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.
