I also realize, that I could have read Greene´s non-fiction work”Journey without maps” before reading Butcher´s work, in order to get a more complete reading experience.As Butcher´s first novel “Blood River”, “Chasing the Devil” was a shocking read, a great combination of adventure and history and a truly educational experience for me. Butcher refers to Greene´s books and observations in his novel, and myself having recently read G.Greene´s “Heart of the matter”, a fiction novel also taking place in Sierra Leone, it was interesting to see some of the observations. This constant comparison, fruit of extensive research by the author, makes interesting reading and gives the book, and Butcher´s adventure, a clear lifeline that it follows.
As such, besides learning about the history of these countries, the reader gets to experience two travel stories simultaneously that of Graham Greene and Butcher´s own. more tanley in the Democratic Republic of Congo in his earlier work).While informatively shedding light to the dark history of aforementioned Western African countries, Butcher is constantly comparing the experience of Greene (an author that I adore) from the 1935 to that experienced by him some seventy years later. Butcher´s writing seems more relaxed on this book - i guess not being his first book, he has nothing to prove to anyone anymore and as such is more free to convey through his emotions too? On the first chapter he sets the scene for his upcoming trip to Sierra Leone and Liberia, and leaves the delighted reader thirsty and impatient to read the upcoming adventures, this time following the footsteps of Graham Greene and his cousin Barbara (in contrast to those of S. Review 1: Having read Butcher´s first book ”Blood River”, I set to reading his further adventures in Africa with great interest.Right from the beginning of the book, I was happy to note that his writing had evolved to a more emotional style, compared to his first book, hence making the reading experience richer for me.
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