Acts of Faith

Starred review from February 28, 2005
Caputo's ambitious adventure novel, set against a backdrop of the Sudanese wars, makes for a dense, riveting update on Graham Greene's The Quiet American
. The American in this case is Douglas Braithwaite, a "mercenary with a conscience" who founds Knight Air, a charter airline that conveys relief supplies from NGOs to war-torn southern Sudan. Braithwaite launches his service by flying aid to the Nuba, a region in the northern Sudanese sphere of influence that is a no-go zone for U.N.-sponsored airlines. He hires Fitzhugh Martin, a former soccer star and mixed-race Kenyan from the Seychelles Islands, as his operations manager, and soon teams up with Texan bush pilot Wes Dare as well as a shady Somali financier. From Fitzhugh's perspective, we see corruption ensue from Douglas's decision to expand his air service—crushing his competitor, Tara Whitcomb, in the process—and to smuggle arms to Michael Goraende, the Nuban militia head. Douglas's support for the Nuban commander also brings Quinette Hardin, a Christian aid worker from Iowa who marries Goreande, into Knight Air's orbit. Caputo presents a sharply observed, sweeping portrait, capturing the incestuous world of the aid groups, Sudan's multiethnic mix and the decayed milieu of Kenyan society. Though this long atmospheric novel offers a very slow build and doesn't always avoid formula, the understated climax that leads to Knight Air's demise is powerful in its impact. Agent, Aaron Priest.

January 1, 2005
An evangelical Christian, a woman with a colonial past, and a crusading, multiracial Kenyan all have their reasons for joining Douglas Braithwaite as he flies supplies to the war-ravaged Sudan.

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2005
Few people give to charity without expecting something in return, whether it's a tax break, publicity, ego gratification, or even cold cash. And in Africa, the chances to gain by giving are like those nowhere else. Reporter, novelist, and nonfiction writer Caputo (" The Ghosts of Tsavo," 2002) sets this fascinating tale of aid workers against Sudan's civil war, where the Muslim government in the north fights the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) for control of the Christian and animist south. The Kenyan town of Lokichokio, just over the border, serves as a staging area for relief organizations sending aid to the war zone. Quinette Hardin's WorldWide Christian Union tries to save souls by buying slaves back from their Muslim captors. Douglas Braithwaite's Knight Air takes risks the UN will not, defying Khartoum's "no go" zones to fly aid into the rebel-controlled Nuba Mountains. But Quinette wants more than to love--she wants to be loved. And Braithwaite wants more than two planes--he wants a fleet. Quinette marries an SPLA commander, and Braithwaite starts running guns, their rationalizations setting a series of extremely bloody events into motion. When those who give want so much, it gives us a powerful lens with which to view the heartbreaking problems of Africa, where temporary relief has become a permanent industry. This is a big novel, old fashioned in the best way, full of intrigue and a large cast of sharply drawn characters. And with a Sudan cease-fire recently in the news, it couldn't be timelier.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)

Starred review from February 15, 2005
After reading this novel, one wonders what was behind the peace accord recently signed between the Sudanese government (predominantly Muslim) and rebels in the country's south (predominantly dark-skinned and Christian or animist). Caputo ("A Rumor of War") has provided a lively and convincing fictional backdrop to this war, with its tribal rivalries, economic undercurrents, and personal triumphs and betrayals. Set several years ago, the book presents multiple stories, including that of an American named Douglas Braithwaite, who establishes a flight service to deliver aid to Sudan's Nuba mountain region. With the best of motives, he and his biracial Kenyan partner, Fitzhugh Martin, become involved in gunrunning. Meanwhile, with born-again fervor, a young woman named Quinette arrives from the Midwest to help ransom captives from the war who have been sold into slavery and eventually ends up marrying a rebel commander. Other unlikely romantic attachments develop, reflecting the war-torn area's emotional upheaval. Finally, Douglas becomes entangled in a dangerous web of deceit even as Arab raiders from northern Sudan mass for one final and murderous descent into the Nuba region. Caputo handles the scorching tragedy of this conflict in an objective and somewhat journalistic manner; the result, while not exactly a page-turner, is a compassionate and dramatic novel recommended for all libraries. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ "1/05.] -Jim Coan, SUNY Coll. at Oneonta

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.