nonfiction

I had high hopes for this book, as I am former Peace Corps Tonga volunteer just three years removed from my time in the kingdom. The story of Deb Gardner's murder and the Peace Corps' role in essentially freeing her killer is a gem of a story, which makes it that much more of a letdown that Weiss couldn't do more with it. As I read through the sloppy text, eventually coming to the most anti-climactic confrontation one could imagine, I kept wishing that Jon Krakauer had gotten a hold of this story instead of this author. I also wished Weiss had dealt fully with the weirdness of his own attraction to the deceased Miss Gardner, or left it out completely. Would he have pursued this project at all had she been homely rather than the "most beautiful girl in Peace Corps"?

Former PC volunteers, especially from the Pacific, will probably enjoy the book for its ability to remind us of the islands and a few aspects of life as a volunteer. And the story itself is a good lesson in how the vaunted Peace Corps doesn't send only the best and brightest to represent America and give aid to the developing world. Some real nutcases are out there. I give Weiss some credit for a difficult task: writing about the Peace Corps without actually being a former volunteer.

I enjoyed this book, though it was quite painful to read about how the Peace Corps as an institution failed the Gardner family. I served in the Peace Corps in the late 1970's in the South Pacific (though not in Tonga), and, like many former volunteers, I consider my time in the Peace Corps to be one of the seminal experiences in my life. I still have great respect for the Peace Corps and its mission, but in 1976 and 1977 the agency sadly put preservation of its image above achieving justice for Deborah Gardner. Gardner's killer-who can have any doubt that it was fellow volunteer Dennis Priven-was, to my mind, a very disturbed individual who brilliantly manipulated the Tongan legal system. The author makes almost incontrovertibly clear, however, that Priven would likely not have succeeded without the complicity (and, sometimes, active effort) of Peace Corps' officials. If you have no other reaction upon reading this book, you will be left with the feeling that a serious miscarriage of justice took place, and that our government facilitated Priven's release back into American society.

The book brought back many memories of Peace Corps training and day-to-day volunteer life. (I also did "staging" at the Hotel Californian, and it was uncanny how the author captured the essence of the place and the overseas pre-departure activities.) The author does a good job of conveying those details, and he is quick to acknowledge the wealth of PCV/Tonga diaries, letters, and journals that were available to him. He also conducted numerous interviews with returned volunteers and others for what appears to be a very well-researched book.

I didn't mind that the author injected himself into the story at times. It was interesting to follow how he conducted his research and how he overcame obstacles while investigating events that took place almost three decades ago. I also didn't mind the several asides, usually involving Wayne Gardner, Deborah Gardner's father (e.g., Wayne Gardner's moose hunting trip in Alaska). The extra material almost always shed light on key relationships in the book, especially the pivotal relationship between Deborah Gardner and her father.

So why not 5 stars? I agree with other reviewers who criticized the author's writing style. At times he is quite eloquent, but at other times he mangles syntax and uses run-on sentences. One newspaper reviewer also described him as "comma happy," and I'd have to agree. More colons, semi-colons, and, especially, periods would have helped. The author mentions that there may be other books published about these events, and I couldn't help thinking that there was a rush to publication of this book without the benefit of a good edit by the publisher. Grammar and punctuation problems aside, however, the book tells a powerful if supremely sad story and is well worth the read. The killer got away with murder, and there seems little that can be done legally after all these years about obtaining justice for Deborah Gardner. Though of little comfort to her family, a governmental investigation into how the Peace Corps handled the matter would ensure that the same thing never happens again. As a former Peace Corps volunteer who is proud of his service, I think this blot on the Peace Corps' record needs to be finally and fully brought out into the sunshine and that apologies are long overdue the Gardner family.

Poor writing & a pointless, meandering narration that's overly focused on the author himself, make this a book to AVOID.