Mystery Book Review: Fear of Landing by David Waltner-Toews

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, has written a review of Fear of Landing by David Waltner-Toews. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

Fear of Landing by David Waltner-Toews
A Abner Dueck Mystery

Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-59058-349-3 (1590583493)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-349-4 (9781590583494)
Publication Date: June 2007
List Price: $24.95

Synopsis (from the publisher): On the islands of Java and Bali in the early 1980s, Western governments are pouring millions of dollars into development schemes even as Indonesian strongman President Suharto violently stifles dissent.

For Canadian veterinarian Abner Dueck, the "spice islands" are an exotic locale for the seemingly mundane work of examining dead cows and working with old friends. Dueck's life changes abruptly when some of the cows die under mysterious circumstances, and he meets a mysterious young Chinese woman; soon after, two of his friends-one Canadian and one Indonesian-are murdered.

Mennonite Dueck, marshalls the energy to battle Indonesian politics and the attempts of local businessmen, military rulers, and international "advisors" to manipulate development projects to their own ends.

And to unravel the mysterious deaths of both cattle and people, Dueck must first understand the long shadow that the 1966 massacres cast on Indonesian life, as well as the complexities of their music, and the demands and intrigues of love and conspiracy, death and mystery, and of course, cultural heritage and personal identity.

Review: Fear of Landing, by David Waltner-Toews, introduces Abner Dueck, a 35-year-old Canadian large-animal veterinarian, who volunteers to go to Indonesia as a disease investigator for farm animals. What he finds on the beautiful “Spice Islands” are American cows mysteriously dropping dead at odd times and seemingly for no reason. There is a total breakdown of the Indonesian politics, he is told, since the 1966 massacres. The country's rulers, or lack thereof, play an important part in the cattle mystery, plus in the death of two of his friends, one Canadian and one Indonesian.

Abner, unlike the multitudes of the people in Indonesia, lives in splendor. He has a car, and his own home with living room, kitchen, bedroom and bath. He makes friends very quickly and trusts everyone. When he does an autopsy on a recently deceased cow, his life becomes endangered. He is not permitted to do that again for fear he would know what and possibly who are killing the cows. He must challenge the attempts of the local merchants to manipulate the diseased cows for their own benefits. He meets and falls in love with a mysterious Chinese girl. The Chinese are not welcome in Indonesia because they are perceived to have too much money and power. When his friend from Canada is killed, he rushes to a fellow veterinarian for help and advice, only to find that he too has been killed also. He goes to the police who say nothing except that his visa has expired and he must be out of the country in five days. In those five days, Abner searches and finds the answers he needs.

Fear of Landing is a book with might and magnetism. The narrative up to and including the solution to the deaths of both the men and the cows is dynamic. Abner Dueck is a wonderful, complex character and, with the combination of exotic locales where he can practice his profession, this promises to be a very intriguing mystery series.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Fear of Landing and to Poisoned Pen Press for providing an ARC of the book for this review.

Review Copyright © 2007 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.

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