILLDRUP
KINGDOMS OF THE WALL.
By Robert Silverberg. Bantam. $22.95.
Silverberg has pulled off a neat trick with this novel: what starts off like a fantasy ends up being science fiction.
He gives us a vivid world dominated by "the Wall," one mountain range atop another ascending ever higher to the place where the gods supposedly reside. Each year, 40 young men and women are chosen from their village to try and scale it, perhaps to bring back a bit of knowledge from the gods but more likely never to be seen again or to return deranged.
The narrator, with the unlikely name of Poilar Crookleg, ends up leading his year's quest. The group encounters various "kingdoms" in its climb - inhabited by forms of life that could well have been inspired by the Lion Men or Clay People from old "Flash Gordon" serials - and perils from within their number as well.
Most readers of these sorts of stories will guess the nature of the gods long before encountering them. It does not detract from the book because Silverberg maintains reader interest in the characters themselves.
- PAUL DELLINGER\ Monty S. Leitch is a columnist for this newspaper.\ Anna Wentworth recently traveled in Africa.\ Robert Hilldrup is a Richmond writer and former newspaperman.
Paul Dellinger is a reporter for the Southwest Virginia bureau of this newspaper.
by CNB