he writes so well about things that are so hard to write and read about. i seriously cannot understand the horrendous things we do to one another.

he tried to end this book on a hopeful note but after the reality of all that came before, i'm not sure it struck, for me. ( )

What do a helicopter pilot, a disabled father, an American missionary family, and young auto mechanic all have in common? They are all characters in the land of magic soldiers, Daniel Bergner's harrowing tale about the recent history of Sierra Leone.

At the beginning of the 20th Century Lord Frederick Lugard wrote "The African knows no peace," and although it's a cliche to reference Conrad's Heart of Darkness when talking of equatorial Africa, Sierra Leone is one messed-up failed state and all theses characters certainly know no peace. The helicopter pilot is a mercenary who strafes guerrillas in a helicopter gunship; the disabled father had both his hands chopped off by rebels, the American missionary family flee their mission as violent anarchy spreads thought the countryside like a fast-moving virus, and the auto mechanic is a former child soldier and occasional cannibal.

Competently told, if not lyrical, Bergner's chilling tale documents what life is like when a society completely breaks down - think Cormac MacCarthy's "The Road" and add jungle. Reading it you can't help but wonder if this country and these people are beyond redemption, but Berger describes how stubborn the faintest glimmer of humanity can be when immersed in that aforementioned stygian heart of darkness.