Bloody Marko

Edgar nominee Davis's ( The Murder of Frau Schutz ) psychological thriller is a powerful account of the making of a war criminal. When first met, elderly ``Bloody Marko'' Renovich is facing trial in Yugoslavia for war crimes and atrocities. Progressing backward, the novel traces Marko's life in Ecuador as an exhausted terrorist after years as a Nazi collaborator who perpetrated horrendous crimes. Still further back, we emphathize with a young Marko, hopelessly in love; finally, we are confronted with the child Marko, raised in abject poverty, whose lasting legacy of humiliation and a sense of loss shapes the criminal he becomes. With insight and sensitivity Davis takes on a difficult subject, and while the story's lack of a resolution is frustrating, this is a provocative portrait of a man profoundly influenced by his time and place. (June)