David Waltner-Toews, Fear of Landing

Fear of Landing

David Waltner-Toews

Poisoned Pen, Jun 2007, $24.95

ISBN: 1590583493

Canadian Mennonite Abner "Ab" Dueck is in Indonesia working on a project to import cows from North America to Java. He is a veterinarian stationed there for two years keeping the cattle healthy and training his local successor to take over once he leaves.

However something is amiss when the cattle begin dying at Gandringan in Boyclali and from anthrax at Susu Senang. Ab learns they were poisoned so that the butchers can get the meat for free when they die and serve it at the Festival of Eid al Fitr. No one has a clue as to whom the culprit is where the anthrax is. Ab's childhood friend and boss George is not concerned with the cattle problems. He is only interested in the Kris dagger he found. He visits Ab's assistant Soesanto to find out whether it is a genuine artifact or a cheap souvenir. The same day Ab finds Soesanto's bludgeoned corpse sliced by a dagger he fnds George's murdered body near the cattle. Officials tell Ab to leave the country within a week. George's coffin reaches Canada where inside is stones. Despite the danger Ab investigates the two homicides.

This tale takes place in the 1980s when President Suharto backed by the US government ruled Indonesia with an iron fist as millions vanished and or were murdered. Readers obtain a deep look at what it was like to live under a strict dictatorship where a person must be careful with what they say and to whom they say it. Ab is not the heroic type yet he seeks the truth knowing full well the danger he risks by stubbornly doing so. Feeling like a historical though only two plus decades have past, the exotic locale, the interesting cast, and the double murders turn David Waltner-Toews novel into an exciting read.

Harriet Klausner