First of all, “the book” is ultimately not about Guyana. Yes, it took place here, and it involved many Guyanese, but it’s essentially about a US State Department sub-culture bubbling in the US visitor-visa scam that is found in several US embassies around the world. More specifically, “the book” is largely about one US Embassy employee, Thomas Carroll, who operated in Guyana like an undercover Mafia Don, bribing officials, ordering violence on individuals, raking in millions, and behaving all the while like a character in a Quentin Tarantino film.
Currently the subject of fevered discussion among Guyanese everywhere, the book, The Thomas Carroll Affair, is the work of an American writer, David Casavis, based on his interviews, readings and research. Bestriding virtually every page of the publication is the reality or the spectre of Thomas Carroll, an American Foreign Service Officer (FSO) running rampant in Guyana with an arrogance and a bravado that apparently fooled even his boss, then US Ambassador Mack. Amid whispers about his doings, Carroll appeared untouchable even as persons seeking his help to procure a visa were patrolling in front of his Duncan Street house at night. To run his racket, Carroll had policemen and government officials in his pocket, and thugs at his command. Although he would eventually be tripped up by his own arrogance, Carroll was a master at the scheme he presided over, raking in so much money, always in US dollars, that getting it out of the country would become one of his problems.
Dismissing the book as “bad writing” is misguided. Its New York-based author, David Casavis, is using a somewhat staccato style of short declaratory sentences (early Hemingway, to a degree) to depict the intrigue involved. His sentences could have been written for the Jack Webb character in the television crime series Dragnet, or for the likes of New York gossip columnist Walter Winchell. Here’s a sample: “They were undercover. They contacted Joe after the
