Latest news with #DanFesperman
Wall Street Journal
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
Mysteries: ‘Pariah' by Dan Fesperman
Hal Knight, a 47-year-old comedian-turned-congressman, is the title character in Dan Fesperman's 13th novel, 'Pariah.' In the wake of a #MeToo-era scandal over his behavior on a film set, Hal is out of politics and the entertainment world. He's been dropped by his fiancée and is no longer welcome in polite U.S. society. In disgrace, Hal makes his way alone to a small Caribbean island where he hopes to hide in isolation while pondering 'Plan Z': downing the poison pills concealed in his luggage. 'Fast-acting, mostly painless.' But two unexpected things occur: The despotic president of the Eastern European nation of Bolrovia (an avowed fan of Hal's comedy) invites him for an all-expenses-paid visit and celebratory banquet-concert; and three mysterious Americans (two men and their female supervisor) drop by Hal's hotel to suggest he accept that invite—for his good, their good and the good of his country. Who are they? 'Anyone who says he's CIA is almost certainly an imposter,' the former congressman figures. 'Only someone who cagily avoids mentioning CIA can really be an Agency employee.' Hal says yes to both offers. He's grateful for the career attention (though wary of being perceived as the 'court jester of a wannabe dictator') and hopes maybe he can now do something worthwhile to make amends for his past mistakes and misdeeds. Mr. Fesperman, a former foreign correspondent as well as a veteran fiction writer, handles the absurdist elements of his plot with a light touch appropriate to the travails of (in Hal's mocking words) 'the Jerry Lewis of Bolrovia.' Yet the laughter takes a back seat to some real peril once things go awry and Hal starts improvising an unpredictable script. 'Pariah' is a most unusual and entertaining espionage caper, one in which the protagonist's serious flaws at last yield to the redeeming qualities of his better angels.
New York Times
19-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
A Spy Thriller With an Unlikely Hero: A Disgraced Comedian
PARIAH, by Dan Fesperman 'Tragedy is when I cut my finger,' Mel Brooks once said. 'Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die.' A similar comparison could be made about the thriller genre. The domestic thriller is driven by self-contained, cut-finger tragedies full of personal drama, while the international spy thriller raises the stakes, with no less than the fate of the world often dangling over the precipice. Perhaps because of its exaggerated risks and us-versus-them story arcs, the spy thriller can feel like a relic of an age when we had more trust in government security apparatuses. Today, we tend to like our dangers closer to home, and our villains to be neighbors down the street. In truth, the formula for good spy thrillers hasn't evolved much from its Cold War heyday (John le Carré still looms over these novels as obstinately as Sylvia Plath does over confessional poetry). But there are exceptions. Dan Fesperman, wielding a sharp eye for atmospheric detail and a finely tuned ear for comic relief, has proved to be one of the genre's most exciting contemporary writers. His latest novel, the deliciously fun 'Pariah,' revolves around perhaps the least apt candidate for espionage work ever committed to ink: Hal Knight, a movie-star comedian and former Democratic congressman who has been #MeToo-ed for delivering a sexist rant on a film set. Hal is no Mel Brooks. His comedy is of the dumb, chauvinist, Neanderthal variety, and his films are beloved by 'the sorts of young men who spent most of their weekends at underage-drinking parties.' That's exactly the kind of track record that gets you voted into federal office these days, but Hal's political career lasted just six months before his public humiliation and cancellation. As it turns out, one of Hal's biggest fans is Nikolai Horvatz, the authoritarian president of the Eastern European nation of Bolrovia: a clear stand-in for Hungary, complete with far-right, repressive, anti-immigrant policies. When Horvatz invites Hal to his country as an honored guest, the C.I.A. cajoles Hal into working as a covert asset to gather intel on the secretive 'tinpot dictator.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
