To Sleep with Ghosts

Michelsen's intriguing tale succeeds on many levels: mystery, social and political commentary and pure adventure. In colorfully descriptive prose highlighted with humor, he portrays a complex clash of cultures and generations culminating in one man's political epiphany. The story is set in Mutara Old Harbor, ``a fourth-rate port on the lower eastern coast of Africa,'' and is related by Samuel Kimbu, the assistant chief inspector of customs. But there is no chief inspector nor any plans to hire one--if any wrongdoing should be detected, Kimbu knows he will be the fall guy. Unavoidably, however, he is drawn into various smuggling schemes involving assault rifles being funneled to local guerrillas and toxic waste from the West being dumped near Mutara's shantytown. In this apocalyptic tale of an Africa torn between its cultural heritage and Western perversions, storytelling becomes the instrument of redemption, with Kimbu's ``mad'' father's obsession with folktales and legends symbolizing an embattled tradition and Kimbu's own first-person narration representing his attempt to affect history. In a moving denouement, he is forced to make an ethical decision, literally one of life or death. Michelsen is the pseudonym of an author who has previously published commercial fiction. (July)