Mamista - Hardcover

Deighton, Len

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060179368 ISBN 13: 9780060179366

Publisher: HarperCollins, 1991

Synopsis

Prompted by the discovery of oil in Spanish Guiana, the U.S. government intervenes in an attempt to keep the present government in that region in power and to foil the attempts of MAMista, a Marxist organization, to take over

About this title

About the Author

Born in London, Len Deighton served in the RAF before graduating from the Royal College of Art (which recently elected him a Senior Fellow). While in New York City working as a magazine illustrator he began writing his first novel, The Ipcress File, which was published in 1962. He is now the author of more than thirty books of fiction and non-fiction. At present living in Europe, he has, over the years, lived with his family in ten different countries from Austria to Portugal.

From Kirkus Reviews

Deighton's longest, most complex and passionate novel in years: an epic tale, set in a South American jungle, of good men and women crushed beneath the heel of Realpolitik. The world-weary pessimism that seeped into Spy Sinker (1990) stains these pages black; even Deighton's customary whimsy has withered into a pervasive bitter irony. Yet there's valor in his new, brilliantly realized huge cast of characters, beginning with two men who travel for different reasons to Spanish Guiana: Australian M.D. Ralph Lucas, sent by a relief group to research medical conditions in the area controlled by the MAMista Marxist guerrilla movement; and Angel Paz, an idealistic young ``Yanqui'' Marxist determined to fight for revolution. After meeting under the brutal gaze of the country's neofascist rulers, the pair-- accompanied by Inez, a beautiful female revolutionary--endure a harrowing air ride to the south, where they link up with General RamĒn, leader of the MAMista. There, disillusionment sets in as Lucas is shocked at the rampant disease and malnutrition, and Paz finds himself compared unfavorably by RamĒn to the wise, if capitalist, Lucas. A guerrilla raid on an American outpost jacks up the emotional tension: Inez, to her shame, kills in cold blood; Paz causes an innocent's death; a CIA man is captured--and proves the key for future horrors. Meanwhile, in mesmerizing scenes set--in contrast to the miasmic jungle--in elegant D.C. power venues, including the White House, the President and his chief advisor hammer out a shady deal with RamĒn to permit US exploitation of a huge oil find in guerrilla territory. To consecrate the deal, RamĒn sends Lucas and comrades to escort the CIA man north on a jungle trek that explodes in heroism, betrayal, absurdity, and death. The spirits of Graham Greene and Joseph Conrad hover over this stately, outstanding mix of tragedy and black farce that builds slowly--but inexorably--to its piercing conclusion. -- Copyright Đ1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0060179368
• ISBN 13: 9780060179366
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 410