Mills, Kyle: Lords of Corruption

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Josh Hagarty's finding it hard to land a job. Would-be employers are scared off once they look past his MBA and stellar grades, unwilling to take a risk. So when Josh is finally offered a position that will earn him enough to pay off his mountain of debt and send his sister to an Ivy-League school, he jumps at the chance--despite the negatives: Josh will run a project for a charitable project that works out of Africa. The job implies a move to an unnamed African country that's riven by tribal disputes and controlled by a brutal, unpredictable tyrant. Still, the pay is good, and Josh is a nice enough guy that he's hoping to be able to make a difference. But the truth of his situation hits soon after his plane lands: the country is impossibly corrupt, the charity that hired him has gotten better press than it deserves, and Josh's predecessor in the job was hacked to death by a machete-wielding co-worker. Suddenly, Josh's plans for his family's advancement take a back seat to his hopes for escape, or simply survival.

Kyle Mills's Lords of Corruption is a fast-paced, well-written, well-structured book. The motivations of the characters, both the good guys and the reprehensible madmen they're up against, are explained, so it's clear what's on the line for each of them. Most interesting, the story Mills tells is not black and white. Mills accentuates the moral ambiguities of his characters' actions. Even the actions of well-intentioned charities are examined. The only thing that gave me pause was that the relationship between Josh and J.B., a cynical reporter who's been on the Africa beat for years, developed too quickly for me to swallow. Also, one particular escape scene--Josh hiding in an office--struck me as implausible. In other words, hardly anything about the book bothered me. Lords of Corruption is a really good, fast read.