A Clean Death

by Adriaan Verheul

Finalist Next Generation Indie Book Awards: First Novel over 80,000 words.A gripping murder mystery about three men meeting in the jungle to disastrous results. Oliver, a junior banker, is seeking answers about the death of his father, Johan, but uncovers more than he bargains for. Captain Christmas leads a murderous community of armed men, women, and children, hiding from justice in the forest. Young Davey is unemployed, fanatical about guns and sees a worldwide conspiracy in the disarmament of Christmas' group, which Johan had organized in an attempt to balance peace and justice. On a dare, Davey travels overseas to stop the disarmament. Their meeting, moral struggles, and the surrounding events cause each of them to lose something of consequence: illusion, conviction, or life itself.

320 pages, Paperback

Published December 31, 2017

About the author

Adriaan Verheul was born in Venezuela to Dutch parents. He worked as an academic with the Dutch navy, as a United Nations human rights officer and peacekeeper, World Bank official, and independent foreign affairs consultant. His work took him to conflict and disaster zones on four continents. Somehow, he ended up in the business of demobilizing rebels and soldiers after civil war. He has degrees from Leyden University and lives in Northern Virginia.

Reviews

[David Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Clean Death. I liked this book so much more than I thought I would. It is excellent. I couldn’t put it down. It’s been sitting on my shelf for over a year. The author, a former colleague – Adriaan Verheul, asked every now and then if I had read it. I decided to start off 2022 by tackling a book I feared I might not like. Let me explain. Both Adriaan and I have crossed paths at, perhaps several United Nations peacekeeping missions. I have read other books by former colleagues who shall, of course, remain nameless – point being, I found their writing to be worth less than the paper on which the words were printed. Far too many UN civil servants have written about places they have lived in, but not understood. Adriaan’s book is different. The City by the Water in an unidentified country is a place many of us have been to, despite the location being a composite of many places.
Adriaan understands intimately the shortcomings of disarmament programmes, he understands the sordid side of international non-governmental organisations that are more concerned with cash and image than results. His imaginary GAPI could be one of many NGOs I’ve come across over the years – orgs I unflatteringly refer to as beltway bandits.

The main story line is this: an American NGO is offered a significant amount of money to come up with a plan to convince a Joseph Kony-type character to convince his followers to hand in their weapons in exchange for stuff, including the possibility of a return to a job in civilian life. The person running the programme is killed, and his son attempts to find out why.

The story is much more exciting and interesting than my brief resume, and I’ll be recommending this book to many people.

For those who haven’t lived in such places, the storyline is fantastic. For those who have, everything he writes is possible and has already happened in one form or another.

Adriaan – sorry I took so long to get around to this. Your book deserves more attention, and certainly much wider distribution.

Two more things: 1. I see a strong possibility for a sequel and 2. This book could have been longer, however, having lived and worked in the Netherlands, I will make a sweeping, general statement and say that I know that the earnest and frank Dutch people tend to get to the point faster than many others.

[Pegboard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oliver is sent to retrieve the remains of his father, who had an unfortunate accident. He isn’t told much about the cause of death, but just about anything could have happened while Johan worked in the third world country, City by the Water. Johan’s job was to better the lives of the poor people; whether it is creating jobs, improving their education, or getting the healthcare they need to live.

The story then jumps back two years into Johan’s life when his job shifted to a more dangerous description. He is to find the local terrorist and make a deal with him to procure the safety of the community, or better yet, get justice for the villagers he murdered. Next, Oliver is doing all he can to find the killer since GAPI falls to give up any information.

As the story flip-flops back and forth, it adds Davey to the mix. Davey was mouthing off in a bar about the guns that were being taken away from the warlords; so everyone took up a collection and sent him over to find out why they would give up their guns. He learns the hard way the evil motives of the warlord and has to team up with Oliver to escape their grips.

[Elaine Donadio · Rating 5 out of 5]

A disturbing but seemingly accurate story of wanton violence in an unnamed part of the world where the guys with the biggest guns and the smallest consciences reign supreme. This almost reads like a memoir rather than a work of fiction. Details, explanations, actions, behaviors, and streams of consciousness that seem to reflect the soul of the author are on point—feeling like a recounting of what actually happened rather than a list of fabricated events. This author knows his stuff.

The author, Adriaan Verheul, " worked as an academic with the Dutch navy, as a United Nations human rights officer and peacekeeper, World Bank official, and independent foreign affairs consultant. His work took him to conflict and disaster zones on four continents. Somehow, he ended up in the business of demobilizing rebels and soldiers after civil war."

Oliver, the main character, takes a leave from his position as a banker to recover and bring home the body of his father Johan from a God-forsaken jungle land plagued by violence. Johan was on a mission to supply great sums of money to Captain Christmas, a vicious war lord, in exchange for the surrender of guns. Promises were made, but not kept. Oliver discovers that everyone is on the take—from government officials to the police and morgue employees. Want to go home with your father's body? It will cost you. Want them to tell you who killed your father and why? It will cost you. Want to meet up with the powerful warlord, Captain Christmas,  who has all the answers? It will cost you. The problem is, money is paid out but answers do not flow in.

A clean death is swift and painless without needless suffering. Johan was shot twice in the heart, giving him a clean death, demonstrating that whoever killed him, liked and respected him. It's almost a sign of affection and deference in a violent society. Hmmm.

This brings us to Davey, a young, idealistic American proponent of an armed citizenry. He believes that guns are for self-protection and disarmament is a tool of the establishment to suppress its people. Davey travels to the City By the Water to verbally support the armed marauders. You see, Davey has no idea of the horrors Captain Christmas and his terror group have inflicted on the innocent: gutting, body mutilations, rapes, beheadings, parents being forced to eat the intestines of their dead children to name a few. Oliver and Davey cross paths. Davey learns his lesson, and returns to the United States as a broken man. On the other hand, this jungle fiasco acts as a magnet for Oliver, capturing his mind and heart.

I tried to surmise the setting by Googling what I thought might be clues: City By the Water, John Cabrero aka Captain Christmas, V6, Skipper Boutique, Colonel Neptune, local drinks mentioned. Nothing. Dead end. (By the way, the author stated in a published interview response that he actually has met people who go by some of these names.) I entered the topography of the region and got a few bites. By process of elimination, I decided war-torn Africa is a likely location. Further research pointed to Democratic Republic of Congo where a heavy United Nations presence led to more harm than good, according to local officials. This is in the midst of Rwandan genocidal Hutu maniacs fleeing to DR Congo, inflicting even more pain and horrors on their already desperate country. Also ignored are the efforts at peacekeeping, reconstruction of country and military, democratic elections, and the aid in rebel opposition. According to the DR Congo government, the helpers didn't help—just made things worse. Huh? This little bit of history corroborates the events in the book.

I don't know if I am correct in my guess of settings. Maybe as a clue or a red herring, the cover photo is attributed to a photo taken at the DR Congo. But, what I do know, like the book and as in real DR Congo history, the government benefitted from the chaos, and they were not sincere in wanting it to end.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Third world situations when grown son heads to return his father's body and learn more about his world-wide work life following his death.