In the Company of Killers by Bryan Christy

G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 368 pages, $27

There’s a big hint about what the book contains in the “About the Author” section: “Bryan Christy is the former head of Special Investigations at National Geographic ….” It’s not very strange, then, that Christy’s main character, Tom Klay, is an investigative writer for “The Sovereign,” a clone of “National Geographic.” With those elements providing the skeleton for his story,  Christy has created a ripping good thriller and an exposition on the morality of world politics and globalization.

Klay first appears in our sights as he accompanies an old friend, Bernard Lolosoli, on a mission to catch elephant poachers on a protected reserve in Kenya. Tragedy follows and Klay has his next mission in life: to catch Ras Botha, a South African and the king of poaching and other illicit activities. Klay knows no bounds in his desire to see justice visited heavily on Botha’s head.

Klay has gotten permission and a cover story from his boss at The Sovereign to investigate Botha further in South Africa. It helps his boss is also his handler and recruiter into the CIA’s shadowy world of intelligence. Klay’s got resources behind him in his task.

In addition to what is going on on the world stage, Tom Klay is a complex character with a lot of past tragedies and worries shaken up into a ticking psychological bomb. Only, Klay won’t let the problems own him; he will own his life and will use the past to harden him into what he needs to be for his assignments. Before I mislead you further, let me say that Tom Klay is not a hired killer. His best weapons are his words and his work for the magazine.

The joy of reading “In the Company of Killers” is the trip from what you think you know to what is actually going on. On the way to the ending, there is a trail of sadness, enlightenment, satisfaction, a big case of the uglies, and enough hate and love to go around.

MBTB star!