Peacekeeping, (Paperback)

Publishers Weekly,In tones that shift effortlessly from journalistic to atmospheric to deeply, darkly funny, Berlinski (Fieldwork) evokes a very detailed sense of place in his second novel. Set in J���r���mie, a small town on the southwestern peninsula of Haiti, on the edge the "azure stage" of the Caribbean-where "life is fragile, transient: any day might be your last"-we are introduced to Terry White, a former deputy sheriff and failed Florida politician, who, looking for redemption in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, takes a position with the United Nations Police peacekeeping mission. Terry is drawn first by his close relationship with the brilliant American-educated judge Johel C���lestin and then by the judge's beautiful, enigmatic, green-eyed wife, Nadia ("Haiti," according to our narrator, a writer in J���r���mie accompanying his wife, who is a member of the UN mission, "was a place that sunk tentacles down deep into the soul"). The political and personal become entangled as Terry encourages the judge to challenge the long-standing Senat���ur Maxim Bayard's hold on the region and build a road between the town and Port Au Prince. In the Judge's words, "A mango tree and a road are school fees for your child... A mango tree without a road is a pile of fruit." The narrator is an unnamed friend of Terry's well-meaning and sociable wife, Kay, and the story unfolds as his account of the events. Berlinski himself lived in J���r���mie while his wife worked for the UN, and the pages are steeped in verisimilitude, even (and perhaps more so) when the story tips to the outrageous. This is a fascinating and well-plotted novel. Agent: Susan Ginsburg, Writers House. (Mar.) ��� Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.