The Information Officer

Ah well, the usual consequence of turning me on to a new author (Mark Mills) and turning me loose in Powell's bookstore has happened. I bought the two books he previously published (prior to Amagansett) and devoured them both. The Information Officer is set in Malta during WWII with the major players being British soldiers/aviators--along with one American "liaison" officer. Having also just bought and read Erik Larson's non-fiction account of Berlin from 1933-37 (In the Garden of Beasts), I was in a  receptive frame of mind for this historically based murder mystery. Mills claims, through his main character  British Army Information Officer Max Chadwick, that more bombs were dropped on Malta in a few months than on all of London in the Blitz. Wikipedia claims (and other sources back this) that "Between 20 March and 28 April 1942, the Germans flew 11,819 sorties against the island and dropped 6,557 tons of bombs (3,150 tons on Valletta)"--Valletta being the main city and main harbor. Mills has done his historical research. Suffice to say that the residents of Malta experienced death and destruction on a daily basis, so it's no wonder that the deaths of a few dance hall girls might go unnoticed amid the carnage, especially as they have been artfully disguised to look like collateral damage from the bombings. That is until the local military doctor/surgeon (Freddie Lambert) brings the latest victim to the attention of Max, along with "evidence" that the murderer is a British submariner. Our protagonist is torn between wanting to keep up morale through his positive spins on information, and bringing the matter to the attention of the authorities. He finally decides to do the latter, but in secret, through local contacts. It is only when his own lover disappears, along with the local detective who had been investigating the deaths, that the case gets really personal for Max. Meanwhile, interspersed throughout the commentary, are excerpts from the killer's journal which range from the original impetus for his first kill to the latter entries where he gloats at getting away with the murders and wanting to up the challenge for himself. We also learn that he is spying and sowing disinformation on behalf of the Germans. The identity of the killer is a surprise, partly due to the fact that few of the characters are fully developed, and I found the novel is more evocative (of time and place and social manners) than satisfying. I would still recommend it, and it spurred me on to read another novel by Mill, The Savage Garden.