A Darkening Stain
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
The award-winning author of A Small Death in Lisbon "powerfully evokes West Africa" in this mystery thriller of greed, murder and human trafficking (Publishers Weekly).
When schoolgirls begin to disappear on the West African coast, "troubleshooter" Bruce Medway tries to remain detached. Meanwhile, he reluctantly accepts a job from his former nemesis, the mafia capo Roberto Franconelli. Bruce now has forty-eight hours to find a French trader named Marnier whom not even the mafia can track. Finding the man will mean the end of his life—and failure is not an option.
As Bruce sets out on his assignment, he discovers that it is deeply connected—through gold, greed, and superstition—to the unsettling schoolgirl disappearances. Uncovering the secrets of rich and powerful men can be deadly in a world where corruption abounds. With nowhere to turn for safe haven, Bruce must devise a scam that risks everything in order to stay alive.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Best known for his Gold Dagger Award winning A Small Death in Lisbon (2000), Wilson powerfully evokes West Africa in his fourth novel to feature PI Bruce Medway. An intricate web of intrigue, treachery and violence begins with five missing schoolgirls, ranging from age six to 10, and the request (i.e., demand) of a local Mafioso, Roberto Franconelli, to find a man named Marnier so he can kill him. Medway complies because he knows that if he doesn't, he'll wind up dead, too (he had run-ins with Franconelli in the third book in the series, Blood Is Dirt, reviewed above). The human trafficking is a particularly horrible story: the girls are sought by rich men in the mistaken belief that sex with a virgin will rid them of AIDS, and the plot broadens to include a large amount of stolen gold and an almost infinite stream of corruption. The expansive cast of sharply drawn characters includes good guys and bad, Europeans and Africans. The intricacy of motive who's doing what to whom and why can make the narrative difficult to follow, but the core drivers sexual desire and greed are all too powerfully portrayed.
