"The Contractor," while about a private contractor performing interrogations for the US government, is far from simply a novel about the current war. George Young, a veteran-turned-private-interrogator, narrates a fascinating story just as much about the inner life of a middle aged husband and father as about terrorists and secret detention facilities.

Young makes great money and his family can live with him on an unidentified tropical island, but that hardly makes life easy. His job has put a strain on his marriage—and stressed his wife enough to make her at least a borderline alcoholic. And he still has to deal with all the typical worries of a father: is his young son possibly gay; how can he navigate Christmas with super-religious in-laws; how should he deal with a brother who betrayed his trust? And on top of it all, he's got a pretty emotionally draining day job.

Young's first-person narration is excellent. Every thought, tangent, flashback, and chain of logic felt just right, and I was impressed by how comprehensible I found a person so superficially different from myself. I was fascinated by him and raced through the book. Those who would normally avoid fiction about current events, or violence, should not be put off by the subject matter. This is very much a novel of family life, introspection, and self-examination, and written in excellent prose, too. ( )

While trolling the web the other day, I stumbled upon this article by David Barnett in The Guardian book blog about how much more difficult it is for writers to be indie than artists or filmmakers. While Barnett's assertion is debatable, what I took away from the article was a commitment to look for books off the beaten path, books not part of the usual publicity and review junkett. I looked to my TBR pile, and there it was ... The Contractor by Charles Holdefer from a Sag Harbor publishing house called Permanent Press. Mr. Holdefer saw my reviews at LibraryThing and asked me if I'd be interested in reviewing his book. While the book has its flaws, I'm pleased that I took a chance and said yes.

The Contractor's cover sets a higher than usual expection that between its boards lies a story of secrets, lies, torture and corruption. Imagine my surprise when the contractor, George Young, turns out to be a family man and a cat-lover living on an unspecified volcanic island near the equator . There's dinner with wife, school days with the kids and hunting for crabs in tidepools with the cat. After an initial scene where a detainee dies unexpectedly during an interrogation, the story grinds to a halt while we are instructed in all the proper lingo to maneuver this world -- Trogs, oranges, TOC, ICE, Mi, MP, OGA -- and while we learn about the "Sweet Sixteen" years of George. One hundred pages of mostly elaborate backstory is unnecessary; I got the message by page 25: George Young is a nice, normally-flawed guy stuck in a job that's full for moral minefields he never anticipated. Finally, when George starts telling some small well-intentioned lies to his wife, gets drunk and sleeps with his ex, then makes a decision to blow the whistle on the circumstances surrounding the dead prisoner and shake the title "Contractor" for good, the story finds its legs and wobbles no more. The second half of this slim volume is a page-turner with just enough surprises to keep things interesting. After such a nice-guy start to the story, it is a welcome jolt when, at novel's end, George is in deeper trouble than he ever anticipated. Messy conclusions to the messy fallout from a messy war strikes just the right note for this indie novel and leaves me satisfied with my decision to stray off the beaten path to read this book. ( )

DISCLAIMER: In the interest of full disclosure, the author (Charles Holdefer) sent me a copy of this book to peruse.

The Book

This novel was not what I expected, and for that I am pleased. Looking at the cover and thinking about Abu Ghraib (even though private contractors were not directly involved in that infamous case, as far as I know, that’s what comes to mind for me), I dreaded delving into pages of torture-filled, blood-soaked scenes controlled by dehumanized madmen. Fortunately, Holdefer focuses on the psyche of private contractor George Young, an ex-Army interrogator who grills prisoners on an unnamed island with a smattering of military personnel milling about.

The longer George works at his psychologically difficult job and deals with his half-crazy boss, the more he and his wife Bethany drift apart. He begins to question the impact of his high-paying job on the emotional health of himself and his family, and the decision he reaches at the end of the novel costs him dearly—but also redeems him.

Holdefer is most convincing when writing George’s long monologues, recollections and everyday thoughts. George comes across as a very believable, “normal” American male, and Bethany and his older brother are drawn true to life as well. In fact, the one subplot in the story that could be construed as a bit of a stretch involves Bethany’s father, sister and brother-in-law (I won’t give it away here). Yet even these details are not wholly implausible, and they eventually serve to add a little suspense near the end of the story.

Concluding in a crisp 200 pages, The Contractor’s resolution is ambiguous but hopeful, highlighting the uncertainties of the narrator and the gray atmosphere of the book. The issue at hand is current and relevant, and The Contractor is worth a read if you have the time.

A Note on Production

This hardcover published by the Permanent Press is handsomely jacketed with a striking front cover. The design is simple but effective: a black background with red lettering and a pair of zip-tied, ghostly blue hands descending vertically. Sky-blue endpaper, solid binding and sturdy—but not stiff—off-white paper complete the satisfying feel of this book. The serif font is unremarkable but easy on the eyes. ( )

To appreciate this book you have to ignore the misleading hype on the cover that suggests that The Contractor by Charles Holdefer exposes the secret detention and interrogation system expanded and ran by the Bush Administration outside of US and international law. It is political book but not at the level of who is doing what to whom. Instead, it goes to the heart of the western moral and ethical war aims as raised in this passage:

Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?" And he said, "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?"

It is clear that George Young, civilian interrogator contractor and a veteran of the first Gulf war would say no. His reaction when he comes across the burnt out remains of the Revolutionary Guard convoys is to argue:

…Because that day, I learned the price. Sure, I was shaken and sickened, and it is something I’d rather not think about or dwell on, but it also taught me something, steeled me, gave me the resources necessary to understand politics in the grown up world and later to become a contractor. This is what I learned: what we take for granted, hold precious, and celebrate remains viable because of our willingness to do this…To let those men get away would’ve been a serious strategic mistake…Any other description is special pleading or making excuses. Or simply lying to oneself. It gives me no satisfaction to say so, but not only will innocents die-they must die.

The story starts with the consequences of this when in a powerful opening scene we discover what how prisoner #4141 dies. The humanity of the Prisoners are denied, as they are merely oranges being crated when they arrive or faceless numbers.

George Young is not a monster, which would let us off the hook so the story needs to show us why a good man would get to that position. It does in that we discover that economic and family pressures that lead systematically to that meaningless death. We learn about his poor business track record and happy second marriage (which is being slowly killed by his need to keep secrets). The political playing out of the theme is also examined in his personal life as his big brother is his keeper at key points in George's life.

Away from the heat of the desert island and in the cold of a mid west winter on a family Christmas visit we have the amusing and poignant scenes of having to tackle the Father in Law,( think of Spencer Tracy at his most grumpy) a minister of a struggling flock and a die in the wool fundamentalist. The family idea of fun is Bible Baseball ( questions are asked with the harder they are the more runs they are and George and his son are clueless). At one level this as they are trapped by the snow falls this illustrates the horror that the prisoners have to face. Unlike them, he escapes and answers a call by his brother, which sets of a chain of events where he finally does decide that he is his brother’s keeper.

The story moves between George’s professional and family life in the now and with flashbacks so that we understand his actions. The other characters are sketched in nicely that make the horrors of the camp and the choices he has to make even more chilling. The use of language and jargon is also clever and the first person POV gives you the reader chance to understand his world whilst questioning it. If it makes more of us more aware of the travesty of a war on terror for Democracy, and Human Rights based on lies and torturing rather then the politics of being my brother’s keepers then I hope it gets the wider readership it deserves. ( )