“With prose that invokes vivid imagery, the author describes in harrowing detail his time spent in Africa as a UN security officer after the Rwandan genocide. This story provides an account of a time that is not often learned about but is important to history.” Susie D., Copy Editor, Red Adept Editing
Reviewed by Lucinda E Clarke for Readers’ Favorite
It falls to a few of us to witness and be part of one of the most heartbreaking refugee crises since the Second World War. In his memoir Edge of Chaos, John Logan takes us to Goma, a city in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In what was to be a short six-month contract with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, he was thrown into a situation he was initially ill-equipped for. Militia from different tribal affiliations were continually at war. The camps of displaced people were scattered across the area, and John was the security officer for all of them. He faced hostage situations, angry officials, aggressive locals, grenades thrown into a compound, numerous roadblocks, and driving through a hail of bullets. Each day might be his last, and his previous work in the military had not prepared John for this. He recounts his visit to the gorillas, the murder of a party of tourists, and every time he heard his call sign Golf Hotel Eight Nine, he knew there was another catastrophe to de-escalate. He survived by using the diplomatic skills he honed to perfection.
If you have ever wondered what it is like to work in Africa in the middle of a war, then pick up Edge of Chaos by John Logan. His descriptions of the everyday fear he and his colleagues lived with in Goma are raw and real. He does not hold back on the terror, inhumanity, and cruelty he encountered. This book is a vivid account of his work in the DRC among warring tribes, where death is a daily occurrence. He survives by using his outstanding gift of diplomacy, saying just the right thing at the right time. The author takes the reader into the middle of the action. You are there; you share the terror and the heightened awareness of the possible dangers around you. This is perhaps the most explicit description of working in a war-torn area I have ever read. The selfless devotion of the aid workers is so humbling. An amazing book.
