The Information Officer - Mark Mills

It's been several years since I read Mark Mills' first book, Amagansett, but I recall liking it well enough. So I had fairly high hopes for The Information Officer.

Set in Malta during May of 1942 (though framed by two scenes set in London ten years later), it follows Max Chadwick, the British officer charged with presenting the news in the way best suited to keep hopes up and keep the citizens of Malta on the British side. This is somewhat complicated by the fact everyone knows that's the purpose of his job and the Daily Situation Report, not to mention the fact the Brits are so low on ammo and viable aircraft they can't mount much more than a perfunctory defense against German bombing. That someone has begun assaulting and killing local women, and that the most recent victim had a scrap of a British submariner's uniform in her hand, isn't helping matters. Especially as Max decides to investigate, while his ranking officers* tell him to back off, and the possibility is raised by a friend of Max' that this may be a German plan to sour relations between Malta and the Brits. Which isn't to say the killer doesn't enjoy their work. . .

Mills paints a very lovely picture of Malta, even if it is one being systematically blown to bits by the Nazis. His dialogue is amusing at times, and he creates the fine characters. The murders at times seem largely secondary to Max trying to work through his frustrations with his personal life, which is a curious choice, but truthfully, the book will go long stretches without mentioning them, or without any progress made in any form with regards to them.

I found it silly that seemingly every female character in the book is either attracted to Max, or at least likes him enough to want him to hook up with their friend/boss/relative. The one woman who wouldn't fit those categories is also the one who immediately betrays Max' confidences, which is a curious choice. What, if a woman doesn't like Max, they're a conniving backstabber? That, and certain ways in which Max handles his personal life left me not entirely sure I liked him. Oh, I certainly wanted him to catch the murderer (assuming nobody else was going to), but I thought things turned out a little too neatly for him. Deserve may have nothing to do with it as William Munny once said, but it wouldn't be such a bad thing if it did.

For the record, I completely whiffed on the identity of the killer. Nothing new there, though I thought I had it, which is atypical. I suppose I glossed over a critical comment made by a friend of Max, because I figured word would get around about the murders on its own. A few of the chapters are written from the killer's perspective, so I tried to apply what we knew from those, to what we hadn't learned about other characters. Which obviously didn't work.

* I originally typed "superiors", but I hate using that word to describe someone simply because they've been given authority over another. I've known too many lazy, incompetent prats who got to be bosses to put much stock in the idea of them being anyone's superior.