This is an exciting debut novel. It is the story of one
Nicholas Garrigan, a young Scottish doctor who is assigned to be the personal
physician to Uganda's famous dictator, Idi Amin. Yet the young doctor
discovers, to his own cost, that one can never be totally removed from the wild
excesses of others...
I read the first half of this novel breathlessly. The depiction of Uganda is
intriguing. Perhaps this is due to morbid fascination: most people will be
aware of Amin's bloody history. The knowledge that everything will go wrong
draws you further into this book. Foden presents a compelling portrait of Amin,
even to the extent of making him likeable. For instance, there is Amin's
eccentric love of all things Scottish, and the peculiar messages he sends to
other heads of state.
But there is always a palpable fear for Garrigan whenever he's in Amin's
presence. Amin is dangerous, for Garrigan never knows what he's going to do
next, and how he will become embroiled in his bloody vengeance... I found the
resolution to be quite disappointing. In his bid to escape Uganda, Garrigan
literally stumbles across the worse excesses of Amin's regime, almost tripping
over a pile of corpses. This is the only part of the novel where Foden's
otherwise excellent research overwhelms. Uganda's bloody history is already
well known, and it would have been far more effective for Garrigan to have
remained in ignorance about the worst excesses. Garrigan becomes a mere cipher
in Foden's bid to depict the downfall of Amin. But this is only really
disappointing in contrast to the excellent first part. Overall, it well deserves
its critical success.
Kevin Mahoney
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