A literary suspense novel set in contemporary Vietnam, THE SEED OF CORRUPTION joins a wave of literature with storylines touched by the COVID pandemic. As author A.I. Fabler—the pseudonymous New Zealand-born writer whose previous novel, Agenda 2060, sharply satirized so-called “woke culture”—writes in his preface, THE SEED OF CORRUPTION was initially inspired by the avian flu and SARS epidemics a decade earlier. The unfinished novel languished, perhaps fortuitously, until COVID renewed the story’s relevance and spurred Fabler to update and finish the story.

The novel’s central character, Anton Faraday, is a successful wildlife artist who discovers that a work of his, a painting of a panda commissioned by the Paladin Foundation (a shadowy, mysterious organization of the type that is rarely up to any good), has been counterfeited. His investigation into the matter brings him to Vietnam, where Faraday embarks upon a journey that readers familiar with Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, will immediately recognize.

Fabler’s introduction gives the impression that THE SEED OF CORRUPTION will be a straightforward, fast-paced Michael Crichton-style techno-thriller—and the plot does eventually veer in that direction—but Faraday’s quest turns out to be anything but a conventional adventure. Moving between travelogue, art world whodunit, and philosophical introspection, the story more often than not finds Faraday contemplating Vietnam’s colonial past and communist present over bowls of pho or gourmet meals prepared by his chef friend Michel (the kind of extremely French chef who exclaims “magnifique!” and “d’accord!” at regular intervals). Fabler wears his inspirations on his sleeve, his protagonist watching the films Indochine, The Quiet American, and Apocalypse Now to educate himself on Vietnamese history, and alluding to espionage novelist John Le Carré, whose work, along with that of Graham Greene, reverberates throughout this novel. Faraday’s meandering journey also recalls the existential mysteries of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett.

Fabler elevates this heady stew of genres and references beyond mere pastiche, with beautifully evocative passages (“the setting sun laid a pale carmine wash over the landscape, the water oozing like molten plastic on its slow journey towards the South China Sea”) and sharp, sardonic observations (Faraday watches Apocalypse Now “in his room, sliding into its mesmerizing depiction of barbarism as if watching a psychedelic slide show on the necrosis of the soul”). Faraday is a compelling protagonist, consumed by the cynicism of a talented artist worn down by the compromises demanded by patronage. When the plot finally makes its way to the topic of coronavirus and the author’s speculation about its origins, it’s an abrupt turn that initially feels tangential to Faraday’s journey but finishes with a satisfying, haunting conclusion that, in retrospect, feels entirely appropriate.

A.I. Fabler’s THE SEED OF CORRUPTION is a heady stew of influences, from the travel literature of John Le Carré and Graham Greene to the dark journeys of Apocalypse Now and Heart of Darkness. Fabler’s beautifully evocative, clever writing, however, transcends pastiche to emerge as a hauntingly original work.

~Edward Sung for IndieReader