Eclipse
by Richard North Patterson
List Price:
Our Price: $0.22
You Save: $25.78 (99%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Richard North PattersonEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-01-06
ISBN: 0805087729
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Book Reviews of Eclipse
Book Review: "Americans seem so insulated from reality that they're narcotized."
Summary: 3 Stars
That's the opinion of Richard North Patterson's heroine, who marries a principled West African and moves to his country (Luandia; a very thinly-disguised Nigeria), where together they combat corruption and exploitation until the day his country's strong man leader decides to crack down -- and that is where the events in this not-quite-thrilling-enough-thriller kick off.
Patterson, alas, is not at his best when he makes a political cause the center of one of his legal thrillers, whether that cause is gun control, (Balance of Power), reproductive rights (Protect and Defend or human rights issues. Even those readers who share his convictions will find those books a far more tedious read than his more targeted and very compelling thrillers, such as Eyes of a Child. It is as if his single-minded focus on convincing the reader of the iniquities of his chosen issue -- in this book, the crimes of giant global oil companies who tacitly or otherwise conspire with local politicians to oppress people living in the Niger Delta -- requires all the energy that he otherwise would have used to turn the story into a fabulous thriller.
The elements for a great book are all there -- even a courtroom battle and a suspenseful race to escape the villains -- but Eclipse suffers on another level. Its basic scenario bears an uncanny similarity to that of another of his recent "political" novels, Exile: A Novel. In both books, a superstar San Francisco lawyer is called on to help a woman he once loved and lost to another man from another culture and country, to save her and her husband from a threat of some kind. (The details are different, but not different enough.) That core plot device has simply been transplanted from the Middle East to West Africa and the melodrama has been cranked up a few notches (we get a massacre in the opening scenes). In this case, at least, there is one new element; the fact that as the heroine points out, Americans really know almost nothing about the evils committed in large swathes of West Africa (while the events in Israel/Palestine command big headlines). So to the extent it does alert people to these issue, the book will serve a purpose. But while I liked Exile and responded to Patterson's "show and tell" tactics in that setting, it didn't work as well the second time around and in a much shorter book.
Unfortunately, the point of a thriller -- as opposed to a work of literary fiction or non-fiction -- is to entertain. And Patterson doesn't pull it off well enough to transform a pedestrian book into a good thriller. That is disappointing on two levels. First of all, it's clear that Patterson can deliver all the ingredients needed for a gripping read when he wants to. Secondly, a message this worthy -- that we should wake up and realize what is going on in our name -- deserves as compelling a book as possible, one that leaves its readers outraged and not either bored or irritated by the sometimes heavy-handed expositions. "Tell me about conditions in the delta," the hero, Damon Pierce, asks a former CIA officer before heading off to Luandia. "In the colonial era, the Europeans busied themselves carving Africa into nonsensical so-called countries," the ex-spook replies as part of a pages-long exposition of the plight of Luandia.
This isn't a bad book; the suspense is there (will Pierce's efforts to save Bobby Okori from the death penalty via unconventional means succeed? Will Pierce and his former 'crush' escape Luandia?) Still, it falls short of what Patterson has proven he can do, making my disappointment with it greater. I'd recommend re-reading one of the author's earlier books, Degree of Guilt or Silent Witness rather than forking over the money to buy this in hardcover. If you want to read some great fiction set in West Africa, try Wole Soyinka or Chinua Achebe; there are also some great non-fiction books about Africa that tell tales that are as chilling as any fictional thriller could hope to write, from King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa and A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier to books about the Delta, Where Vultures Feast: Shell, Human Rights and Oil and Curse Of The Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta.
Summary of Eclipse
The spellbinding story of an American lawyer who takes on a nearly impossible case?the defense of an African freedom fighter against his corrupt government?s charge of murder
Damon Pierce?s life has just reached a defining moment: a gifted California lawyer, he?s being divorced by his wife and his work often seems soulless. Then he receives a frantic e-mail from Marissa Brand Okari?a woman he loved years ago?and decides to risk everything to respond to her plea for help.
Marissa?s husband, Bobby Okari, is the charismatic leader of a freedom movement in the volatile west African nation of Luandia, which is being torn apart by the world?s craving for its vast supply of oil. Bobby?s outspoken opposition to the exploitation of his homeland by PetroGlobal?a giant American oil company with close ties to Luandia?s brutal government?has enraged General Savior Karama, the country?s autocratic ruler. After Bobby leads a protest rally during a full eclipse of the sun, everyone in his home village is massacred by government troops. And now Bobby has been arrested and charged with the murder of three PetroGlobal workers. Still drawn to Marissa, Pierce agrees to defend Bobby, hoping to save both Bobby and Marissa from almost certain death. But the lethal politics of Luandia may cost Pierce his life instead.
Culminating in a dramatic show trial and a desperate race against time, Eclipse combines a thrilling narrative with a vivid look at the human cost of the global lust for oil. Here is Richard North Patterson at his compelling best, confirming his place as our most provocative author of popular fiction.
Political Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Political Books
Spinning Dixieby Eric Dezenhall
Thomas Dunne Books; Published: 2006-12-26; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.69
Price in other shops:
Doing Dangerously Wellby Carole Enahoro
Vintage Canada; Published: 2011-05-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.47
Price in other shops:
The Autobiography Of Joseph Stalin: A Novelby Richard Lourie
Da Capo Press; Published: 2000-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.75
Price in other shops:
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovichby Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenitsyn
Henry Holt & Co (P); Published: 1978-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.98
The Blue Woundby Garet Garrett
General Books LLC; Published: 2012-01-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $20.00
Phineas Finn (Oxford World's Classics)by Anthony Trollope, Simon Dentith
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2011-12-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.22
Price in other shops:
The Woman Who Did (Oxford Popular Fiction)by Grant Allen
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1995-06-29; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
Blood Kin: A Novelby Ceridwen Dovey
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2009-02-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops:
The Army of the Republic: A Novelby Stuart Archer Cohen
St. Martin's Press; Published: 2008-09-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.78
Price in other shops:
Citizen Vince: A Novelby Jess Walter
Harper; Published: 2005-04-12; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.58
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
In the Name of Honorby Richard North Patterson
Henry Holt and Co.; Published: 2010-06-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.66
Price in other shops:
Caroline Mastersby Richard North Patterson
Ballantine Books; Published: 2000-11-28; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.33
Price in other shops:
Protect and Defendby Richard North Patterson
Alfred A. Knopf; Published: 2000; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $1.89
Price in other shops:
Degree of Guiltby Richard North Patterson
St. Martin's Paperbacks; Published: 2010-02-02; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops:
Silent Witnessby Richard North Patterson
Knopf; Published: 1996-12-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.25
Price in other shops:
The Devil's Light: A Novelby Richard North Patterson
Scribner; Published: 2011-05-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $3.55
Price in other shops:
The Raceby Richard North Patterson
Henry Holt and Co.; Published: 2007-10-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $1.96
Price in other shops:
The Spire: A Novelby Richard North Patterson
Henry Holt and Co.; Published: 2009-09-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $1.15
Price in other shops:
In the Name of Honorby Richard North Patterson
Henry Holt and Co.; Published: 2010-06-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $1.48
Price in other shops:
Exileby Richard North Patterson
Henry Holt and Co.; Published: 2007-01-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.40
Price in other shops: