The Barboza Credentials

1976

From blurb of Popular Library edition:

TERROR IN BLACK AND WHITE

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The scene is a newly emergent African nation.

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The hero is a white man living on both sides of the law.

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The story begins with a brutal slaying, and moves into a jungle of intrigue and treachery, guilt and betrayal . . . as countless human lives and the fate of a nation depend on finding and destroying the monstrously evil figure known only through --

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THE BARBOZA CREDENTIALS

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From ATA page of Popular Library edition:

WHAT HICKEY DIDN'T KNOW COULD KILL HIM

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Hickey did not know why his office manager in a tiny town deep in the African bush had been found dead with a fortune in American dollars.

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HIckey did not  know how far to trust the dead man's beautiful widow who was so good in bed and so dangerous out of it.

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HIckey did not know who was the more savage -- the former colonial masters who still ruled their secret empire in this black nation, or the native leaders who had imposed their own reign of terror.

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Hickey knew only one thing for sure:

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He was the only one in this nightmare country who cared at all about Hickey's staying alive . . .

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Blurb from Panther edition:

British-born Joe Hickey is charged with finding a mercenary killer in Africa's dark heart. But time is running out for this ex-cop turned Rhodesian sanctions-buster, and the life he has to save -- as the seconds tick relentlessly by -- is his own . . .

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More savage than The Dogs of War! 

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"The author of The Wilby Conspiracy delivers a blockbuster . . . the action is bloody and fast!"

--Publishers Weekly

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"Taut, entertaining, action-filled . . . vey good!"

--New York Times Book Review

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"Strong and gripping."

--Chicago Daily News

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"A splendid thriller . . . a My Lai-style massacre, a power struggle between a right-wing millionaire and an ex-guerrilla politician, blackmail, seemingly motiveless murders, a manhunt in the bush, a hair-raising climax in the bowels of a huge hydroelectric dam, are among the tasty ingredients."

--New York Magazine

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"Peter Driscoll is in the tradition of the master storytellers!"

--Chicago Tribune Book World

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"This rugged tale of a bush country cover-up in post-coup Mozambique . . . (is) fast-paced, highly credible intrigue."

--Kirkus Reviews

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"Beautifully paced thriller."

--Daily Mirror

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"An excellent thriller . . . Peter Driscoll has surpassed his previous form with THE BARBOZA CREDENTIALS."

--The Listener

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"Direct, clear tale-telling, tough talk galore, authentic detail by the barrel, and pages and pages of it."

--The Times

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"Peter Driscoll is a baffling entertainer, and he has us at his mercy all the way."

--New Yorker