The Foreign Service Journal, September 2014

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2014 77 documentation of a world treasure that would otherwise have been lost. Anyone who reads this book will come away with a greater appreciation for this fascinating country and its people. n Andrea Rugh is a scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C. She has been a technical adviser for USAID projects in the Middle East, South Asia and Africa. During the course of 40 years of residence and work in the Middle East, she has written several books on local culture and society in the region. An FS Tall Tale in the Congo The American Mission Matthew Palmer, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2014, $26.95, hardcover, 432 pages. Reviewed by James P. DeHart For sheer scale and duration of man- made misery, it is difficult to match the Democratic Republic of the Congo. At the turn of the 19th century, the “Congo Free State” owned and operated by King Leo- pold II of Belgiumwas a place of mind- boggling cruelty, a rubber-fueled orgy of slavery and murder that lopped 10 million off the population. “The horror! The horror!” wrote Joseph Conrad in 1899. Since 1996, back-to-back wars have claimed the lives of five million more, a Heart of Darkness that seems as relevant today as in Conrad’s time. Matthew Palmer, a 20-year veteran of the Foreign Service and son of accom- plished author Michael Palmer, follows Conrad up the Congo River in his debut novel, The American Mission . His protagonist, Alex Baines, is a For- eign Service officer with a topical problem in today’s era of forever wars: Diplomatic Security has stripped him of his security clearance due to his Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder and failure to seek treatment through authorized chan- nels. For this ambitious young political officer, it is “a professional death sentence” that renders his career prospects a “flat, featureless plain.” When Alex gets a call from Howard “Spence” Spencer, a former men- tor and now U.S. ambassador to the DRC, his career is swiftly resuscitated. Offered the plum job of political counselor, Alex is off to Kinshasa. There he meets Marie Tsiolo, the beautiful daughter of a tribal chief, who is defending her village from a rapacious mining company. Soon Alex is caught up in Marie’s cru- sade, pitting him against a villainous min- ing executive—a Belgian, naturally—and eventually his own embassy leadership. Palmer sprinkles the novel with bits of Foreign Service experience, but in fact there’s not much here that resembles real diplomatic work. Instead, Palmer has penned a classic adventure yarn, with Alex conducting espionage, leaping from airplanes and ducking bullets in the dark. As the story unfolds in dubious direc- tions, Palmer nevertheless keeps it mov- ing at a brisk pace, balancing multiple threads and tying them neatly at the end, with a twist that makes for a satisfying finish. Palmer has done his research. While not heavy on setting, Palmer’s Congo feels like the real place. His descriptions of industrial versus artisanal mining are convincing and weaved gently into the narrative. In Alex, he has created a likable character much handier than the average political officer; his hobby is building satellite receivers from old car parts, a skill he puts to use as the novel approaches its climax. The author’s explanation of how it’s done suggests that both he and Alex would have made pretty decent GSOs. Palmer’s characters are interest- ing and clearly drawn, from spirited Marie to the enigmatic militia leader, Manamakimba. All are fictional, right up to the DRC’s president, who is something of an African archetype. He is less successful, however, with the dialogue between them. Marie’s unlikely use of American idioms (“Think you’ll get lucky tonight?”) makes her predictable romance with Alex all the more cheap and cloying. Throughout, Palmer relies heavily on dialogue to propel the plot forward, an approach that keeps him on top of his craft but drains the story of ambiguity and nuance. That brings me to my main beef: Palmer rarely misses an opportunity to inform the reader exactly what is going on. No chance here of getting lost! But while many readers will wish for a greater challenge, one suspects the spoon-fed approach is the surest route to a movie deal. With its bold themes and set-piece scenes, The American Mission seems tailor-made for the big screen. If so, let’s hope the screenwriters don’t share Alex’s view of the Foreign Service as a place of unprincipled conspiracy and compromise. n Jim DeHart, a Foreign Service officer since 1993, is chair of The Foreign Service Journal Editorial Board. He has served as director of a Provincial Reconstruction Team in Pan- jshir and in Istanbul, Melbourne, Brussels and Washington, D.C. He currently directs the Office of Afghanistan-Pakistan Programs in the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs.