Reviewed By: Lynn Harnett
The Wandering Ghost
Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Martin Limon
Class/Genre: Mystery Military
Soho Press, November 2007
Mystery, Asian, Korean fiction, military, modern historical
In this fifth in the series Sergeants Sueno and Bascom, Vietnam veterans and career military investigators, stationed in Korea in the 1970s, are sent to find Jill Matthewson, a female MP missing from a base in the DMZ and presumed murdered.
It’s an intriguing premise in an intriguing place and the partners’ differing styles – Bascom always full speed ahead and Sueno more sensitive to the cultural nuances – keeps the action moving and the plot unfolding.
The duo meet nothing but obstruction from the missing woman’s command, and it’s soon clear than sexual harassment was the order of the day every day. Then a soldier with a crush on Matthewson dies under disputed circumstances and Sueno and Bascom have a new lead to follow which takes them deep into the heart of the seamy underworld of the nearby town.
But corruption and sexual predation are not the whole story. A schoolgirl was killed by GI’s in an army truck and the responsible soldiers were quickly sent stateside with a slap on the wrist, sparking angry demonstrations in which Matthewson took part, a military crime.
With more than enough motive for murder, Sueno and Bascom follow each lead where it takes them, racking up a lot of enmity among the American brass while winning no thanks from the Koreans. The action ratchets up as Sueno and Bascom dodge bullets and betrayals, feeling their way in the morass of cultural misunderstanding and cross-motivation.
A Korea veteran himself, Martin Limon portrays the seamy, thriving, sex and bar trade, the cultural tensions and the beauty of the country with a keen and sensitive eye. Sueno, his narrator, has made an effort to learn Korean and understand the culture, which lends a wider dimension to the story. While the story itself goes on too long, the atmospheric depth remains colorful and absorbing.
Lynn Harnett
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Lynn Harnett
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