Fiction strays disturbingly close to reality in debut author Miles Joyner’s novel Bazaar, which is rife with sinister plots, deadly technology, and the dark side of human ambition.
The story begins as thrillers often do: with a murder. The victim is the son of a former ambassador, the location is in the middle of DC nightlife, and the homicide is eventually linked to an assassination marketplace of sorts on the dark web called Bazaar. Enter Yemi and Karen Uzunma, a sibling protection team intent on protecting prominent political figures until the killer—an eighteen-year-old motivated by the social unrest festering at the heart of this story—is caught.
Joyner harnessed his decade of television editing experience to pen gripping action sequences that will leave readers of Bazaar on the edge of their seats, wondering how much of the modern weaponry and digital warfare he depicts could possibly be based on anything in real life. The plot unfolds twist by turn, weaving a web as complex and as sinister as the one that the assassins in this book use to find gigs.
This fast-paced storytelling fills in the gaps in the overall character development within the narrative. The large cast could explain Joyner’s simplified approach, through which even the main figures in play are less than dynamic and a bit too predictable; the so-called good guys of Bazaar never seem to stray to the dark side despite many temptations and come across as judgmental of anyone who does, while the villains are always cast in a negative light. Their conversations, on the other hand, sometimes come across as more convoluted and veiled than is probably necessary, even for a suspenseful mystery.
Gritty and thought-provoking, Bazaar will appeal to readers who relish the chase with a healthy dose of social philosophizing.
K. Watkins 