Bloodland: A Novel
*Starred Review* Celebrity biographies are hardly high art, but Irish journalist Jimmy Gilroy needs to pay the bills. When he takes on the tale of the late starlet Susie Monaghan, little does he know it’ll be the biggest story of his career. Monaghan’s vapid and debauched life was cut short by a helicopter crash in the Congo that was initially ruled an accident. Then details emerge suggesting it was anything but. Turns out, Monaghan was “collateral damage” on a flight that was doomed from the start; the real target was a fellow passenger who knew a little too much. Layer by layer, Gilroy exposes an elaborate cover-up involving, among others, a wily entrepreneur, a paranoid former prime minister, and the brother of a U.S. senator with his sights on the Oval Office. At the heart of the darkness is exploitation of a precious mineral buried deep in the African jungle. As Gilroy gets closer to the truth, two of his sources drop dead—one murdered, the other a suicide. Can he complete his investigation before anyone else is done in? Can he stay alive? Glynn (Limitless, 2011) delivers an intricate plot and relentless suspense in this taut, top-notch thriller about the evils that men do. --Allison Block