Paul Alkazraji

There really is a lot to like about Paul Alkazraji's The Silencer, however those things which I didn't like tended to get in the way.
The book is very well written, using local knowledge to great effect and I especially appreciated some of the small details which embellished the time and place of the various locations in which the action takes place, notably of Turkey and Albania and to a lesser extent Greece.
The plot is a classic race against time as a hitman with a personal grudge closes in on his unwitting target. The author manages this particularly well, painting his would be hitman with some nasty traits and although decidedly amateurish and drawing attention to himself at every turn he is able to stumble through corrupt and porous border posts and as he closes in on his quarry you wonder will he be foiled or get cold feet, or see his mission through.
A puppet of wider nefarious interests determined to prevent publication of the biography of a reformed Albanian mafioso, the focus of his ire and blood lust is a young Christian missionary Englishman, Jude.
As much as the bad guys are well drawn and credible, the good guys, Jude and his wife Alex, are clothed in an irritatingly cuddly glow of innocence and simplicity, although their Albanian and Turkish colleagues and minders find much more favour.
I found myself uncaring as to the prospects for Jude and Alex, not least as they seemed to contribute so little to the intended audience for their mission other than for a simpleton farmer boy seeking relief from his employer/owner.
Much of their time together seems to be taken up in reading the Bible, and enjoying cosy Middle England breakfasts on their balcony before Alex spends her days making pine baskets and Jude wanders from place to place drinking coffee. Quite how their relatively privileged lifestyle in this Albanian outpost is funded is never clear, and it is little wonder when one of the local ladies being 'assisted' in selling crafts takes umbrage. This minor lack of appreciation of Alex's good intentions sends her into a depression and the ensuing near breakdown of Jude and Alex's relationship is crass as you just sense the point of writing this seque is so that it will all be put right by the power of God, and that is where the book undoes so much that is good in the literary sense. There are all too convenient portentious dreams fortelling of a mysterious foreigner closing in, the intent to show who's side God is on, and copious bible quotations peppered throught the book to ensure we understand that trust in God's will is all that is required to enable a positive outcome. History tells us otherwise of course, and yet here we are expected to root for the ultimate in blind faith do gooders.
There is an apparently serious story to be told about religious intolerance in the Balkans and yet the devices used in The Silencer fail to explore the depth of these challenges.
As a thriller The Silencer works well, is intelligently written with lovely detailed Balkans scene setting, and I appreciate that choosing a couple of Christian missionaries at work in an Albaniain outpost is not unrealistic and as viable as any other scenario to hold the plot, and all in all I enjoyed the book and would recommend it if you can overlook the bible references and the overt, overly simplistic good versus evil premise which turned a 4 star book into 3 stars from me.
I was fortunate to receive The Silencer from the author, with a pleasant written letter from the publisher, as a Goodreads Giveaway win, for which I express my gratitude.… (mais)