SMOKE AND MIRRORS, BUT WHO LIT THE FIRE?

I was leaning towards only 4 stars because for me it wasn’t as good as some of his other novels, a number of which I have reviewed, most notably A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS, however, on reflection I decided to upgrade to 5 stars. The blueprint for a novel, in essence, is an engaging character to whom you can relate (either love or hate) is faced with a seemingly insurmountable problem, which he or she, after many vicissitudes, resolves in a satisfying denouement. More obvious and discernible in the crime, mystery or thriller, but the mechanics apply across the board.
Roger certainly does this in PROOF OF LIFE, which, unlike his other books which are set in America, has Europe as the locale – London, Paris, Amsterdam and Berlin. He grabs your attention right from the beginning when Stroud, a war photographer, sees a blurred photo which appears to be of a friend and colleague, Vincent Raphael, whom he believed killed 6 years before when a hand grenade was thrown in the window of his Land Rover in Jordan. And you are off with Stroud to various capitals around Europe as he tries to confirm the truth and unravel the mystery. In some ways I felt it was reminiscent of Graham Greene and Eric Ambler, and who could be unhappy about that?
In some places it seemed “too talkie”, but then there were all the pluses: well rounded, fully developed characters; a complex puzzle of a plot; like Stroud you don’t know who is who, who you can trust and what their goals are; an extremely exciting section in the middle, where many authors have a problem with a lengthy sag, a logical revelation, and if the resolution was different from what I might have done there was a most satisfying twist at the end.
Well worth the money to re-visit an old friend, as the best authors are.
Happy reading, Eric.

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