An Expensive Education

An Expensive Educuation is a smoothly written and convincing thriller. McDonell is a deft writer, shockingly facile--that would be true if he were 20 or 80. I think some reviewers here are having trouble overcoming their preconceptions of McDonell as child of privilege and all that. Just read the book. It will win you over.

Half spy-thriller, half terse exploration of academic politics, McDonell's third novel shows that he's come a long way in a few years. The writing is deft, and the careful weaving of events both personal and political from Cambridge to Africa is mature and perceptive. The twisting of truth for political gain, the cronyism, the connections between social chess and policy decisions... it all flows together in a weird, unique hybrid of Robert Stone and John LeCarre. Definitely recommended.

I like to think of myself as a connoisseur of mystery/spy novels. I first read John LeCarre's 'The Spy Who Came In From The Cold' when I was a teenager. If I can guess the outcome of this kind of novel in the first chapter, I don't continue. I read Nick McDonnell's novel from cover to cover. He is a gifted writer and his character analysis and chronicle of our elite culture is ruthless. A young man is traveling by jeep on the border of Kenya/Somalia. It is a dusty, dry ride. He is carrying money to an African leader who has been portrayed as a hero. As the young man, Michael Teak, is readying for bed, the entire camp is hit by firepower. Very few survive, Teak and the African hero, Hatashil and his men survive, and race off into the night. The mystery of who and what and why this camp was hit is the essence of this novel. Teak, the rich Harvard educated, CIA spy, and the people he meets and loves and leaves is the central figure. Joyce, the young woman attending Harvard, she who has everything, including the young African, David, who is attending Harvard to find a new life for himself. He becomes entranced with a secret Harvard society, Porcella, and all of the methods to gain entrance. David's Harvard mentor, Susan Lowell, has just received the Pulitzer for her report on Hatashil and how he gained his fame. Minor characters come and go to make this novel, rich with varying lives and culture. McDonnell is a Harvard graduate, so his eye of Harvard is concise, clear and ever so right on. From the two undergrads who wear tuxedos everywhere and are seemingly drunk at all times, to the ivy covered walls of the rich and intelligent of Cambridge, he gives us the feel of this college and its town. And, Africa, the country that has every societal, financial and medical problem known to man-the novel concentrates on its people and the games that are played in the guise of helpfulness. Nick McDonnell has written a novel rich in history of Harvard and the elite. His foray into Africa and the minds of those in the intelligence game seem to me to ring true. I liked this novel a great deal. I can see that Teak who is trying to 'come in from the cold', may have a future in spy world. He is one of the good guys, who wants to right the world. What are his chances? Highly recommended. prisrob 09-18-09 Twelve The Third Brother: A Novel