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A Dancer in the Dust
Twenty years ago, Ray Campbell, now a cautious risk-management consultant, was a well-intentioned aid worker dedicated to improving conditions in Lubanda, a newly independent African country. He is forced to reconsider that year of living dangerously when a friend from his time in Lubanda is found murdered in a New York alley. Signs suggest that this most recent tragedy is rooted in the far more distant one of Martine Aubert, the only woman Ray ever truly loved and whose fate he d sealed in a moment of grievous In Lubanda, twenty years before, I d rolled the dice for a woman who was not even present at the table, and on the outcome of that toss, a braver and more knowing heart than mine had been forfeited. Martine Aubert was a white, native Lubandan farmer whose dream for her homeland starkly conflicted with those charged with its so-called development. But Ray's failure to understand Martine s commitment to her country had placed a noose around her neck, one tightened by a circ
308 pages, Hardcover
First published August 19, 2014
30 people are currently reading
621 people want to read
About the author
Thomas H. Cook
96 books352 followersThere is more than one author with this name on Goodreads.
Thomas H. Cook has been praised by critics for his attention to psychology and the lyrical nature of his prose. He is the author of more than 30 critically-acclaimed fiction books, including works of true crime. Cook published his first novel, Blood Innocents, in 1980. Cook published steadily through the 1980s, penning such works as the Frank Clemons trilogy, a series of mysteries starring a jaded cop.
He found breakout success with The Chatham School Affair (1996), which won an Edgar Award for best novel. Besides mysteries, Cook has written two true-crime books including the Edgar-nominated Blood Echoes (1993). He lives and works in New York City.
Awards
Edgar Allan Poe – Best Novel – The Chatham School Affair
Barry Award – Best Novel – Red Leaves
Martin Beck Award of the Swedish Academy of Detection – The Chatham School Affair
Martin Beck Award of the Swedish Academy of Detection – Red Leaves
Herodotus Prize – Fatherhood
Thomas H. Cook has been praised by critics for his attention to psychology and the lyrical nature of his prose. He is the author of more than 30 critically-acclaimed fiction books, including works of true crime. Cook published his first novel, Blood Innocents, in 1980. Cook published steadily through the 1980s, penning such works as the Frank Clemons trilogy, a series of mysteries starring a jaded cop.
He found breakout success with The Chatham School Affair (1996), which won an Edgar Award for best novel. Besides mysteries, Cook has written two true-crime books including the Edgar-nominated Blood Echoes (1993). He lives and works in New York City.
Awards
Edgar Allan Poe – Best Novel – The Chatham School Affair
Barry Award – Best Novel – Red Leaves
Martin Beck Award of the Swedish Academy of Detection – The Chatham School Affair
Martin Beck Award of the Swedish Academy of Detection – Red Leaves
Herodotus Prize – Fatherhood
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 72 reviews
December 15, 2023
Ray Campbell - a middle aged, cultured New Yorker, recalls his introduction to fictitious Lubanda twenty years ago. He came to dig a well, only to fall hopelessly in love with Martine, a subsistence farmer descended from a Belgian colonist.
Martine was a simple soul, and, although white, she was wholly African in her own eyes. Her nationality was Lubandan, she dressed, talked and ate like a local woman. She had not gone native, she was native. The young Campbell was enthralled.
An emergent nation, Lubanda had suffered exploitation from colonists and their successors, and throughout Campbell’s brief sojourn, he was to witness that kind of transition from tyranny to ostensibly benign dictatorship. Under a new regime, aid poured into the country, accepted unconditionally by the current president, hell bent on modernising - building schools and hospitals, steam-rollering his people out of poverty, replacing subsistence farming with lucrative coffee. And there he came up against Martine who bartered her produce with nomads and market people, who had no use for cash except to buy a book. Martine was the ultimate environmentalist, and dangerous because, not only did she stand in the way of Progress, she could write.
Campbell saw the risk she posed to the president and his unruly thugs and concocted a cunning conspiracy to save her. The outcome resulted in his return to the States with a load of guilt that was to haunt him until, twenty years later, a Lubandan came back from the past to be murdered in a New York flophouse. Recklessly, although now a risk manager, Campbell investigated the death, uncovering a link with Martine and his unbearable guilt that would drive him back to Lubanda in an attempt to bring closure, as much to that misguided country as to himself.
A fine writer, and a wonderful read!
Martine was a simple soul, and, although white, she was wholly African in her own eyes. Her nationality was Lubandan, she dressed, talked and ate like a local woman. She had not gone native, she was native. The young Campbell was enthralled.
An emergent nation, Lubanda had suffered exploitation from colonists and their successors, and throughout Campbell’s brief sojourn, he was to witness that kind of transition from tyranny to ostensibly benign dictatorship. Under a new regime, aid poured into the country, accepted unconditionally by the current president, hell bent on modernising - building schools and hospitals, steam-rollering his people out of poverty, replacing subsistence farming with lucrative coffee. And there he came up against Martine who bartered her produce with nomads and market people, who had no use for cash except to buy a book. Martine was the ultimate environmentalist, and dangerous because, not only did she stand in the way of Progress, she could write.
Campbell saw the risk she posed to the president and his unruly thugs and concocted a cunning conspiracy to save her. The outcome resulted in his return to the States with a load of guilt that was to haunt him until, twenty years later, a Lubandan came back from the past to be murdered in a New York flophouse. Recklessly, although now a risk manager, Campbell investigated the death, uncovering a link with Martine and his unbearable guilt that would drive him back to Lubanda in an attempt to bring closure, as much to that misguided country as to himself.
A fine writer, and a wonderful read!
August 21, 2016
***3.5 Stars***
April 27, 2016
Good God, why isn't everyone reading Thomas H. Cook's book all the time?!?!?!
The weight that Cook's characters bear has brought me to tears, made me gasp, left me with an aching heart, mired me in an unshakeable sadness that ebbs away only when I embrace a new book. A Dancer in the Dust is no exception. In this story, Cook explores racism, sexism, power, & betrayal on a global scale. The death of one woman is bound up in the grand schemes of men, all intent on doing good as they see it.
It's also a tale of globalization versus self-sufficiency, a cautionary tale. Ray is an idealist who goes to Lubanda to "help." He is assigned to a village where he encounters a white woman. But she is local, a native of Lubanda, born in country, and has never left. Her one desire in life is to work the farm her father left her. This should be so easy, to hold on to a few acres in a part of the world no one knows about. But those acres - as much as her fierce defiance of the men who try to lay claim to them - become pivotal in the struggle for Lubanda. And Ray, who is enthralled by her, wants to possess Martine herself, not her land, so he schemes as well. Martine is caught up in it all, as one man after another cannot tolerate her refusals, her defiance, her attempts at self-determination.
As always, Cook apportions blame & responsibility justly & heavily. What also happens here, and I don't think I've seen it in his prior works, is atonement. Ray & Martine once discuss atonement, as he tries to explain it to her. Ray later talks about how rare it is for one to get a chance to right a wrong. Though it isn't enough, it seems Ray is able to do the most he can to atone for his part in Martine's destruction. And like Ray, with that, we must be satisfied.
The beauty of Cook is his prose. If his books were songs, they would be quiet pieces written in minor chords, that tug at your heart with every refrain, and give you glimpses of alternative possibilities at the bridge with an angst and a yearning that make you ache. He uses simple words, simple metaphors, simple phrases. Yet every so often they synthesize so that Cook reveals a simple truth in a stark, but poetic, way. And throughout there is an undertow that you can just detect, signaling that something else is at work, something else is happening. You will find out what it is. And it will leave you wasted when you do. It's a crescendo, a wave that crashes over you, & you need to catch your breath & gain your bearings. For decades now, each of Cook's books have promised this emotional exhaustion. His new releases should be heralded.
The only thing holding this back from 5 stars is that it's missing a sense of time: when did the original events occur, are the current events happening in 2016 (or thereabouts), how old is Ray & everyone involved? Cook touches on some of these, but you don't really feel the answers, & so they distract a bit. But don't let that stop you from picking up this book. It's beautiful.
The weight that Cook's characters bear has brought me to tears, made me gasp, left me with an aching heart, mired me in an unshakeable sadness that ebbs away only when I embrace a new book. A Dancer in the Dust is no exception. In this story, Cook explores racism, sexism, power, & betrayal on a global scale. The death of one woman is bound up in the grand schemes of men, all intent on doing good as they see it.
It's also a tale of globalization versus self-sufficiency, a cautionary tale. Ray is an idealist who goes to Lubanda to "help." He is assigned to a village where he encounters a white woman. But she is local, a native of Lubanda, born in country, and has never left. Her one desire in life is to work the farm her father left her. This should be so easy, to hold on to a few acres in a part of the world no one knows about. But those acres - as much as her fierce defiance of the men who try to lay claim to them - become pivotal in the struggle for Lubanda. And Ray, who is enthralled by her, wants to possess Martine herself, not her land, so he schemes as well. Martine is caught up in it all, as one man after another cannot tolerate her refusals, her defiance, her attempts at self-determination.
As always, Cook apportions blame & responsibility justly & heavily. What also happens here, and I don't think I've seen it in his prior works, is atonement. Ray & Martine once discuss atonement, as he tries to explain it to her. Ray later talks about how rare it is for one to get a chance to right a wrong. Though it isn't enough, it seems Ray is able to do the most he can to atone for his part in Martine's destruction. And like Ray, with that, we must be satisfied.
The beauty of Cook is his prose. If his books were songs, they would be quiet pieces written in minor chords, that tug at your heart with every refrain, and give you glimpses of alternative possibilities at the bridge with an angst and a yearning that make you ache. He uses simple words, simple metaphors, simple phrases. Yet every so often they synthesize so that Cook reveals a simple truth in a stark, but poetic, way. And throughout there is an undertow that you can just detect, signaling that something else is at work, something else is happening. You will find out what it is. And it will leave you wasted when you do. It's a crescendo, a wave that crashes over you, & you need to catch your breath & gain your bearings. For decades now, each of Cook's books have promised this emotional exhaustion. His new releases should be heralded.
The only thing holding this back from 5 stars is that it's missing a sense of time: when did the original events occur, are the current events happening in 2016 (or thereabouts), how old is Ray & everyone involved? Cook touches on some of these, but you don't really feel the answers, & so they distract a bit. But don't let that stop you from picking up this book. It's beautiful.
September 6, 2014
I'm a huge fan of Cook's work and it's always exciting to see a new book of his gracing the library shelves. I only wish that his books haven't been marginalized as thrillers, because to me they have always been works of literary fiction with mystery/thriller like undertones. This is the most political of his books, taking on the impossible situation in Africa via creating a fictional (albeit frighteningly real) country that becomes a representative microcosm of the continent's struggles. It is the thing that has frustrated me the most, the hopelessness, the inevitability of the unsolvable predicament, not to mention the blind misguided patriotism of The Dancer herself, Martine Aubert. Then again that is what makes her such a memorable character and such an unforgettable love interest for the protagonist, now and twenty years in the past. In a way this book is really about unrequited impossible loves, the way Martine loves her country, the way Ray loves Martine, and what that sort of desperate hopeless unattainable passion can drive the person to do, about the wrongs, the mistakes, the misguided efforts one might try to achieve in the name of such a love. And as such it is, of course, terribly sad, but so exquisitely well written, so emotionally engaging, that it makes for an excellent, moving, thought provoking reading experience. Highly recommended.
November 17, 2014
A Dancer In The Dust – An Ode To Africa
A Dancer In The Dark is the latest novel from Thomas H. Cook which is more a literary novel with a message that just happens to have two murders that run through the course of the book. The book is more an ode to continental Africa, no country in particular, and a lesson to ask ourselves in that does foreign aid actually help or hinder a country. This book is so intelligently written the prose crisp and clear that clearly shows an insight and knowledge of people and aid. That it is classed as a crime book is a mistake by those that like to classify what we read.
A Dancer in the Dust should not be marganalised as a thriller as those who love thrillers would dismiss this as not enough blood and guts no clear good and bad guys. This novel is a multifaceted book in that it looks at people, western attitudes, African attitudes, racism and customs amongst many. One of the biggest theme is the unfailing love for a woman and a country.
Ray Campbell is a New York risk assessor helping his clients make money and giving them insightful advice, but twenty years prior he had been a young and enthusiastic volunteer aid worker in the newly independent African country, Lubanda. While there he falls in love with a white Lubandan farmer, Martine Aubert and with the changing winds he makes a fatal error which ultimately costs Martine her life.
A friend and leader of the Mansfield Trust comes to visit Ray to ask him if he can help investigate a murder of their former friend and colleague from Lubanda who was found murdered in a back ally in New York City. Seso had been looking for Bill Hammond as he had some information for him that he need to give him from the murder of Martine Aubert some twenty years prior.
This murder takes eventually takes Ray Campbell back to Lubanda in his search for the truth for both murders. For Ray it is also a visit back to those happier times in Lubanda before the revolution with Martine and Fareem, Seso assisting him and Bill who he reported to. We see these trips down memory lane and how what happened then will affect what may happen in the present. He eventually returns to Lubanda as an envoy of The Mansfield Trust and the question is what sort of aid will he confer on the country he loves or will he listen to the only women he has ever loved Martine.
This is an elegant novel, who once again shows that he is a master of the totally unexpected ending who seemlessly manages to mix love and death together and turning it in to a beautiful story. This book is a beautiful ode to the whole continent of Africa and an instructive and interesting read, that you will not regret.
A Dancer In The Dark is the latest novel from Thomas H. Cook which is more a literary novel with a message that just happens to have two murders that run through the course of the book. The book is more an ode to continental Africa, no country in particular, and a lesson to ask ourselves in that does foreign aid actually help or hinder a country. This book is so intelligently written the prose crisp and clear that clearly shows an insight and knowledge of people and aid. That it is classed as a crime book is a mistake by those that like to classify what we read.
A Dancer in the Dust should not be marganalised as a thriller as those who love thrillers would dismiss this as not enough blood and guts no clear good and bad guys. This novel is a multifaceted book in that it looks at people, western attitudes, African attitudes, racism and customs amongst many. One of the biggest theme is the unfailing love for a woman and a country.
Ray Campbell is a New York risk assessor helping his clients make money and giving them insightful advice, but twenty years prior he had been a young and enthusiastic volunteer aid worker in the newly independent African country, Lubanda. While there he falls in love with a white Lubandan farmer, Martine Aubert and with the changing winds he makes a fatal error which ultimately costs Martine her life.
A friend and leader of the Mansfield Trust comes to visit Ray to ask him if he can help investigate a murder of their former friend and colleague from Lubanda who was found murdered in a back ally in New York City. Seso had been looking for Bill Hammond as he had some information for him that he need to give him from the murder of Martine Aubert some twenty years prior.
This murder takes eventually takes Ray Campbell back to Lubanda in his search for the truth for both murders. For Ray it is also a visit back to those happier times in Lubanda before the revolution with Martine and Fareem, Seso assisting him and Bill who he reported to. We see these trips down memory lane and how what happened then will affect what may happen in the present. He eventually returns to Lubanda as an envoy of The Mansfield Trust and the question is what sort of aid will he confer on the country he loves or will he listen to the only women he has ever loved Martine.
This is an elegant novel, who once again shows that he is a master of the totally unexpected ending who seemlessly manages to mix love and death together and turning it in to a beautiful story. This book is a beautiful ode to the whole continent of Africa and an instructive and interesting read, that you will not regret.
July 27, 2014
A Dancer in the Dust is a multifaceted novel. It is a love story, the doomed love of Ray Campbell, a risk assessor from the United States for Martine Aubert, an African woman of Belgian descent. Martine lives in, and loves, the country of her birth, a fictitiously independent nation called Lubanda. And it is a story of paternalism, and of how much easier it is to place someone else in a risky position rather than oneself. It is also a story that raises thought-provoking social issues.
My thanks go to the publisher and the first reads program for the chance to read this free. It is beautifully written, but it is also one that starts with a man grieving, and by chance it arrived in the mail when I was grieving a younger family member who died very unexpectedly. Every time I picked the book up, the clouds formed, and so I took what I would generally consider to be an unconscionably long time reading it. For awhile, the words just couldn’t sink in.
When I got my wits about me, it occurred to me that I ought to find out whether Lubanda was a real place or not, lest I make an ass of myself while reviewing it. Sure enough, Lubanda, though not really an independent nation, exists in east-central Africa as a subsection of Tanzania. Cook makes it larger and more populous than it is in real life for the purpose of his fictional vehicle. And when you are as painterly and skillful with words as Cook is, you can pretty much do what you need to in order to tell your story.
So we rejoin Campbell as he sets out on his return trip to Lubanda. He left there after Martine was killed, returned to New York City, but the death of a man known to both Ray and Martine sets his wheels back in motion. Seso, whom Campbell considered a friend, has turned up dead, murdered, in New York City. Campbell has weighed risks and taken the safer course all of his life, and in turn, he has been left with nothing and no one. He is finally ready to toss all of his chips on the table in hopes of at least winning redemption, and so he sets out in search of Seso’s killer.
“Actually, we have plenty of opportunities to do the right thing…It’s taking back the wrong thing we can’t do.”
Martine had died because she would not do what the Western aid providers think she should do, a program the government bought into lock, stock and barrel. She had tried to explain in logical terms why their plan for her country was wrong, but no one was listening. Nation after nation had become a “funhouse mirror into hell” because of Western policies: Uganda, Kenya, Congo, and the list continues. Patrice Lumumba embraced modern ideas and methods, but ultimately died when he defied his keepers.
In setting out to find out what happened to Seso and why, Campbell is looking to trace back the thread. Cook’s account is brutal and searing, but it is too well told, too compelling, and raises too many thorny social issues that bear examining to be set aside. Read it for Africa; read it for the mystery it unravels; or read it for social justice. But get the book, and read it now!
My thanks go to the publisher and the first reads program for the chance to read this free. It is beautifully written, but it is also one that starts with a man grieving, and by chance it arrived in the mail when I was grieving a younger family member who died very unexpectedly. Every time I picked the book up, the clouds formed, and so I took what I would generally consider to be an unconscionably long time reading it. For awhile, the words just couldn’t sink in.
When I got my wits about me, it occurred to me that I ought to find out whether Lubanda was a real place or not, lest I make an ass of myself while reviewing it. Sure enough, Lubanda, though not really an independent nation, exists in east-central Africa as a subsection of Tanzania. Cook makes it larger and more populous than it is in real life for the purpose of his fictional vehicle. And when you are as painterly and skillful with words as Cook is, you can pretty much do what you need to in order to tell your story.
So we rejoin Campbell as he sets out on his return trip to Lubanda. He left there after Martine was killed, returned to New York City, but the death of a man known to both Ray and Martine sets his wheels back in motion. Seso, whom Campbell considered a friend, has turned up dead, murdered, in New York City. Campbell has weighed risks and taken the safer course all of his life, and in turn, he has been left with nothing and no one. He is finally ready to toss all of his chips on the table in hopes of at least winning redemption, and so he sets out in search of Seso’s killer.
“Actually, we have plenty of opportunities to do the right thing…It’s taking back the wrong thing we can’t do.”
Martine had died because she would not do what the Western aid providers think she should do, a program the government bought into lock, stock and barrel. She had tried to explain in logical terms why their plan for her country was wrong, but no one was listening. Nation after nation had become a “funhouse mirror into hell” because of Western policies: Uganda, Kenya, Congo, and the list continues. Patrice Lumumba embraced modern ideas and methods, but ultimately died when he defied his keepers.
In setting out to find out what happened to Seso and why, Campbell is looking to trace back the thread. Cook’s account is brutal and searing, but it is too well told, too compelling, and raises too many thorny social issues that bear examining to be set aside. Read it for Africa; read it for the mystery it unravels; or read it for social justice. But get the book, and read it now!
February 23, 2015
Thomas Cook is quite simply one of the best. He is, first and foremost, a really fine writer.
June 13, 2014
This is a very,very good book. It is well written with dialogue that leaves you feeling that you are right there as it is spoken. It tells the story of a New York risk management consultant named Ray Campbell who tries to work and improve an African country named Lubanda. A friend of his from Lubanda named Seso is found murdered in a New York alley. He returns to Lubanda to try to to solve Seso's murder and he becomes enamored with a white farmer named Martine Aubert. The country is trying to force Ms Aubert to grow coffee as her crop so the country can receive higher financial returns on this more lucrative crop. The plot and action are believable and fast moving. I recommend it to all.
Frank
Frank
June 12, 2022
Thomas H. Cook is my favorite author these days...Dancer in the Dust is a very interesting, captivating read, think "literature"...As such I'm not sure I can recommend this book to the casual reader. Dancer takes place in four different time periods; in fictitious Lubanda (Rwanda possibly -?) 20 years ago, 10 years ago, and in the present...AND...in New York City 3 months prior to the telling of the story...The story-line slip-slides from time period to period effortlessly, sometimes changing in mid-sentence, keeping you on your reading toes so-to-speak...this makes any speed-reading not possible...you're in for the long-haul, word by word, sentence by sentence. The plot follows Ray, a "risk assessor" consultant living in New York City, who is haunted by his days living in Lubanda as an aid worker. While in Lubanda Ray found himself at the beginning of violent conflicts within the country while falling in love with a local white farmer woman, Martine, who is head-strong and can not adjust to the changes her country is heading toward...This leads to conflict of course....and to murder as is always the case in Cook's novels. Looking at the novel as a whole Dancer is beautifully written, the plot is strong and the characters complete...as well as the description of the political issues that plaque Lubanda. The issue I see with Dancer...Is there a Payoff at the end of a sometimes difficult read?...For the casual reader I would have to say No....There can be seen weakness in both the conclusion of love Ray has for Martine and the murder case...But, to the avid Thomas H. Cook reader like myself all is equal through-out the book with no portion, such as solving the murder case, any stronger or weaker than any other portion, making Dancer a well-written, balanced, novel....-One item I wanted to mention that I have not seen in other reviews of Dancer...Edgar Allen Poe gets a mention on page one ("...that we easily become lost, to use Poe's exquisite phrase, in a wilderness of error."). Hence-forth, I found through-out where author Cook adopts (mimics -?) Poe's style of writing where the reader is drawn into the thoughts of the person telling the story (1st person), and these thoughts are of conversation with a second person, AND, that conversation is of the actions of a third-person, the MAIN subject of the 1st persons thoughts...such as in The Tell-Tale Heart!!!!! In fact, Cook does this a number of times through-out Dancer...couple this with the slip-sliding of time periods and the literary writing, Dancer in the Dust is a very heavy, well written book....just not the best novel to start with for the first time reader of Thomas H. Cook....4 outa 5 Stars!
August 11, 2024
91 days were wasted trying to read this book. I should have DNF a lot earlier. I'm nearly 40 ffs
June 26, 2019
What a thought provoking book. A hypothetical African country brings to life all the heartbreak and atrocities that plague the real people of that beleaguered continent (yes, Africa is a continent, not a country!).
From previous reading I know Mr Cook has spent time in Africa and his writing reflects his love and frustration. Another novel that reads like non-fiction. It makes you wonder how important aid from foreign countries really is. Do they want it? I’m with Martine, live and let live, maybe they don’t want Gucci bags and a Mercedes.
It’s like the missionaries trying to covert natives all over the world to their Christian beliefs. Is that what they wanted? Did it benefit them in anyway? I think overseas aid falls into this same category.
Big-eyed, bloated orphans are heart wrenching, but do they ever see the money? I’m sure it’s all wasted by bureaucracy as pointed out in the book.
From previous reading I know Mr Cook has spent time in Africa and his writing reflects his love and frustration. Another novel that reads like non-fiction. It makes you wonder how important aid from foreign countries really is. Do they want it? I’m with Martine, live and let live, maybe they don’t want Gucci bags and a Mercedes.
It’s like the missionaries trying to covert natives all over the world to their Christian beliefs. Is that what they wanted? Did it benefit them in anyway? I think overseas aid falls into this same category.
Big-eyed, bloated orphans are heart wrenching, but do they ever see the money? I’m sure it’s all wasted by bureaucracy as pointed out in the book.
May 25, 2025
This is another fabulous book by Thomas H. Cook. One should ignore the low ratings that some of his books have been given. They are no sound indication at all of their relative merits. His books are hard to categorize. They are mysteries or thrillers, but slowly and tightly wound up like an onion, which the author proceeds with slow and methodical intelligence to unwind layer by layer until one comes to the heart of the mystery, both unexpected and necessary. This one is set in the context of an impoverished African nation at the threshold and after its destruction by a despotic psychopath. Like his other work, this one is an exploration into the heart of darkness, the heart of man.
June 25, 2014
Twenty years ago Ray Campbell went to the fictional African country of Lubanda as a young idealistic aid worker. There he met (and fell in love with) Martine Aubert, a white, but still native born, Lubandan. As too often happens in Africa, things did not go well.
Two questions drive the narrative of A Dancer in the Dust by Thomas H Cook. First, what really happened twenty year ago, The Tumasi Road Incident? This is the mystery, but the soul of this novel is in the second question: What is the role of aid in the development of Africa?
With liberally interspersed combinations of flashbacks and sleuthing, Ray Campbell, the first-person protagonist, solves the first question. If you want an international, geopolitical mystery, this is the book for you.
For more see: http://1book42day.blogspot.com/2014/0...
I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway on May 22, 2014. I received my copy on June 13, 2014.
Two questions drive the narrative of A Dancer in the Dust by Thomas H Cook. First, what really happened twenty year ago, The Tumasi Road Incident? This is the mystery, but the soul of this novel is in the second question: What is the role of aid in the development of Africa?
With liberally interspersed combinations of flashbacks and sleuthing, Ray Campbell, the first-person protagonist, solves the first question. If you want an international, geopolitical mystery, this is the book for you.
For more see: http://1book42day.blogspot.com/2014/0...
I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway on May 22, 2014. I received my copy on June 13, 2014.
March 27, 2015
Thomas Cook never fails to awe me. I do understand however why people have previously commented this book may be difficult to read. It jumps all over the place as most of the story is told via the main character commonly remembering 'the past'. I 'personally' had no trouble following the story whatsoever - to me it was pretty evident when the main character was in New York versus his time spent in Africa. There are so many fantastic lessons within this book as we see Americans - I'm sure with great intentions - going to 'save' the country of Africa, according to 'their' belief system and yet, often creating more damage then they could ever imagine. This story squeaks of political intrigue, an in-depth romance and original good intentions that simply go wrong. Thomas Cook - you once again have returned as my all-time FAVOURITE author!
October 14, 2014
This story is told in a number of time periods, which jump back and forth. I'm not sure of the literary value of this technique, but it sure adds to confusion for me.
The main character is leading a quiet life in New York city, when the murder of an African man makes him return to Lubanda, a country where he spent a year as an aid worker twenty years previously. The friendships he made there appear related to the crime, but the country has undergone difficult times with tribal fighting, ruthless leaders, and an almost total lack of law and order. His conscience forces him to try to solve the mystery of why a penniless immigrant was killed far from his home.
The main character is leading a quiet life in New York city, when the murder of an African man makes him return to Lubanda, a country where he spent a year as an aid worker twenty years previously. The friendships he made there appear related to the crime, but the country has undergone difficult times with tribal fighting, ruthless leaders, and an almost total lack of law and order. His conscience forces him to try to solve the mystery of why a penniless immigrant was killed far from his home.
June 10, 2015
Although Cook is known for his mysteries, this effort is quite different. A young American man goes to a African country called Lubanda to ostensibly help the native people help cope with life in the 21st century. He meets and falls in love with a white Lubanda woman (the child of parents who immigrated from Belgium). Though she responds to him positively on an emotional level, she wants to keep the country the way it is. The natives are happy secure in their subsistence living , all the so-called aid they are offered will destroy their way of life. How the dou come to terms with their feeling and the reality of a changing Lubanda makes for a thought provoking novel.
March 22, 2015
I have struggled whether to give this one or two stars. I didn't hate it and the story was quite good. What I didn't like was the main character. He supposedly loved Martine but you never felt like it. He claims not to know what impact he was having, so he is obviously dumb as a box of rocks. So there lies my dilemma, the story is good but the main character ruins the story and makes it quite unbelievable. There is always a twist with Thomas H. Cook's stories but I have to admit I saw this one coming a mile away. I'm going to leave my rating at two stars because I'm feeling generous today.
September 13, 2015
Reminded me of the Poisonwood Bible to some extent. The damage we do while trying to do good. The price of charity to the receiver. Do the sacrifices get expunged by good intentions or the good we do? What makes you a citizen of a country? Deep questions all explored by this novel.
February 16, 2018
I have read most of Thomas Cooks earlier books, and was happy to see that he was still writing! (The only thing that annoyed me was the time I spent trying to find this fictional place on a map of Africa.)
July 25, 2017
Best book I have read in quite a while. Highest recommendation!
December 8, 2017
Great book - totally unexpected ending!
March 5, 2024
To be fair this book had parts that were almost 5 star. Some very profound but simple truths were expressed in this story. I feel like I came away with a better understanding of African tribalism. Also, in our desire to give aid, we are in fact always trying to improve other cultures by turning them into images of ourselves when in fact they were perfectly happy not being like us. I listened to an audio version and I did not care for the narration which put me off for about the first third of the book, then I guess I just got used to it. This book is not fast paced, that is for sure. If I had been actually reading this book instead of listening I suspect that I would have rated it at least 4*. Listing this book as a thriller is a bit of a disservice, yes there is murder but not of the ordinary mystery/thriller variety, it is literary fiction, very well done. The kind that gives the reader a lot to think about. I suppose what I liked least about it was the jumping around in time frames. Every once in a while I had to ask myself if what was happening was current, or 10 years ago, or 20 years ago.
February 13, 2019
L'auteur nous entraîne dans un pays d'Afrique imaginaire, le Lubanda, qui ressemble à tous les autres pays d'Afrique, ayant eu son lot de colonisateurs, de présidents fantoches, de dictateurs, de conflits tribaux, de racisme, d'ONG faisant de l’ingérence, et nous raconte ce pays à travers différentes visions qui s'opposent, celle d'une lubandaise ayant la malchance d'être une fermière blanche, celle des populations et individus noirs se frayant un chemin dans les luttes internes pour rester en vie, et celle du narrateur, blanc, américain définitivement marqué par son année passée en coopération dans une ONG sur le sol lubandais. La narration s'étend sur 20 ans et la structure du roman fait que d'un paragraphe à l'autre on passe des souvenirs lointains mais vifs au présent, au passé proche sans préavis. Cette distorsion du temps est peut-être ce qui est le plus déstabilisant dans ce roman à l'écriture que j'ai trouvée splendide .
August 7, 2022
A BRILLIANT READ
Thomas H, Cook, is a brilliant author. His writing is like poetry. From America to Africa, the story takes us back and forth to the place called, Lubunda. Ray Cambbell was a well known intentationed aid worker. Home in American, he finds out a friend of his was murdered, and is asked to look into what he had so important to be murdered, in American. Ray's thoughts of his time, and the only woman he will ever love tells his story. He ends up going back to Africa with hurt in his heart from what happens years before, where he finds the truth. It's a very sad story, but told in such a beautiful way. One that won't be easy to forget.
A Highly recommend read.
Thomas H, Cook, is a brilliant author. His writing is like poetry. From America to Africa, the story takes us back and forth to the place called, Lubunda. Ray Cambbell was a well known intentationed aid worker. Home in American, he finds out a friend of his was murdered, and is asked to look into what he had so important to be murdered, in American. Ray's thoughts of his time, and the only woman he will ever love tells his story. He ends up going back to Africa with hurt in his heart from what happens years before, where he finds the truth. It's a very sad story, but told in such a beautiful way. One that won't be easy to forget.
A Highly recommend read.
September 24, 2022
This is a tale of unintended consequences, and how sometimes, the best help is to not try to help.
Simply and nicely written, it gives the reader pause to contemplate the developed worlds' philosophies and attitudes against a backdrop of dry heat, dust and customs.
I come from a background of risk management, so instantly related to the main character, even when they made choices I might not have, it was still a genuine and believable character, who immersed for a while with other very real characters.
This is a beautiful (albeit confronting and brutal at times) cautionary tale, that deserves to be widely read.
I'm sure I will return to re-read this book a few years from now.
Simply and nicely written, it gives the reader pause to contemplate the developed worlds' philosophies and attitudes against a backdrop of dry heat, dust and customs.
I come from a background of risk management, so instantly related to the main character, even when they made choices I might not have, it was still a genuine and believable character, who immersed for a while with other very real characters.
This is a beautiful (albeit confronting and brutal at times) cautionary tale, that deserves to be widely read.
I'm sure I will return to re-read this book a few years from now.
May 8, 2023
This book will impress you with its outstanding writing and make you think about our efforts to impose our standards on other people and other countries. What is happiness for one person is not necessarily happiness for another person. When Ray goes to a (fictional) country in South Africa to 'make a difference', build a well, or otherwise improve the lives of the people there, he meets Martine, falls madly in love and becomes a spy. It takes many years before he comes to understand that Martine, and many others like her, enjoy life the way it is, farming some grain, trading for meat or milk, living the simple life.
January 16, 2018
well that broke my heart
October 19, 2018
As usual, fine writing, great story, albeit heartbreaking. I don’t even read cook’s synopsis of the book..because I’m sure it will be a great read.
April 25, 2019
An interesting perspective on the long-term ramifications of colonialism, and a well-written story.
But as far as plot, I just wasn't very engaged or invested.
But as far as plot, I just wasn't very engaged or invested.
August 3, 2019
Brilliant psychological thriller about aid worker who goes to African country.
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