Rod Raglin
This blog will touch on the experiences I have as a writer (not to be mistaken for my experience as a writer, i.e. how many books I've written, etc); the pleasure and the pain, the joy and the grief, the satisfaction and the frustration, the magic and the reality - have I left anything out, oh yeah, the rejection, rejection and more rejection, the humiliation and the embarrassment, the jealousy and the resentment - that pretty much covers it, except for why I do it which perhaps I'll realize along the way. Are you totally confused? Good, let's begin.
Kitafe melds politics with history in a suspense story of post-colonial Africa
I want to thank Michael Ray for his hard work and commitment to this worthy endeavor.
East Africa in 1962. The British influence is on the wane. The power vacuum is in jeopardy of being filled by Henry Ngai, a messianic, megalomaniac and leader of the The Army of Christ’s Inquisition.
Graham Theakston is an ex-pat Brit working as a reporter on a daily newspaper in the crumbling colony. He’s a hack, a drunk, chronically broke, low on ethics and ambition.
Theakston not unwittingly becomes a pawn of the powerful as major players jockey for position. But when his wife and best friend are murdered by Ngai supporters he changes from a cynical, opportunistic side-liner to a person bent on revenge.
His assassination attempt on Ngai is foiled, he’s captured, drugged, tortured and brainwashed. Theakston becomes Ngai’s scribe writing his manifesto, his philosophy and his press releases. Slowly the humanity still buried within him emerges. He becomes aware of the atrocities, the corruption, the madness and the evil specifically in Ngai’s indoctrination process changing children into psychopathic killers.
He escapes and begins a long and treacherous journey through the jungle back to civilization, a journey that is transformative not only geographically, but spiritually and morally.
Theakston survives and arrives back in the capital only to find the British are about to hand over power to his nemesis.
Michael Ray has written an exciting, fast-paced story. The plot has a well-research authenticity to it and though complicated is believable and without glitches.
The dialogue is natural and cleverly written with lots of British stiff upper-lip expressions and attitudes that reflect the times. Ray’s characters are genuine and well developed mostly through action rather than reflection.
This booked works as a historical snapshot, a moral dilemma, and an entertaining work of fiction.
I downloaded this novel free from Smashwords as part of my commitment to review new, self-published authors.
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