Horn of Africa
by Philip Caputo
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Description
When Vietnam veteran and foreign correspondent Charlie Gage is recruited by the shadowy Thomas Colfax to assist with something called Operation Atropos, he has no idea he is about to be enlisted for guerilla warfare in northeast Africa. Once he realizes he’s a mercenary, however, he is not at all concerned. Ever since his young secretary was killed by a grenade at their bureau office in Beirut a couple of years before, he has lost all volition. Which is why he so readily capitulates not show more only to Colfax, but also, and more dangerously so, to every command of Jeremy Nordstrand, the mystical megalomaniac determined to achieve greatness on their seemingly suicidal mission. Set in the forsaken yet exotic deserts of Ethiopia, Horn of Africa is a vividly detailed and masterfully plotted novel chronicling a broken man’s struggle for salvation and inner freedom in the midst of a broken nation’s fight for stability and peace. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
A methodically paced novel about a small team of three down and out ex-military men hired by a rogue CIA agent to help bolster the efforts of a civil war within the fictional province of Bejaya squeezed between the Sudan & Ethiopia.
It's certainly a rather dark story pertaining to the seedier side of human nature and the depths to which some people will go in order to find and/or challenge themselves.
Wasn't terrible but I wasn't particularly enthused either, in parts it felt like a lot of sentences and description was used to say not a lot. That being said, it was still, a reasonable story of mercenary work in Africa with an ending that fitted the book's story.
It's certainly a rather dark story pertaining to the seedier side of human nature and the depths to which some people will go in order to find and/or challenge themselves.
Wasn't terrible but I wasn't particularly enthused either, in parts it felt like a lot of sentences and description was used to say not a lot. That being said, it was still, a reasonable story of mercenary work in Africa with an ending that fitted the book's story.
Horn of Africa is Caputo's best novel. It echoes Heart of Darkness in telling the tale of an ill-conceived and illegal CIA operation in a fictional African country that sounds very much like Sudan. Told from the first-person perspective of one of the mercenaries, it's a terrific read.
I stumbled upon this book at the library while it was still out of print. I thoroughly enjoyed it - a good example of the action-adventure novel that delves into Graham Greene ethical conflict territory. Since reading it I've read almost everything by Caputo.
Just a super read. Caputo takes you along on a Cold War spy mission in a war-torn country where a small group of CIA operatives are headed to train the locals in modern weaponry.
#704 in our old book database. Not rated.
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Author Information
21+ Works 4,855 Members
Philip Caputo was born on June 10, 1941 in Chicago, Illinois. He received a B.A. from Loyola University in 1964. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1964 to 1967. His first book, A Rumor of War (1977), recounts his military tour of Vietnam. He has written more than fifteen books including Horn of Africa, Indian Country, Equation for Evil, show more Crossers, and The Longest Road. His journalism career began in 1968, when he joined the staff of the Chicago Tribune, serving as a general assignment and team investigative reporter until 1972 and then as a foreign correspondent for the next five years. In 1972 he and Hugh Jones received a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of election fraud in the primaries. He has also written for the New York Times, Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, and many other publications. He has worked as a screenwriter for Paramount Pictures and Michael Douglas Productions. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Awards and Honors
Awards
Distinctions
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Horn of Africa
- Original publication date
- 1980
- People/Characters
- Thomas Colfax; Charlie Gage; Jeremy Nordstrand
- Important places
- Africa; Ethiopia
- Dedication
- This book is dedicated to the memory of
STANLEY A. CLAYES
A decent, civilized man whose very existence was a reproach to the violence and absurdity of this age. - First words
- He was thick-chested and light-haired, with sloping shoulders joined so smoothly to his neck he seemed not to have any neck at all, and a head whose size made his shoulders look narrower than they were, a side round head whic... (show all)h he cocked slightly forward when he walked, swinging his arms as if he meant to smash through whatever stood in his way.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)The image burst when Harry Carr said:
"I'll be listening to your song, and I don't want to hear you hit any false notes." - Original language
- English
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 185
- Popularity
- 176,310
- Reviews
- 5
- Rating
- (3.75)
- Languages
- Dutch, English, French, German
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 17
- ASINs
- 4
