By Heidi Simmons
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The Laughing Monsters
by Denis Johnson
Fiction
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A new world has emerged since the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the Great Recession. These events have not only impacted the US but also the world. African countries have become destabilized and some have fallen into chaos. In Denis Johnson’s The Laughing Monsters (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 228 pages), two men make the most of the Dark Continent.
Roland Nair, a Danish American, is on a mission. His day job is intelligence for NATO. He is a Captain in the Danish military but travels with an American passport. He is heading back to Freetown, Sierra Leone, to meet up with Michael Adriko, an old friend and soldier of fortune.
A decade earlier, Roland and Michael made a killing on the African continent by exploiting the madness of the civil wars. They made money and trouble, enjoying every moment.
A charming and handsome guy, Michael was born on the Uganda/Congo border – he thinks. His parents, siblings and tribe were all killed. His past unclear, Warlords might have raised him and missionaries might have saved him. But for the last several years, Michael has been in the US Army serving as an instructor in hand-to-hand combat and guerilla warfare.
But when the US Army failed to give Michael a promised citizenship, rank and money, he went AWOL. Not only did he leave the army, he took Davidia, the commanding officer’s beautiful daughter with him.
When Roland meets up with Michael, it’s like old times. Michael has a big plan to make quick money. But Michael claims his real purpose is to marry Davidia. He wants a tribal wedding in the presence of his kin and Roland. Davidia seems game for the adventure. Roland doesn’t believe it because Davidia is his fifth fiancée.
Things have changed in Freetown. The quality of life has deteriorated: electricity is intermittent and a wireless connection is rare. Old intelligence officers and shady characters roam the bars looking for information and moneymaking schemes.
Roland is at home with the conniving crowd. His intentions are certainly not pure. Besides aiding in Michael’s plan, he has a plan of his own. He wants to sell information about America’s secret global communication centers to the highest bidder – the Chinese. His NATO mission is to find out and report on Michael’s plan, but Roland chooses to ignore his superiors.
The three travel across Africa. It is an arduous journey: They fly in an old Russian transport plane; steal a UN vehicle and sneak around border check points. Davidia loses respect (and love) for Michael after he runs down a woman on the road and won’t go back because “It’s Africa.” As they make their way to Michael’s village, there are shootings, fistfights and explosions. They are chased down, imprisoned and interrogated.
Davidia’s father comes to her rescue. Michael eludes capture and Roland escapes. But Roland won’t leave the area without his pal Michael – besides, it is his mission to notify authorities of Michael’s dubious intentions (he’s trying to sell uranium.)
Roland finds Michael hiding out in the village of his relatives – or what Michael thinks are his relatives. But they are all crazy. The tribe’s queen is hideous and lives in a tree. Their water supply is polluted with toxins from the exploitation of their land for minerals by foreign mining companies. The water has poisoned the people of the New Water Mountains making them look grotesque and go insane. Locals describe it as the place of “laughing monsters.” Even the missionaries are leaving the God forsaken region.
With the aid of American missionaries, Roland and Michael get out of the area and make it back to Freeland where they complete their transactions, make some cash and consider what African country they should go to next.
The one thing Roland and Michael know is that Africa is a new frontier filled with nefarious opportunities ripe for exploitation. That is, as long as you can survive. But they welcome the challenge.
The Laughing Monsters is about a world gone mad. It is filled with flawed and questionable characters who want to be in control and discover they thrive in the chaos they generate. Roland and Michael certainly are not heroes. Nor are they particularly likeable, but each has a tainted charisma. It may be the singular quality that keeps them alive in their self-made hostile playground.
Author Johnson does not hold back in his descriptions of people or places. The world is filthy and smelly. It is corrupted beyond repair. There is more bad than good, more sorrow than happiness and more shame than pride. These narcissistic men give the reader a look at the countries that allow Roland and Michael to prosper. It is a world where the weak, the innocent and the earth are exploited and there is nothing anyone can do about it.
This novel is not a spy thriller; rather, it is about the thrill of embracing life where there is no hope. Roland and Michael only operate like they do because the world lets them. They would make fantastic heroes if the world wanted heroes – but it doesn’t.
Johnson is a genius when it comes to creating characters. Roland and Michael are colorful and memorable. And the pages have interesting ideas about the condition of the world and the role of mankind in its care and keeping. Don’t look for a perfect plot or a tidy narrative. The Laughing Monsters is about men behaving badly and those who do nothing to stop them. So, if you can’t be a hero, why not be a villain?
