King of Rumah Nadai

The richly multicultural world of Malaysia in the 1960s is the setting for this evocative novel by Clarke ( My Father in the Night ), himself a resident of Borneo for many years. Dan Collins is a high-ranking U.S. State Department official based in Sarawak, the central province of the newly created country. When Eddie Gould, a State Department worker, ``goes native'' and shows up on the cover of National Geographic in tattoos and a loincloth, Collins is held responsible. Disturbed by a threat to recall him to Washington, Collins decides to search out Eddie himself. He travels upriver to the primitive village of Rumah Nadai, armed with only one piece of advice: ``Watch out for the darkness.'' There, with the help of the local tribe's headman, Bawang, Collins himself transforms almost completely into one of the native Ibans, using a blowgun, raising a fighting cock and traveling alone in the terrifyingly dark rain forest. The novel is at its best when weaving together different cultures--Malay, Chinese, Iban, British--that struggle to form the emerging Malaysian nation. But the background and motivation behind Collins's flight into the jungle remains unclear, and a melodramatic ending involving encroaching loggers provides no additional information. This remains an appealingly written novel in which much is carefully observed, save for the main character himself. (June)