A review by shirleytupperfreeman
Missionaries by Phil Klay

Whoa - this was intense. It's about war and violence and geopolitics and so many things I don't really understand. What's worrisome is that probably the real people playing these roles don't fully understand them either. Mason is an American special forces operative who has served tours in Afghanistan and Iraq and is now serving as a trainer in Columbia. Juan Pablo is with military intelligence in Columbia and put in his time as a soldier during the early days of the drug wars. His daughter is a college student with an interest in human rights. Abel is a young Columbian who survived the massacre of his family and village. As a survivor he was picked up by Jefferson and served as his aid in his paramilitary endeavors before becoming a store-owning/tax paying 'normal' citizen. Jefferson has ambitions - he wants control and respect and wouldn't mind having his face on posters like Che or Castro or Chavez. Lisette is an American journalist covering war zones - from Afghanistan to Columbia. All of these characters, and several others, come together in Columbia. There are graphically violent scenes, military jargon, Columbian groups that I don't understand (narcos, paras, guerrillas, etc) but also some brilliant writing about subjects most of us would prefer to not know about. As one of the characters says at the end, "In the modern world, everything is related to everything."