clock … watching time, the only true currency

I bought Gold Mine for a bus ride home last week, and it barely lasted longer than that. Yes, another Wilbur Smith book (my previous mention), although this one is (for him) practically a short story, at only 263 pages. Only now am I noticing that this one was originally written in 1970, making it one of his earlier novels. It’s not particularly good, but it fits his pattern of historical fiction set in Africa, with heroic, roguish men winning business battles (and other kinds) at the less-than-genteel edge of civilization. This one is set in and around a gold mine (surprise!).

These are so-called guilty pleasures, but when I learn that the first two authors that Smith lists as his favorites are C.S. Forrester and Patrick O’ Brien, and Bernard Cornwell also makes the list of eight, then I suppose I know why I keep returning to his tales.

Gold Mine, though, is not his best.