THE RETREAT OF RADIANCE

by Ian Moffitt ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 1985

For those who prefer their novels realistic, poetic and racy, this search for revenge--a former best-seller in Australia--should prove enthralling. Dressed like a missionary in a black suit, Quinn, the Australian journalist-hero, an alienated man who has lost wife, family and virility, returns to the Far East. Supposedly, he plans to avenge a massacre that took place during the 1948 Chinese Civil War. The then 18-year-old Quinn had taken countless photos of a slaughter at a Buddhist temple called ""The Retreat of Radiance."" Now, Quinn's unconscious search for salvation bears fruit as he unlocks the past of those he once loved and hated. Nationalist General Keh, the one-time Kuomintang warlord, is a mincing, murderous villain; an absurd practical joker. Rich and powerful, he rules a vast empire of legal and illegal activities. It is this bloody regime Quinn sets out to destroy, armed with only a few diary scraps and three rolls of film. Meanwhile, others enhance the story: Larsen, the ugly American personified; Doyle, a classic soldier-of-fortune, who never faced life without a drink or a wisecrack. (He had befriended young Quinn, and his suicide haunted the journalist.) Indifferent to his own survival, Quinn finds a release from guilt and suffering he had not thought possible. And in a climax on Keh's vast Disneyland-like park, Quinn is transfigured. This is a complex novel of expiation and salvation enlivened by a cast unusually scabrous and treacherous when not merely vicious. Dislocated and despairing, mad and half-mad, these comic-strip characters become more real than life--like vulgar men of action, they are often courageous. And Quinn, a quixotic hero, is both scapegoat and priest. Altogether, a riveting--and moving--story.

Pub Date: July 1, 1985

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Stein & Day

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1985

Categories: FICTION