In Mongolia, as elsewhere, the police are under-funded, out-gunned and often out-witted in a perpetual battle against organized-crime bosses. British author Michael Walters relies heavily on an exotic setting to flavor The Adversary (2009, Berkley Prime Crime, New York, 368 pages), a mystery novel of cops versus killers.
Despite more than two decades of trying, the Serious Crimes Team based in Ulan Baatar, the Mongolian capital, fails to convict Muunokhoi, a powerful crime lord masquerading as a businessman. The story begins with the law enforcers humiliated as a tainted-evidence scandal lets the villain walk free again.
Nergui, formerly of the Serious Crimes Team, returns to investigate what went wrong. Some members of the “crime-fighting” team led by Doripalam, Nergui's past protégé, are corrupt. But who works for the dark side? Can they be exposed? Should Nergui and Doripalam trust each other?
As Doripalam says, “We are somewhere. We are deeply in the shit. The criminal world sees us as a laughing stock. The Prosecution Service believes that we are considerably worse than useless. The Ministry believes that we are either corrupt or inept, or more likely both.”
The plot weaves many threads. Even Judge Radnaa, who dismissed the Muunokhoi case, has a murky past. Is she corrupt? Meanwhile, a young man moves to the city, finds exciting work and then vanishes. His mother, a nomad, is murdered in her tent. An obese alcoholic named Tunjin, the investigator suspended for trying to nail Muunokhoi with false evidence, must flee from thugs seeking hideous
revenge.
The setting commands more attention than any character or event: “The bedroom window gave a view of the main street below. It was certainly nothing impressive. Depressing Soviet-style apartment blocks – just like this one – lined both sides of the street, preventing the sun from penetrating except in the very middle of the day. The occasional putting car went by, mostly clapped out old Ladas, the only kind of vehicle that could be afforded by the people who lived in these endless anonymous blocks.”
And outside the city, “The sun was setting behind them, staining the western sky a deep crimson. Blood, Nergui thought. It does really look like blood. It was as if a tide of blood was pouring down on the city. As if chaos really had arrived. As if all control was lost.”
The Adversary is Walters' second novel about Nergui and Doripalam. The previous one, The Shadow Walker, appeared in 2007. The author has another book, The Outcast, coming soon.
Ultimately, the heroes and bad guys simply stalk each other, with occasional yelling and shooting, until a final showdown. Readers will recognize aspects of hundreds of stories they've read before.
Eventually, an uninspired story overshadows the interesting setting. As crime mysteries go, this one rates below average.
Approval rating: 48 per cent.
(February 20, 2009)
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