Because Ideas Matter...
The faculty and staff of Butler University's College of Liberal
Arts and Sciences presents
Recommended Readings
Eclipse
by Richard North Patterson, St. Martin's 2009
Reviewed by Judi Morrel
Inspired by the true story of the
human-rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa's arbitrary tribunal in Nigeria
about 15 years ago, Eclipse is a can't-put-it-down, geopolitical
legal thriller, akin in some ways to Patterson's last novel, Exile.
The setting of Eclipse is a fictional West African country,
Luandia, with a corrupt military government, a brutal dictator and
vast oil reserves. The idealist-activist is Bobby Okari, a
Mandela-like figure who stands accused of murdering three oil
workers. Okari, while espousing non-violent protests and working to
secure freedom for his countrymen, has become a thorn in the side
of the dictator, General Savior Karama, who has become enormously
wealthy because of Luandia's dealings with PetroGlobal, a giant
U.S. oil company. Damon Pierce, a California lawyer who knew both
Okari and his wife Marissa when they were students at Berkeley,
goes to Luandia to defend Okari in what turns into a mockery of a
trial. Like most novels of this genre, the action is fast-paced and
the plot is twisted; unlike many of this genre, the characters are
well-developed and the writing is both evocative and provocative,
especially when it comes to the delicate balance between the
industrialized west, oil-rich developing countries, big business,
the planet's eco-system and human rights. While you will enjoy the
ride, as almost no one writes better trial scenes than the former
attorney Patterson, you will be left with questions about the
world's lust for oil and the effects that lust has on many
impoverished people.
- Judi Morrel is associate professor of mathematics at Butler
University.