Scribner, March 15, 2016.
Four Stars
Phnom Penh, Cambodia is the end of the road for a group
of washed up journalists, including our protagonist Will Keller. He is a
photographer, working for a friend who edits a local newspaper, and drifting in
a haze of drugs and alcohol – which inevitably lead to sex and violence. Will
is halfway through a downward spiral in a city that’s easy to get lost in, when
he accidentally photographs a major governmental conspiracy in the works. Other
journalists are getting killed for less, so Will burrows deeper into the
underground world of Cambodia.
Meanwhile, Will is approached by a woman named Kara
Saito – she has come to Phnom Penh to find her missing sister June, who was
interning at Will’s newspaper. June left the city to track down a story in the
surrounding countryside, and she hasn’t been seen or heard from since. She left
behind her luggage in Will’s apartment building, including a journal from her
travels around the world. As Will flips through the words and pictures in hope
of finding a clue to June’s whereabouts, he begins to realize that she was not
who she said she was, and Kara might not be either.
Will inefficiently attempts to track down June, and
even her travel diaries are not much help – she travelled to many countries,
seeking something that is left undefined. Meanwhile, the government is in an uproar
over the incident from Will’s photographs, and the seedy underworld of Phnom Penh
is closing ranks around the journalist expats. It probably helps to know a
little bit about Cambodia’s political situation to follow the events of the
novel, but in any case, there’s no mistaking the gritty, depraved world of
poverty, drugs and prostitution.
Both the language and setting are realistic and evocative
– reading this novel feels like slipping into Will’s sweaty, drug-induced
nightmare. The effect is hallucinatory, intense and exciting, especially for a
debut novel. The story moves quickly, and it is a thrilling ride. This is true
noir, at its best.
I received this novel from Scribner and NetGalley in
exchange for an honest review.
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