From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. This stellar legal thriller from bestseller Patterson (Exile) both informs and entertains. On the eve of getting a divorce, Damon Pierce, a 40-year-old partner in a huge San Francisco, Calif., law firm, who specializes in international litigation, e-mails Marissa Brand, a woman he was once in love with in college, to update her on his life. Marissa is married to Bobby Okari, a firebrand reformer whose Nigeria-like country, Luandia, is awash in oil. With these riches come the usual scenarios: ecological disasters, a brutal dictator with murderous henchmen, a rapacious foreign oil company and an oppressed populace. After everyone in Okari's village is slaughtered, Bobby is arrested for the lynching of three oil workers. Damon, because he's a good man and because he's still in love with Marissa, signs on to defend Bobby from the bogus charge. Patterson has exerted all his considerable skill in creating a nightmare atmosphere that will cling to readers long after the last page is turned. ( )

I received this book as an early reviewer's copy. The author is a lawyer and writes what he knows best, legal mystery/thriller. In this book, his main character is a lawyer with a personal interest in what happens to his friends and it is based on real events that happened in Africa a number of years ago. It was an interesting read, and I would like to read more of this author. ( )

Richard North Patterson’s compelling look at the corruption caused by the oil industry in a fictional African country is thoughtful, timely, and full of the rich characterizations that readers have come to expect from this author. Difficult to read in places, the book presents a frankly realistic depiction of government brutality and international indifference that mirrors real life in too many places in Africa today.

When American lawyer Damon Pierce’s midlife crisis is interrupted by a frantic e-mail from Marissa Okari, an old college flame, he responds, traveling to the volatile and dangerous West African nation of Luandia. Marissa and her husband, Bobbie Okari, are witnesses to the brutal slaughter of an entire village during a human-rights protest. Now Bobbie has been arrested for the murder of three employees of PetroGlobal, the American oil company whose money has made Luadia’s corrupt dictator a billionaire. Pierce, still in love with Marissa, agrees to represent Bobbie against the trumped-up charges. Okari’s eventual trial by tribunal is at once a masterpiece of legal fiction and an in-depth look at the injustice all too often born from the dirty womb of oil money in an otherwise impoverished nation.

While Luandia is clearly modeled on Nigeria (the author admits as much in an afterword), Patterson does a good job of creating a distinct setting that adds veracity to the story while managing to avoid being a mere photocopy of an actual nation. A thoughtful mix of actual and fictional cultural details brings Luandia to life and places the reader firmly in the characters’ world. The writing is excellent, and the story, while at times infuriating to Western sensibilities, carries the reader through to the thrilling if inevitable conclusion. Unfortunately included is an adulterous sexual encounter between Pierce and Marissa Okari that adds nothing to the story. The book also includes accounts of rape, murder, kidnapping, and other atrocities that are, sadly, realities of life in parts of Africa.

While not for squeamish readers, Eclipse is a worthwhile book for those able to endure some rather horrible depictions of violence and corruption (along with some leftist political leanings). It’s not exactly beach reading, but the message is important for Western readers ready to take a closer look at how our voracious appetite for oil affects the people who live in the nations it comes from. ( )

Luandia, a fictitious African country with a Muslim north and an oil rich south, environmental despoliation, ethnic unrest, corruption and post colonial collapse, is the setting of Richard North Patterson’s new book – am I the only one who thinks ‘Luanda’ and ‘Nigeria’?

RNP is generally a boring writer – especially his so-called thrillers about American politics – but Eclipse is a surprising good read and poses several valid questions.

Pacifist writer Bobby Okari is facing unjust execution: America won’t help because it needs Luandia’s oil and dare not offend the country’s dictator: however South Africa, even Okari’s personal hero international idol Nelson Mandela, is also silent.

Will South Africa go all the way and excuse unspeakable evil simply because the heinous deeds are perpetrated by black Africans? The very thought is enough to cause indigestion. ( )

This book was lent to me by a friend. I really ended up enjoying it. While a lot of reviews says it takes a bit to get into the story, from the start I was pretty much hooked.
The story follows a lawyer who is called into a possible international case by a woman he has always been in love with. The story speaks to the poverty and corruption that is somewhat commonplace in Africa and how an idealistic activist is framed for murder as a cover-up to a massacre.
The best of this novel lies in the details created for the imaginary nation of Luandia. At times it can be a little overwhelming by the politics but every description is necessary to set the stage for the trial and prosecution of Bobby Okari.
I don't know that I would read this author again because looking at his book descriptions they all seem to follow the same formula.
However I did really like this book and would recommend it. ( )