Amazon asked me if my novel, Two Pumps for the Body Man, met my expectations. “Well, the author’s no Graham Greene,” I say. “Please send me some of that.”
Why should I (or anyone) read a story about a foot-fetishist diplomat doing time in Saudi Arabia when I (or anyone) could be reading about a vacuum cleaner salesman making bank in Cuba?
But then a friend* posted her own review of Two Pumps and made me realize there’s more to the story. What began with a desire only to write with as much irony as possible—should my protagonist be a prude in Bangkok or a perv in Saudi Arabia?—in the end may contribute to current political dialogue.
Two Pumps for the Body Man is a timely read given all the talk in the political campaigns of Benghazi and What Really Happened.
This book fictionalizes a consular attack that came before Benghazi and demonstrates that what really happened isn’t always clear, even to the people who were there.
The troubled relationships among truth, duty, and accountability and the tensions between reasonable precautions vs racism, and real vs inflated risks are all on display in this novel that explores the personal and professional lives of a U.S. consulate staff in a Middle Eastern kingdom just before and after the traumatic event.
“You’ll want to read the fast-paced ending at least twice.”
(*an unpretentiously literate one)
Ben East Books 