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Eclipse
Damon Pierce is a gifted California lawyer whose work is starting to seem soulless. Then, from out of nowhere, two life-altering events take place: First, Damon’s wife announces that she’s leaving him. Next: A woman from his past reappears. Damon could never forget Marissa Brand Okari, his one-time great love. Now, she’s in trouble…and Damon decides to do everything i...more
Mass Market Paperback, 560 pages
Published
September 1st 2009
by St. Martin's Press
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Recently divorced, California lawyer Damon Pierce receives an urgent message from Marissa Brand, a woman he once loved (and perhaps still does), asking him to come to the West African country of Luandia. Marissa's husband, an activist named Bobby Okari has been accused of murder by the corrupt, brutal regime that runs the country.
Luandia sits on an oil of ocean and lots of outsiders, Americans included, are anxious to get their hands on it. None of them are much concerned about the w...more
Luandia sits on an oil of ocean and lots of outsiders, Americans included, are anxious to get their hands on it. None of them are much concerned about the w...more
Eclipse opens with the massacre of an Asari village in a ‘fictional’ African country Luandia. The brutal reprisal is aimed at Bobby Okari; leader of a freedom movement outraged at the world’s appetite for its oil, which has produced corruption, militias, environmental vandalism and the utter impoverishment of its people.
Marrisa, Bobby’s American wife, entreats Damon Pierce, a US lawyer with UN court experience, for help with her husband’s ersatz trial. Damon has always loved her f...more
Marrisa, Bobby’s American wife, entreats Damon Pierce, a US lawyer with UN court experience, for help with her husband’s ersatz trial. Damon has always loved her f...more
Richard North Patterson's Eclipse is marketed as a legal thriller that follows Boston-born attorney Damon Pierce to Africa to defend an old crush, Marissa, and her African husband against bogus charges planted by an evil, terrorist regime fueled by an American oil-company.
The novel excels in demonstrating the destruction, politics, and corruption that thrives in the "dirty" oil business, in fact at times this aspect is a bit repetitive. Character development drags a bit when...more
The novel excels in demonstrating the destruction, politics, and corruption that thrives in the "dirty" oil business, in fact at times this aspect is a bit repetitive. Character development drags a bit when...more
738 LP Pages
This is an international legal thriller with a chilling setting. If you read Patterson’s Cross Country and remember the parts set in Africa, the you are slightly prepared for this one. Take a high powered US civil rights lawyer, add an old university love interest and her African husband, throw them all together in a not so fictitious African Oil rich dictatorship where the only law is that of the jungle and the fittest and best armed and you have the story a farcical trial o...more
This is an international legal thriller with a chilling setting. If you read Patterson’s Cross Country and remember the parts set in Africa, the you are slightly prepared for this one. Take a high powered US civil rights lawyer, add an old university love interest and her African husband, throw them all together in a not so fictitious African Oil rich dictatorship where the only law is that of the jungle and the fittest and best armed and you have the story a farcical trial o...more
I love Richard North Patterson's books. This one isn't one of his best though. It's just average. It reminded me a lot of Exile. Eclipse is about an African that is speaking out against his country's human rights issues and the oil that drives it. He is married to an American woman that had went to law school with Damon Pierce, an international affairs lawyer. She calls Damon when her husband is arrested for murder. The book just goes from there. It's a quick read and is only a little over 330 p...more
mark
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
humanitarians & other concerned people
Shelves:
war,
relationships
I'd forgotten how much I like this author. I used to read him a lot. He is very topical and this one is right up to date. The war for oil and the consequences to the natives in all its complexity. Reminds me of a non-fiction i read some time ago, "Eating Apes." It also reminded me of Russel Bank's "The Darling." This was a very Good Read! It was based on a real person, but in a Nigeria (1991). In today's NY Times, Thomas Friedman talks about the need to end the "addictio...more
Richard North Patterson is an anomaly in the whiz-bang world of political thrillers. A meticulous stylist with a keen understanding of human naturein that sense, at least, his novels recall those of spymasters Robert Littell and John le Carr_тPatterson constructs taut, gripping plots without sacrificing his characters' humanity. In Eclipse, he handles complex relationships with a "jeweler's eye" (San Francisco Chronicle) and his ripped-from-the-headlines story with the sangfroid of
...more
Drick
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Recommended to Drick by:
drickb@aol.com
Shelves:
fiction,
murder-mystery
Loosely based on a real event that occurred in Nigeria in the 1990's. This story centers around Bobby Okari, a non-violent human rights advocate for the Osari people in the fictitious country of Luandia. The government in cahoots with PGL a multinational oil company massacres an Osari village and arrest Okari for the murder of three PGL employees. Damon Pierce a recently divorced human rights lawyer who is secretly in love with Bobby's wife, Marissa, goes to Luandia to defend Bobby amidst gross ...more
What Patterson has done here is create a really great story in an interesting landscape with a few really interesting characters. The story is set in Luandia, which is loosely based on the country of Nigeria. Bobby Okari fashions himself a modern-day Nelson Mandela, fighting for the good of his people, the Asari. When he is accused (perhaps wrongly, perhaps not) of orchestrating the lynching of three oil workers, his wife, the American Marissa, calls up an old friend for legal help. Damon Pier...more
This book was very realistic from beginning to end. When quickly reading the afterword it was based on events that actually happened in Nigeria. The characters were believable. It was refreshing to see that the book didn't necessarily end the way most people would want, ie. the american saves the day and gets the girl. It takes the topic of genocide and throws the reader right in the middle of it. It almost makes you feel as if you are there amongst the characters, experiencing this travesty tha...more
Another well conceived and grippingly executed "topical" book. Patterson's writing is as usual, stately, for lack of a better word. He wants you to take the subject of his book seriously, and you do! This one is about the greed and depravity surrounding oil, set in a fictional country called Luandia in west Africa (according to the other based on events in Nigeria which unfolded some years ago), revolving around a Luandian who goes up against a despotic president. In league with the pr...more
I listened on CD in my car while I was driving to Portland. I had a challenge really getting into the story because Patterson laid so much historical and political groundwork at the beginning. I know he was making an important point-that the quest for oil in this time of huge energy consumption continues to negatively impact the environment and the lives of indigenous people and their cultures. In addition it creates dangerous liaisons between countries and individual powerbrokers. The images he...more
Proof that you can't copyright a title is this book by Patterson, not Stephenie Meyer. What I enjoyed most was learning more about the politics of oil. The African setting was a plus as well, even if the country was a clear nod to Nigeria and Biafra, in my opinion. The subplot about the love triangle was handled adroitly and so did not sicken me as some romances do, with their drawn-out pinings/lamentations or mistaken assumptions that could be resolved in one second if the characters just sp...more
As always, Richard North Patterson has given us a fabulous story. He also has given the reader a stark reminder of how fortunate we are to live in a free country with all the rights and privileges we usually take for granted. This book is not for the faint of heart. Parts are harsh and frank reminders of horrible things that happen every single day in other parts of the world that we hardly, if ever, hear about.
But don't let this "reality" and "harshness" I speak ...more
But don't let this "reality" and "harshness" I speak ...more
Richard North Patterson ventures into John LeCarre territory in this wildly complicated book. The story he is telling is so big and so complex that it takes someone of Patterson's considerable skill to keep the plot from collapsing under the weight of the politics and economy of Luandia, a fictional African nation. What Patterson conveys, though, is a sense of the total insanity of life in a kleptocracy, where life and death hang on the merest whim of the nearest man with a gun. Patterson wri...more
This book failed to hold my interest. I finished it simply since I was on vacation with a limited reading selection at hand.
The story line and plot were interesting enough but I didn't find the characters engaging enough. I was disappointed that there was such a buildup on the bit about Pierce and his ex Amy and it never went anywhere.
It bothered me that characters were referred to by last names especially when the names are somewhat close (ie. Okimbo and Okari) this made...more
The story line and plot were interesting enough but I didn't find the characters engaging enough. I was disappointed that there was such a buildup on the bit about Pierce and his ex Amy and it never went anywhere.
It bothered me that characters were referred to by last names especially when the names are somewhat close (ie. Okimbo and Okari) this made...more
Boy, what a disappointment this book was. I like to listen to fast-paced books while I'm working (night and early morning hours) because it helps keep me moving and alert, and Patterson's books are usually in that category. After a few chapters, I started to feel lectured to, and that feeling remained throughout the book. He's drawing attention to the nations that take advantage of their people to garner wealth for the rulers in a fictional African country, but the message absolutely obliterates...more
Patterson let me down with this one. It's certainly an exciting story, as always. This one, based loosely on actual events in Nigeria, sends an American lawyer to the African nation of Luania to try to prevent the execution of a Mandela-type rights activist, who is married to a woman the lawyer once fell in love with when they were in a writing workshop together. Luania's political scene includes a brutal dictator and an American-based international oil company extracting the nation's oil wealth...more
If you've read "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" by John Perkins, which is nonfiction, reading a fictionalized version of a true story set in Luandia (otherwise known as Nigeria) adds tremendously to the already gruesome picture described by Perkins, by adding the impact of characters who represent corrupt government officials, distant uncaring oil company officials, and the damaged people of the country and culture affected. In "Confessions" we see the machinations of a ...more
Ed
rated it
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Legal, spy, thriller, political fiction fans.
At the start of this book, I thought to myself, "Oh, oh, he's writing another Exile but this time about Africa instead of the Middle East." It's set in the San Francisco Bay Area, the protagonist falls for an exotic foreigner and rushes off to rescue her, etc. I was wrong.
Instead, I was captivated by a story based on the execution of Nigeria's Ken Sara-Wiwa during the brutal Abacha regime. Though, fictional, it is obvious that Patterson's research: literary, consultative a...more
Instead, I was captivated by a story based on the execution of Nigeria's Ken Sara-Wiwa during the brutal Abacha regime. Though, fictional, it is obvious that Patterson's research: literary, consultative a...more
As Tina said so well:"An interesting premise, but I thought the author was more interested in making a political statement than telling a solid story. There were several areas where the book came off as "preachy" without really advancing the story."
And the dialogue was terrible. A country with a British colonial past would not have locals saying stuff like : "...without receiving a DIME" (my emphasis).
Really, this book is very poor work. I won't be readi...more
And the dialogue was terrible. A country with a British colonial past would not have locals saying stuff like : "...without receiving a DIME" (my emphasis).
Really, this book is very poor work. I won't be readi...more
Like most of Patterson's books, this was not a quick or easy to read. It required some thought and care in following the plot and characters. The basic story is that a middle aged American attorney who had, in his youth, a relationship with a woman who married an African and is brought back into their lives after the husband is arrested for a political murder in his homeland. Politics, economic politics, oil, dictatorships, terror and love are all well covered in this book. A great read.
More than the usual legal thriller; this one is loosely based on recent Nigerian history, and - okay, it's a little heavy on the AUTHOR'S MESSAGE!! (multinational corporations which are complicit with the rulers of African kleptocracies in exploiting natural resources at the expense of the land an the people are EVIL) but, you know, I agree. The early part is a little boring, but when Pierce travels to Africa, it starts getting good.
I thought this book was great- it is really a thought provoking fiction story about the geo-politics of oil, it is based on some actual events in Nigeria but takes place in an imaginary African country. The characters were very compelling and the story really draws you in.
My only complaint would be it was not as fast moving as I would have liked.
My only complaint would be it was not as fast moving as I would have liked.
Richard North Patterson is one of my favorite authors. He has such a gift for taking a complex world situation, weaving it into a fictitous story and making you think. While not as good as Exile this book makes you aware of the consequences of dependency on foreign oil and the devastation of a country, run by a dictator, and having oil as the resource that runs everything.
As in Exile, an American attorney is drawn into a complicated situation involving foreign influences by a woman from his past. RNP started his career with courtroom dramas and moved into heavy political novels. These last two move from domestic into global political issues and bring back some of the early courtroom drama. This one's good, and makes you think about the effect our dependence on oil has on a country like Nigeria, on which the fictional country Luandia is based, but if you're only r...more
I have always enjoyed Richard North Patterson's books, this one is probably my least favorite. There is an honorable theme to the book, about how the lust for oil has led the U.S. and other countries to "look the other way" when dictators & cruel leaders have abused/tortured their people. The story is based on a man and his wife in fictional Luandia, whose land has been destroyed by oil companies. In speaking out for his people, the main character Bobby is falsely arrested for the lync...more
What a great story - a slow start but makes for compelling reading and a really sad indictment on the oil industry - it is a beautifully written account of greed, corruption and environmental damage done by oil. His fictional West African country of Luandia was so vividly drawn I found myself back in Nigeria watching my back!
Based on civil situations in Nigeria, Richard North Patterson discusses the great injustices brought on by greed, corruption and big international oil companies. He does not shy away from the violence, but the violence is not gratuitous. . . . Makes one consider the possibilities of the mule and cart all over again.
This tells the tale of the downward spiral of corruption in a fictional African nation when you mix a demogogue, martial law, corruption and oil. While this only skims the surface in thriller-style/Grisham-style storytelling, the afterward is quite interesting as it tells the source of the inspiration.
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Richard North Patterson is the author of fourteen previous bestselling and critically acclaimed novels. Formerly a trial lawyer, Patterson served as the SEC’s liaison to the Watergate special prosecutor and has served on the boards of several Washington advocacy groups dealing with gun violence, political reform, and women’s rights. He lives in San Francisco and on Martha’s Vineyard.
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