The Satisfactions Of Simplicity In 'Jackal's Share'
Another pleasure of The Jackal's Share derives from the whirlwind travel that Webster's investigations demand. That aforementioned dinner conversation takes place in Dubai, where Webster has flown for a meeting with Qazai's son. The descriptions of Webster's hotel — the soaring and surrealistic Burj Al Arab, with its opulent restaurants and lowly Indian and Thai service workers — lend a touch of decadence to this tale, as do the images of Qazai's tasteful townhouse in London and his golden villa on Lake Como. Webster's surroundings, though, aren't always so lavish: In particular, his unplanned stay in a Moroccan jail is redolent of what Raymond Chandler dubbed "the smell of fear." That smell becomes overpowering when Webster's own family falls in danger of being sacrificed to his obsessions.
Webster is yet another incarnation of that familiar figure in suspense fiction: the guy who just can't leave well enough alone. While his boss at Ikertu seems content to take Qazai's money and write up an agreeable character testimonial, Webster can't restrain his hotshot tendencies.
In Jones' much-acclaimed debut novel, The Silent Oligarch, published in this country last year, Webster chased down gangsters and crooked bureaucrats in the crumbling former Soviet Union; here, he's running himself ragged in the Middle East and North Africa, among other environs. The fact that there's corruption aplenty around the globe and that Webster seems to have stamina in reserve is terrific news for fans of first-class thrillers.
Read an excerpt of The Jackal's Share