Genre novels can blend entertainment with sly, wry, and smart social commentary. One espionage story centers on Hal Knight, a comedian and movie star who parlayed bro humor into a short-lived political career and resigned after a profane bullying video went viral. Hal's transgressions occupy a middle ground of bad male behavior, described on a spectrum from Al Franken at the tamest to Harvey Weinstein at the vilest, with final judgment often depending on who is judging. The opening finds Hal sulking on a Caribbean island, drinking dirty martinis and reading Philip Roth. The CIA watches him and recruits him to perform for the president of Bolrovia, suggesting deeper corruption in that country.
As we're told: On a spectrum of bad male behavior that ran from, say, Al Franken at its tamest to Harvey Weinstein at its vilest extreme, Hal's transgressions fell well toward the lower end, yet still within the vast middle ground where final judgment often depended on who was doing the judging. The opening of this tale finds Hal sulking in isolation on a Caribbean island, drinking dirty martinis and, appropriately enough, reading Philip Roth.
I've been following Dan Fesperman's espionage novels since his debut in 1999 with Lie in the Dark. That novel was set during the siege of Sarajevo, which Fesperman, a former foreign correspondent, covered. Pariah, his latest spy story, also draws from recognizable real-life figures and situations. Hal Knight, the anti-hero of this tale, is a comedian and movie star who parlayed his brand of bro humor into a political career.
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