Bittersweet Crude

Jay Bern

The oil industry is like a giant octopus with cold unfeeling eye and suckers on its tentacles searching and reaching out to master any object or happening in its vast domain.

The story of Bittersweet Crude gives a hitherto seldom exposed insight of the inner workings of a fictitious international oil company and of forces which dictate its leaders to make business decisions, whether liked or not.

The human element in such an organization often ranks secondary in the grand scheme of things, but conditions and circumstances beyond control play an important role in the story. Including romance, friendships and politics make it a kaleidoscope of real life with all its ups and downs in a roller coaster fashion.

When participating in the protagonist’s life as a high ranking executive, it becomes clear that languages, borders and distances are far less important than the facets of life of people.

Persistency of the main characters to free the world from the ever increasing dependency on fossil fuel and its inherent dangers to human well-being and the environment, leads to an all-comprising solution inducted by cemented friendships and the sound of wedding bells.

Review by Carolyn Howard-Johnson (121206) Rating (9/10)

Review by Carolyn Howard-Johnson
It is rare that a novel is released in time to run head-on into the political traumas it portrays. After all, it takes some time to craft a novel and current events tend to be fickle. It turns out Bittersweet Crude by Jay Bern is ahead of its time.

Released last year by a subsidy house, this novel didn't find its groove easily. Given the oil-induced headaches governments are experiencing, that may be about to change. Here is an author who knows about the inner-workings of crude and the way it is inextricably braided into politics. He takes those truths and weaves them into a story that requires no effort from the reader to suspend disbelief.

Chris Horn is not the average quirky detective but a rather earnest youth who finds himself thrown into the intrigue of big business and Mid-Eastern politics. After he finds a body in the hold of a freighter that has experienced what could be the oil-world's equivalent of a nuclear meltdown, he is jockeyed into positions no young man should have to endure. In spite of his dealings with men (yes, a world of men - for, after all, that's the way it apparently is) dealing with their demons to say nothing of cultural differences, politics and more, while their Texas wives mostly plan cocktail parties and pine for better things.

Yes, there is some romance in this novel - a lovely thread I wouldn't want to have seen omitted, but it feels a little uncomfortable, as if the author suspects it is not essential to his story. It does give him the opportunity to introduce the lovely Eurasian Sarina, educated and brainy, into the mix.

Nevertheless, the real story here is the gritty one tinged with truths that may well be very close to what is going on behind the scenes in boardrooms, government offices and cushy palaces around the world. This is a timely and pertinent book. If it should get into the hands of George Clooney, he may be able to do a lot with it on the screen.
Carolyn Howard-Johnson (12th December 2006)