This,the authors debut back in 2014 and now republished is a intricate and wonderfully written book that starts with our lead guy Alex ( American working in the U.S.Embassy ) in Sudan where he witnesses a terrible event and then moves to the main part of the book focusing on his time in the Democratic Republic Of The Congo

This is a work of fiction but obviously the authors experience in the diplomatic world shines through with the dedication to detail that would be impossible otherwise

We learn about the Countries past and its present, the resources, the indigenous people, the politics and the high level corruption and lengths mining companies will go to to bag their riches plus an introduction to the culture, food and lifestyle of the DRC’s people

The story ends with a beginning and one I suspect the author would if he could make real

The workings of the U.S. embassy is little short of fascinating and the protocols and securities within, the characters we meet are also portrayed so well and with real honest character

An accessible read about a Country and situation most of us know little about that certainly broadened my knowledge whilst involving me in a full on dramatic story

A hard-hitting and moving story of the evil that men do.

To avoid confusion, this book was actually published in the US in 2014, and the author has since written three more. This is the first UK publication.

"The American Mission" opens in Darfur, 2006. Alex Baines is a US State Department diplomat who finds himself witnessing atrocities across the Sudan, in this case an attack on a resettlement camp. The army General in charge refuses to intervene, citing the incident as a political problem, and he can only intervene should his own troops come under fire. When is transpires that the people in the camp remained in place because Alex naively promised they'd be safe, he finds himself in trouble.

And so the reader is pulled into a story full of horror and frustration. Forward to 2009 and Alex, deprived of his security clearances, had to choose whether to accept demotion to bland administrative tasks, or move to the private sector. He chose the latter, but when his old mentor appears, offering him the chance to start over in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Alex jumps at the chance.

And that's where Alex' life takes a major turn, as he discovers the corruption and mismanagement of resources that thrives in DRC. The area is rich in minerals and the battle to control them has no limits. While the people starve and live a life of misery, foreign companies work to strip the land. This is portrayed here in stark realism, with militia groups, armed forces and others fighting with no regard to others. We meet many bad guys, a few good people, and those caught in the middle, fully formed on the page. We witness Alex' fight to balance what he see as his duty to his country, and his driving need to see justice for the people of DRC. A man who we initially saw as naïve and weak , slowly become something much better. It makes for dark, disturbing read.

This book is a stark reminder of the atrocities that have taken place in the DRC, across many years. The author has over thirty years experience in the US Foreign Service and clearly has witnessed many horrors and writes from experience, as he states in his afterword. This book is a hard read, sobering and disturbing and can be read on several layers. It's the only book of Michael Palmer's that I've read, but I think I need to seek out his other.

Recommended.