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PURSUIT INTO DARKNESS
By Daniel Pollock
Pocket Books (1994)
Reviewed by Bob Thompson 8/16/94
I really enjoyed this book, but it will never be mistaken for "HEART OF DARKNESS" except by the similarity of the title and the cover illustration.
It won't become a classic like Joseph Conrad's story, but it was still interesting enough and compelling enough for an "all-nighter".
Sam Warrender is the hero of this story- I think Sam was patterned somewhat on Sam Walton (founder of the Wal-Mart chain) with a little Indiana Jones thrown in. Sam is the Chairman of the Board and CEO of Proteus Industries, a multi-national natural resources conglomerate.
Sam runs down to Venezuela to ramrod through a mining project that has stalled because of an archaeological find on the mining property. However, when he sees one of the artifacts discovered right on top of the richest ore, he changes his mind and recommends completing the archaeological study prior to further development of the mine.
Unfortunately, he is out-voted in a power play by his protégé, D.W. Lee the President & COO of Proteus and the other members of the board, who get the mining back on track by bribing Venezuelan officials.
Sam and D.W.'s daughter, Jaqueline, happen to fall in love while they are both in Venezuela, but he returns to the States after being out voted, while she remains there to make a documentary about the mine and the archaeology.
Jaqueline is later kidnapped and held for ransom by Oscar, an old Venezuelan revolutionary/terrorist/common criminal who used to hang out with "Carlos" (the terrorist) in the old days. Well, Sam comes to the rescue, and follows Oscar into the remote interior jungles of Venezuela.
I only had one real problem with the book and (again) it is a minor, petty technical thing that most people wouldn't even notice:
Oscar blows up a huge ore carrying ship with nothing more than a half-kilo (1.1 pounds approx.) of C-4 explosive which he stole from the mining company's storage shed. First of all, C-4 is not used in that kind of mining; (it can be used in anti-personnel and anti-tank mines though). Second, the damage done by this little bit of explosive was a thousand- nay, -ten thousand times what would have occurred in real-life.
In the book, the ship was totally ripped apart as if it were made of cardboard, and the collateral damage to other boats, docks and buildings in the harbor was extensive. Now, if you could initiate 1.1 pounds of plutonium in a fission explosion you might be able to do about the same damage.
That much C-4 in a shaped charge would be able to punch a fist sized hole through about two inches of steel. If you did this directly into the diesel storage tanks of the ship, it is possible but unlikely that it could initiate a major explosion of the fuel.
If the ship were an empty gasoline tanker, the C-4 might be able to initiate a big explosion of the gasoline vapors, and if it were a grain hauler or something like that, the C-4 could initiate a pretty serious dust explosion. If the ship was carrying ammonium nitrate or other explosive components, it could happen like in the book, but an empty hold that carried iron ore- forget it.
Now that I have given you a complete course in improvised big- booms; forget about it. I just get annoyed at things like this.
Get the book- I think that just about anyone would enjoy it- it has romance, adventure, a little history and pre-history, social commentary, tourist attractions (and one huge explosion).
(Interesting side-note: In an odd bit of synchronicity this book mentions "Carlos" several times, and the bad guy in the other book that I reviewed today (FATHER'S DAY) was patterned after "Carlos"; They got me to thinking that we haven't heard much of the real "Carlos the terrorist" for a couple of years, then, just before I sat down to write the reviews, I hear on the news that he has been captured and is in custody in France.)