27. Head Count

Head Count - Brian Duffy

This book was not bad, but also not very interesting. It never grabbed me. It never made me want to read the next page. It never made me want to know what happened next. I was able to put it down anywhere, even mid paragraph, and pick it up later with the same lack of interest I had before.

It was written in 1991. The year the Soviet Union fell apart. That turmoil caused problems for some. A fictitious East African country for one. A German man who was formerly a Stasi-agent. A Romanian man who was a member of the Protectorate.

The story is about a business man in Spain was exiled from South Africa and has plans to rule this smaller and poorer East African country who hires some of these men as "mercenaries". They are to set things in motion that will topple the fragile government. This same man has already been funding a group of "bandits" that have caused havoc int he countryside. He brings these guys in to break the camels back in the capital city.

Then there are the heroes. A detective in the capital's police department. A police department that has only two men it seems. The detective's childhood friend, who just happens to now be a prominent FBI counter-terrorism agent with connections in the CIA and elsewhere (how convenient).

Oh...the good guys win. Who cares.

This book is supposed to have "black" or "dark" humor with blurbs that say it made them laugh out loud. Laugh? Out loud? Even a chuckle may have been nice. I read nothing that I found even remotely humorous.

How obscure is this book? I can't find a photo of the cover on line anywhere. When I do a Google search, my own blog comes up twice in the top six results. Ugh. I had to scan my own cover to get a photo.

Don't waste your time.