The Master Blaster

February 13, 2012
In Kluge’s latest, disparate lives clash in the remote U.S. territory of Saipan, an island in the Pacific known for its WWII battles and territorial wrangling. A late-night plane to the island deposits a group of misfits, including Stephanie Warner, a middle-aged professor who is vaulted to prominence at Saipan’s tiny college and is considering a split with her husband. With her are George Griffin, a travel writer going to Saipan to contemplate a daring career move; Max Brodie, an older businessman with the seeds of a good idea; and Khan, a young Bangladeshi desperate for an opportunity and trying to avoid exploitation—or worse. The beaches are nice, but as the half-empty hotels and massage parlors attest, this is a place on the margins. The complex world that exists in this U.S. commonwealth’s shadows is chronicled by the Master Blaster, an elusive and widely read blogger who is the not-so-secret target of those whose corruption he exposes. The new arrivals become quickly entangled with local intrigue and with each other. They are all pulled into Saipan’s conflicts until the island threatens to consume more than just their money. Though Kluge (Gone Tomorrow) delivers a detailed sociopolitical commentary about a fascinating spot, a somber noir pallor makes the story less exciting that it could be.

March 1, 2012
Kluge chronicles the overlapping lives of strangers who travel to Saipan and find an America they never expected. George Griffin is a disillusioned travel writer whose latest book proposal isn't exactly working out the way he wanted. Stephanie Warner is an academic running away from a failed marriage. Mel Brodie, a Jewish businessman, and Khan, a Bangladeshi worker, round out the core cast of characters arriving on the same flight, each hoping to find on the South Pacific island of Saipan the something that's missing from their lives. Home to fierce fighting in World War II, Saipan became a U.S. Commonwealth, but other than the title, there is very little about the small island that speaks to the American way of life. With a tropical climate blanketing the ruins of a war fought many decades ago and the remnants of failed motels and industrial buildings littering the roads, the island speaks to immigrants looking to better their situations. Many of them find exactly the opposite, working in jobs where they are treated like slaves, earning barely enough to survive. While the island's residents like to tout the place as paradise, one person spends much of his time bursting that bubble. Known for reasons Kluge never fully explains as the Master Blaster, this rebel maintains a website that critically examines Saipan, leading to threats and attempts to unmask his identity. Kluge's story, told in turn by the different travelers, traces the intersection of his characters' lives and how they relate both to one another and to Saipan. The writing is right on the mark, with the author migrating effortlessly from one point of view to another. And the characters interact plausibly, their stories overlapping almost imperceptibly, but the picture he paints of Saipan is depressing: In Kluge's hands the island becomes a down-on-its-luck Paradise wannabe that exists only to bilk migrants of their dreams. Highly imaginative but unfortunately titled and depressing from first page to last, the novel won't send anyone rushing to book a vacation on the island of Saipan.

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January 1, 2012

Set on the island of Saipan, this novel by the author of Gone Tomorrow focuses on a group of characters who have descended upon this newest American commonwealth in search of a fresh start. Among them are George Griffin, an end-of-his-rope travel writer; Stephanie Warner, an ambitious college professor escaping a failed marriage; Mel Brodie, an aging salesman with a shady reputation who's employed by a powerful Washington lobbyist; and Kahn, a Bangladeshi laborer looking for a better life. Whether striving or hustling, they all at some point come into contact with the Master Blaster, a mysterious American expat, who through his website has become something of the conscience of the island. What each finds on Saipan is not a travel-brochure vision of paradise or the new start they imagined but rather a down-at-the-heels, would-be resort where old family ties and a localized crony capitalism result in the same old disillusionments. VERDICT Kluge paints an entertainingly sardonic portrait of this newest part of America, which he presents, more generally, as being emblematic of "where America ends."--Lawrence Rungren, Merrimack Valley Lib. Consortium, North Andover, MA

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2012
Saipan is the largest island of the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a half-hour plane ride from Guam, and a place most Americans probably don't even realize is an American territory. The island is a muddle of decommissioned WWII- and Cold Warera installations, abandoned garment factories, sleazy strip bars, empty hotels with algae-filled pools, acres of prime beachfront property ripe for development, and a populace eager to fleece new arrivals. On this shabby tropical isle, instead of a ship of fools, Kluge creates an island of fools, as four disparate visitors all experience life-changing eventsnot necessarily for the better. Shady wheeler-dealer Mel Brodie; Dr. Stephanie Warner, a libidinous academic; indentured laborer Khan, from Bangladesh; and George Griffin, a world-weary travel writer, all arrive together one morning, suffering from jet lag and eager for new experiences. Although not the typical genre-fiction page-turner, this title is recommended for large popular collections for its interesting character development, plot twists, and gotcha ending.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)