FREIGHT DOGS

401pp., paperback, London, 2021

A novel set during and after the war in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, from 1996 to 2007.

 "Freight Dogs is an ambitious and intricate novel. Foden's understanding of the nature of war, and of this war in particular, is exemplary ... Freight Dogs is also a fast-paced adventure yarn featuring battles, exploding volcanoes, buried secrets, a deathbed revelation, daredevil flying and an elusive love interest. In this Foden has cleverly reworked the grand African adventure novel epitomised by Rider Haggard and Wilbur Smith, or later, John le Carré's The Constant Gardener or Michael Crichton's Congo ... Freight Dogs brings to mind Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer and The Committed, deeply political novels disguised as thrillers that twist the tropes of a genre towards another goal." Aminatta Forna, Guardian

"Sharp and fast-paced ... Foden does a fine job of locating the reader in the maelstrom of this brutal period in Congo's past ... he takes us deep into the heart of a complex conflict, showing how even the innocent can get caught up in acts of horrifying violence." Alex Preston, Observer

Giles Foden was an editor and writer on the Times Literary Supplement and the Guardian, and his writing has been published in Granta, Vogue, Esquire, The New York Times and Conde Nast Traveller, where he is a contributing editor. His novels include The Last King of Scotland, Ladysmith, Zanzibar and Turbulence.