The Warlords Son by Dan Fesperman

The Warlords Son Reviews

• 
  Steven Z.

  THE WARLORD’S SON by Don Fesperman is an amalgam of tribal machinations, hidden agendas, and conflicting personalities played out in the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Peshawar, Pakistan, and tribal areas of Afghanistan. The story is about complex relations among tribal families, a budding relationship between a man and a woman that goes against tradition, the interests of a number of warlords, and two shadowy Americans who seem to manipulate many of the main characters.
  
  The three main characters are Najeeb Azam, a Pakistani educated in the United States who has been banned from his tribe by his father. Najeeb’s life has been limited following 9/11 by US Consular officials and his father’s decree. To survive he hires himself out as a guide and interpreter to western reporters who crave information about Pakistan, the Taliban, and the course of events inside Afghanistan. The second major protagonist is Stanford Kelly, better known as Skelly, a burned out journalist from the American Midwest who seeks to rekindle his career in southwest Asia. He links up with Najeeb as a means of getting back in the “game,” and the course of their relationship and what they experience form the core of the novel. The third character, Daliya Qadeer goes against her family’s wishes by becoming involved with Najeeb and she will take any risk to be with him.
  
  Fesperman conveys the brutal dichotomy that is Musharraf’s Pakistan following 9/11. The Pakistani ISI (Interservices Intelligence) that helped create the Taliban is deeply involved in Najeeb’s life, as are two Americans who seem to be working with the ISI, but it is not really clear what they are up to until the novel’s conclusion. Skelly was part of a wave of American journalists who descended on Pakistan and Afghanistan after 9/11 as the war between the United States and the Taliban exploded. At first Najeeb and Skelly are wary of each other, but soon develop a comfort level as they both seemed to be looking for somewhere to take root as their lives seemed to converge.
  
  The author does a superb job providing the sights and smells of the region from Peshawar to the many villages of Afghanistan. In addition, the archine and duplicitous ISI is introduced and integrated accurately into the story as the “midwife” of the Taliban and the ally of the United States. The author is dead on when he points out that the ISI’s main security concern is India, and that the Taliban is a tool in that strategy no matter how close or how much aid it receives from the United States.
  
  The most interesting aspect of the novel is how Najeeb’s life seems to come full circle. Fesperman revisits his childhood and his relationship with his warlord father and an uncle who seems to take care of him. His father sent him to America for his education for his own reasons and when he returned their relationship collapsed. To control his son, the ISI would keep him in line. Because of his relationship with Skelly, and the reporter’s obsession to uncover a major newspaper story, Najeeb will revisit his childhood haunts as he deals with the machinations of the ISI, his father, his uncle, and other warlords as he tries to survive.
  
  Fesperman’s writing is sensitive to the “underworld” that exists in Pakistani and Afghan society, particularly in the tribal areas that abuts Afghanistan where many refugees seek shelter from the Taliban. Najeeb joins Skelly on a caravan into Afghanistan as the American reporter tries to land one last scoop to satisfy the journalistic blood that pulses in his veins. The result is a series of mishaps, surprises, and shifting alliances that threaten their lives.
  
  Numerous questions arise as the book unfolds. What role do Sam Hartley, an American businessman and Arlen Pierce, a cultural attaché from the State Department play? Is there a strategy that is being developed to capture Osama Bin-Laden? Can Najeeb’s father be trusted? What is the ISI really after? Among numerous questions. The end result will surprise the reader and the books conclusion is somewhat disconcerting.
  
  This is my second go at one of Don Fesperman’s novels, and I look forward to reading others in the future.
  
• 
  Jim

  An incredibly exciting story about the beginnings of our involvement in Afghanistan following 9/11,
  Dan Fesperman's
  The Warlord's Son tells of a war correspondent trying to cross the border from Pakistan with the help of a young Pashtun interpreter named Najeeb. The story is told from three points of view: that of the correspondent (Skelly), the interpreter, and the interpreter's girlfriend Daliya.
  
  Najeeb's father, from whom he is estranged, is an Afghan warlord. The estrangement occurs when Pakistan's ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) agency puts pressure on Najeeb to rat out his family before granting him permission to get educated in the U.S.
  
  The trip into Afghanistan is by turns thrilling and nightmarish, as Skelly and Najeeb attend an execution and encounter Osama Bin Laden, as well as Najeeb's own uncle, Aziz, who appears to rescue him.
  
  Fesperman himself was a war correspondent for the Baltimore Sun, so what he describes is highly credible -- particularly when the Afghani custom of betrayal is concerned.
  
  
• 
  Marie

  A terrifying story about a journalist and his Pakistani guide/translator trying to get into Afghanistan on the eve of the fall of the Taliban. It is so hard to believe that people live this way. They are 500 years behind the rest of the world because of the warring constantly going on among the different warlords. And women? Think you are being denied rights? Read this book and repent of your complaining.
• 
  Cheryl

  War correspondent, Skelly wanted one more last hurrah before he retired from the game. What better place to gain that excitement then Afghanistan, especially traveling along side a warlord. Razaq is both feared and respected by his people. Razaq has refused every request thus far for any American to accompany him into Afghanistan till now. There is something about Skelly that appeals to him. Skelly won’t be alone when he travels. Najeeb has a very talented skill as a translator. He also has a deadly secret. One that compels him to want to make this journey with Skelly. What awaits Najeeb and Skelly is greed, betrayal, and lastly and most important of all…trust. If Skelly and Najeeb wish to have a slight change of survival, they will have to learn to trust one another.
  
  Dan Fesperman painted an amazing vivid picture of the story he was telling in The Warlord’s Son. It was like I could feel the heat from the blasts of the cocktails being thrown as well as the dust and dirt. What I liked about Skelly was his dedication to his job. He wasn’t one to just get the story from the side lines but wanted to experience the action for himself. Najeeb was a man trying to make a better life for himself. He did not believe in the actions of his father. Skelly and Najeeb came from two very different worlds but when it most counted, you could consider them somewhat friends. Though I did like this book, there were some important secondary characters, whose stories were being told as well. There was a lot of back and forth going on between the different stories and this made it confusing at times to follow with what was going on at that precise moment. Overall The Warlord’s Son is a pretty good book.
  
• 
  Sandi

  Set after 9/11 a former war correspondent, now working a suburban desk, gets a chance to get back in saddle and jumps at the chance to go to Pakistan and try to get a dateline and story from Afghanistan. The details of a working journalist in a foreign land were fascinating, the various tribal leaders and factions kept the suspense level high, and the personal story of the local translator helped make this an excellent read.
• 
  Missyjohnson1

  Interesting story that kept me wanting to know what would happen. I am not sure that I believe that the relationship between Skelly and Najeeb became so deep in just a matter of a week. Especially the care and concern that Najeeb showed. The information about Daliya was educational as to the plight of women in Pakistan and Afghanistan and I hope women are able to escape the backward and dark ages treatment that they still must live with. I don’t feel as if the story wrapped up but then maybe it was not supposed to. The ancient feuds and beliefs of the tribal people may never be understood. The actions of Sam Hartley and Pierce…………..Tariq and the role is ISI. Just what was it all that Skelly observed and lived through?
• 
  Ben Rowe

  Enjoyable and interesting. The writers past as a journalist kind of works both for and against the writing and plotting but leaning into the likes of Graham Greene's The Quiet American helps this come together in an entertaining and satisfying way.
• 
  Will

  Good story, takes a while to get going.
• 
  Toni Osborne

  The "Warlord's Son" is a riveting and compelling fiction about the experiences of a war correspondent on his last mission in Afghanistan.
  
  The first part of the novel has its slow moments. It opens with Skelly in Peshawar, Pakistan, a world far apart from the West he is accustom to. His aim is to enter Afghanistan and report from the center of the action. But in order to succeed he requires the help of a well connected, resourceful fixer and translator to bridge the language and culture gap while navigating the harsh terrain.
  
  He finds the perfect couple, Najeed and Daliya who want desperately to immigrate to the US and will do anything to help Skelly. The circumstances surrounding Najeed, son of a wealthy warlord and Daliya have left them estranged from their families. A good part of the novel revolves around the struggle in the two families. Intertwined into this strenuous situation is Najeed and Daliya's romance and Skelly's quest to obtain the story of his career.
  
  After crossing the border, Skelly and Najeed face one challenge after another as they bribe and con their way through one warlords' territory after another. Eventually their deceptive practices catch up with them and all hell breaks loose...intrigue after intrigue has the reader riveted to the edge of his seat till the very last page....
  
  As the novel progresses we feel tension building and we gradually sense this can only end in a climatic and shocking way....
  
  This fiction gives an amazing outlook on the dedication and hardship western reporters face under hostile conditions in a culture very different from what we as Westerners are used to. The characters are particularly well drawn to bring out the differences in religious beliefs and how they are applied amongst different groups in their quest for honour and power. The author appears to have shown great sensitivity and respect.
  
  I like Dan Fesperman's novels, he excels at capturing the atmosphere and portraying the different cultures through the eyes of his characters. He is also a master at building tension and spinning multiple storylines.
• 
  John

  The author, Dan Fesperman, is a reporter who has been a foreign correspondent in countries at war. "The Warlord's Son" is about a foreign correspondent who has been assigned to Pakistan following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks with hopes of somehow getting into Afghanistan. I'm a reporter who has never covered a story farther away than Indianapolis. So I can't vouch for Fesperman's accuracy in portraying the life of a foreign correspondent, but since he has been there, I suspect it's pretty close. I can vouch for his accuracy about the reporting craft in general, judging from this excerpt from Page 311:
  "By midday tomorrow he'd have culled and consolidated his best stuff, and by nightfall he'd have filed his story and would be negotiating with his editors for space."
  Yes. Most reporters that I know (present company included) think their stories ought to get more column inches in the paper than most editors are willing to give.
  What didn't ring true to me was some of the dialogue in this book. Some of it didn't pass the: Would people really say those things? test. But a lot of it would have been translated from one language to another, so perhaps that would make some of the conversation seem artificial.
  What saved this book for me was the ending, which I wouldn't dream of giving away. But I will say that just as I was rolling my eyes, thinking "The Warlord's Son" was limping to a trite, too-neat conclusion, Fesperman suddenly took a direction that I wasn't expecting at all. It took the book up a notch, in my point of view. I ended up thinking: Well, that was pretty good, after all.
• 
  Jason

  When I first started reading this book I thought it would take me a while to get through it. But not long after I found myself flying through. It takes a while to get going, but once it finds its gear it really takes off.
  
  Likes:
  --The grungy, grimy, dirty, cramped atmosphere of Peshawar (whether it's really like that or embellished for effect) definitely comes through on the page.
  
  --Fesperman expertly describes the barren tribal lands and effectively details the plans and plans within plans of the warlords and tribal leaders and the behavior needed to make such plans successful.
  
  --The tension shared by Najeeb and Daliya concerning their relationship is palpable.
  
  --The sense of government surveillance (again, whether real or embellished) adds an uncomfortable edge for U.S. readers (probably because we don't know the extent of our own government's surveillance on us).
  
  Dislikes:
  --The only gripe I have is that the presence of the other two Americans and the roles they play in the shocking conclusion is never fully developed. There must be an explanation for it, but I don't know what it could be and I don't like it.
  
  Overall this is a gripping novel with an ending you don't see coming. I would highly recommend it for anyone, especially readers who like suspense novels and political thrillers.
• 
  Susan

  It took me absolutely forever to get through this book. I actually liked the writing, but I am intrigue-challenged. I could follow and appreciate what was going on in the various sections of the book and I enjoyed and liked the three main characters and thought they were well developed. But, in the end, I could not put it all together. The individual events were to me like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and I could not get the pieces to fit. It was to me like a spy movie, the Bourne series, for instance, in which different scenes are interesting and understandable, but I can never figure out who is the bad guy and who is the good guy, and whose side everyone is on, and at the end of the movie I have to ask my husband what happened, and his explanation confuses me more. I am lucky I did not become a diplomat or a member of the CIA, and the world is a much better place because I have never been appointed Secretary of State. The reason I persisted in reading this book is it was assigned reading for my contemporary fiction class, the theme of which this semester is cultural differences. My class is tomorrow, and perhaps the discussion will shed some light on this book for me.
• 
  Jennifer

  I had to read the novel for my New Terrorism course at university. Sadly, I was really disappointed by the book. In my opinion, it is really boring. In the first half of it the main characters try to enter Afghanistan. Once being there, the plot does not pick up speed, but is still boring. The ending is not satisfying and rather stereotypical. The best part of the whole novel is the descriptions of the culture and landscape of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Additionally, the author tried to make the reader understand the problem of terrorism in the area, but he failed horribly. No new perspectives on terrorism were given and his attempt to give a Pakistani view of it was unsuccessful because it is too Western still.
  All in all, the novel was not my cup of tea because it promised too much and achieved too little.
• 
  Dale

  A thinking person's action adventure novel
  
  Set in Pakistan and Afghanistan in the weeks following the 9/11 attacks, The Warlord's Son features Skelly, a middle-aged foreign correspondent who has decided to come out or retirement to find one last big story. It also concerns his "fixer", or translator, Najeeb - the outcast son of a border area warlord and Najeeb's girlfriend Daliya.
  
  The story passes from one to the other and the reader gets quite a bit of insight into the culture of this border area. The action is quick and good when it happens and the reader experiences the intrigue of all of the overlapping political, financial and cultural interests of the area.
  
  See all of my reviews at:
  http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/
• 
  Mark Hiser

  I am somewhat disappointed with this novel. Though the author is attempting to write a more "inteligent" war thriller, he seems to focus too much on details that have little bearing to the plot or characters. He works to create a sense of place and time, but I found myself wanting to skip whole pages of information that could have easily been condensed. I almost felt Fesperman was getting paid by the word. If he had cut the novel by 40-50 pages it would have been a tighter and more interesting war thriller
• 
  Sandra

  Dan Fesperman did research the setting, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and it is fascinating to read what the tribes and tribal lands are like. Of course it is only fiction, based on fact, and one could never truly understand their culture, or what it must be like to live there. And it is a rollicking good story, it does not have your "and they all lived happily ever after" ending. Any other author might have made a sequel. But......may Najeeb and Dalyia live on, in peace, at least in my memories.
• 
  Sara

  This book portrayed the northwest Pakistan/northeast Afghanistan Tribal Area in honest detail, examining the conflict between East and West and the notion of blood vs. progress. Written before the death of Bin Laden (the Sheik), he makes a cameo appearance. Good characterization, stark tribal justice and a somewhat unexpected ending. Recommend this book for those who like stories about cultures bumping up against each other, intrigue and big money plotting.
• 
  Steve

  Really enjoyed this engaging story. The writing is excellent and very evocative. The descriptions of the various aspects of Afghan culture, politics, and history are informative but never overwhelm the narrative which moves along at a good pace. The characters are interesting and the story is intriguing.
• 
  Eric

  A seemingly realistic portrayal of life in Pakistan/Afghanistan following 9-11 written in 2004. THe story follows an aging journalist seeking the story of his career and his relations with his fixer, an outcast from a tribal society. The depictions of life and culture were stunningly grim.
• 
  Diogenes

  A harrowing adventure in Afghanistan and Pakistan's Tribal Areas just after 9/11, with the feeling that the reader is actually there, right in the midst of the fighting and blood feuds and betrayals. Engrossing characters and a very realistic story.
• 
  jo

  The Prisoner of Guantanamo is much better written. i'm glad i read it first.
• 
  Penni

  Fesperman opened my eyes to the multilayered world of politics' effect on common lives.