The Fourth Courier by Timothy Jay Smith

crime thriller

Summary:

Poland, 1992. The victims have all been alike: young males, shot execution-style with a rare police-issued weapon, and slashed on the cheek–and one has traces of radium on his skin. There are no identifying clues. Fearing that nuclear material is being smuggled across the border, the FBI sends agent Jay Porter to investigate.

Along the way, he meets Lilka, an attractive divorcee with a troubled teenage son and an abusive husband; receives cordial help from the Polish director of organized crime bureau, Basia Husarska, and the thorough, conscientious detective Leszek Kulski; and teams up with Kurt Crawford, a black gay CIA official who wants Jay’s assistance.

Despite a UN arms embargo, the Serbs are getting guns from Poland (probably by the mafia-run trucking). Kurt suspects that someone “in the know” in Husarska’s unit must be aiding them. But who?

Then they get evidence that someone has been stockpiling uranium from the only-recently-acknowledged Kosmonovo. Do the couriers-turned-victims factor into this? What did they bring into Poland and who has it now? And who was willing to kill for it–and will they use nuclear power to kill again?

My thoughts:

This well-written thriller places the reader in post-Cold War Poland. Smith excels at re-creating the atmosphere of that era. I was in early high school back in ’92, so while I vaguely remember when Yugoslavia was a country, the crumbling of the Soviet Union, and the hesitant, troubled change from socialism to capitalism in eastern Europe, it still feels unfamiliar. (Face it: teens usually know more about the politics in their high schools than the politics in other countries. Ask me who the supreme dictator of the “cool” girls was in ’92 and I’ll know; ask me who the leaders of Yugoslavia and Poland were that year, and my mind is blank.)

Anyway, all that to say, Smith does a great job describing this changing country. And he does it in subtle ways, never through long lectures or info-dumps. The image he weaves haunts me, just as Warsaw is haunted by its long and troubled past.

A few things I had mixed feelings about:

  1. General Dravko Mladic, head of the State Security Service of Yugoslavia, tends to daydream and reminiscence a lot, often in the form of flashbacks. I have nothing against flashbacks, but at certain parts, his flashbacks occur during “non-scene” scenes. Standing in the kitchen staring out the window, riding in a car, etc.: nothing significant happens, so why include the outward trappings of a scene? Just make it narrative.

But then I realized that Mladic’s daydreams of (fill in the blank: military glory, forbidden sexual escapades with men, etc.) are appropriate for his character: he is a man who lives in fantasy. Who he believes himself to be (important, destined for glory) exists in his mind. The only way he can make that man exist in real life is to act out his fantasies. (Thankfully, Smith spares us the details of his sadomasochistic, sexual torture of male prisoners.) While I still found Mladic’s mental screen reels a bit annoying and somewhat repetitive, I understand why they are necessary for this particular character.

2. The second thing I had qualms about was the use of sexuality. It’s not the explicit sex scenes. It’s the characters’ (both female and male) willingness to exploit their own attractive bodies and others’ sexual weaknesses to manipulate for personal gain. For example, one woman uses her physical attractiveness to get power over a sexually-deprived man. (No spoilers. Let’s just say that it doesn’t end well.) In another, better developed example, a male uses his sexuality for a similar purpose. (Ditto that ending.)

I don’t know how I feel about that. On the one hand, this is true to life. It is also, in its heterosexual form, fairly standard material in fiction. (Think the femme fatale of noir.)

On the other, the exploitation of others’ sexuality makes me uneasy. Does presenting oneself as a sexual object make the objectification acceptable? I don’t know. I am possibly overthinking things. (That pesky degree in literature again!) Smith does balance out all the sexualized power plays with a sweet, consensual love affair.

Overall, The Fourth Courier is strong.

Great character development.

In particular, Jay had my sympathy. Newly divorced, his ex has taken his two sons and refuses to allow Jay visitation because his job is “too dangerous”; he wants to be back in America with his kids, particularly as one has a birthday soon. Yet he wants to find the killer, too.

A subtle theme of troubled father/son relationships.

Almost every man in the book has some issue with his son (and vice versa). I mentioned Jay’s custody issues, but there’s more. The Soviet state has forced a brilliant scientist to donate his sperm to help create more geniuses, and thus he has unknown children in the world. Another fears that because he was physically scarred by his father, he will scar his own son. Still another man is childless yet he wants to “father” a new nation. Then there’s Lilka’s hopeful, America-obsessed brother-in-law, Tolek. His young son is a gifted pianist, yet Tolek is conflicted about the child’s musical gift. How will that help them in America? The boy’s mother tells Lilka,

“He plays only for his father. (…) He continues his conversations with his father on the piano, saying what he can’t say because he’s still just a boy, only Tolek doesn’t hear it.” (The Fourth Courier, p. 237)

It seems to me that many of the men have things they can’t say and other things that they don’t hear.

Terrific dialogue.

When Poles or Russians are speaking, their English “sounds” like the words of non-native speakers who are almost fluent in English: few contractions, a bit too formal, and the occasional struggle for the right word. The Americans, well, they sound like Americans: casual, breezy, and sometimes overconfident.

Lighter notes.

Smith includes running jokes about Polish coffee (hint: this ain’t Starbucks coffee!); the sweet old embassy secretary whose “helpful” reminder notes only confuse her; the unqualified and jittery Consul General; Jay’s banter with his secretary in America; and plenty of quips and playful competition between Jay and Kurt. All these help balance out the post-Cold War harsh reality.

Fast-paced plot.

I read the book in little over a day because I was so absorbed in the story. Through his beautiful writing, Smith has created a full world of realistic people caught in a rapidly changing world that they cannot control. Tense. Suspenseful. Haunting. Read it.

Buy The Fourth Courier now!

The Fourth Courier is now available as an e-book and hardcover book on Amazon.

Learn more about Timothy Jay Smith at his website. He writes novels, plays, and screenplays, and travels extensively. Check out his bio. He’s had some wild experiences!

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Bonus tips for writers. (a.k.a., what I learned from The Fourth Courier.)

1. Use contrast to create setting, atmosphere, and tension.

Smith uses contrasts, particularly in descriptions, to create atmosphere. It helps create a vivid setting, but it also increases the tension. For example, Kulski tells Jay that his family had waited 7 years for their two room home, and he and his wife had to sneak off to be romantic together because they lived with two small kids and her parents in this place. (Talk about awkward!) Then he points out Director Husarska’s much nicer apartment. Those in the Communist Party lived here, he tells Jay.

There are plenty of other examples, but that was one that stood out to me, as it deftly shows both historical and current setting, and reveals a divide between Husarska and Kulski, one that holds the potential for conflict.

2. Yes, genre fiction novelists CAN use themes.

The term conjure up memories from high school English class (not all of them pleasant). Only literary novelists delve into themes, right? I can hear the genre novelists saying.

Wrong. Take a look at this novel. Smith weaves one of his themes–the father/son relationship–throughout the novel. It’s subtle, though. There’s no pound-you-over-the-head symbolism, etc., like many would-be literary novelists seem to use. It doesn’t slow the pace of the story because it IS part of the story. All those relationships I noted above? They are woven into the plot. Take them out, and you’ve got plot holes.

So here’s what I learned: make those themes compelling, flow naturally from the characters’ lives, and part of the plot. Not an easy thing to do. Smith does it well.

Thanks to Timothy Jay Smith and Arcade Publishing for providing me with a copy of the book! 

Update, 4/10/1: The Fourth Courier by Timothy Jay Smith has been selected by Bookstr as one of five LGBTQ books to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Stonewall. Congratulations, Tim! You can see the other selections through the link, if you’re interested.