State of Decay: An Oubangui Chronicle recounts a rapid-fire succession of events leading to the overthrow of a corrupt dictator in the Central African country of "Oubangui." A battalion of heroes and villains charge through the many plot twists crammed into its scant 156 pages.

The premise of this thriller is that democracy can emerge, even in a nation where the citizens are beaten down by corruption and cruelty. The appropriate conditions must be present, of course: a charismatic leader who surfaces at the right moment, a modicum of organized support, a wave of civil discontent, and some undercover political maneuvering by the Western powers. It’s a hopeful theme, given the critical state of affairs in many African states, poised between dependencies of the Cold War era and a future in which multi-party democracy might hold sway.

The author, Robert Gribbin, who served as ambassador to Rwanda during his Foreign Service career in Africa, has a reality-based understanding of the details of Central African politics and operations, such as diamond smuggling and ivory poaching. He offers tastes of these and other inside stories of Africa, including traditional religious beliefs and life with a group of Pygmies.

The story opens with a prison scene featuring the hero, Jean Mbaito, a pilot with Air Oubangui. The pilot has been imprisoned in miserable conditions since being falsely implicated in his cousin’s coup attempt at the airport more than a year ago. A flashback to his trial provides a glimpse of the evil dictator.

The Lion of Oubangui, dictator Bassia, bears a strong resemblance to Emperor Jean-Bedel Bokassa of the Central African Republic, overthrown in 1979. Bokassa, like Bassia, was known for such tendencies as favoring an imperial presidency, bludgeoning school children to death, and encouraging rumors of cannibalism. Both the real and the fictitious dictators were propped up for many years by the former colonial power, France.

The scene soon shifts to a safari camp where the European hunting guide, Philippe, and his tracker, Ndomazi, are catering to a wealthy Spanish client, who has lost his taste for the kill. When Jill, an attractive young elephant fanatic, shows up to establish an elephant monitoring system for a British conservation society, the Spaniard sides with Jill. Because the client is paying the bills, Philippe and his crew agree to hunt elephant poachers, rather than big game, a decision that catapults them into the thick of the overthrow action.

The scenes involving these characters are interspersed with political speculation featuring the U.S. ambassador and his political officer, stationed in the capital of Landja. The chapters set at the embassy provide a setting for analysis of topics ranging from the dictator’s background and relationship with the former colonial power to the geography of Oubangui.

The next stop on the tour is a diamond mine where a cruel Afrikaner, who manages the concession for a Johannesburg mining company, is busy getting rich on the side through gun running and ivory poaching.

The dictator’s repressive crackdown on student demonstrators provides an opportunity for the pilot to escape from prison. During a brief sojourn with a lovely African woman on her isolated farm, the pilot has an epiphany about saving his country. During breaks from helping his hostess/lover plant crop seeds, he manages, metaphorically, to plant seeds that mature – very swiftly as is the trend in this thriller – into a full-fledged democratic movement to overthrow the dictator.

Although the characters are mostly caricatures, at least the author has avoided the common tendency of Western films and fiction set in Africa to feature whites as stars and blacks as bit players. In State of Decay, the top-billed villain and hero, as well as the hero’s lover, are all African. The white hero, heroine, and villains play supporting roles. Moreover, Gribbin evenhandedly puts the heroines, both black and white, through the same type of humiliation in the closing chapters.

Don’t expect any thorough analysis of politics or culture from Gribbin’s novelette. Nor is there any space for serious development of plot or characterization. However, if you enjoy fast-paced thrillers and hunger for fiction set in Africa by someone who knows the continent and expresses hope about the potential for democracy there, pack State of Decay in your bag for an afternoon of reading on the beach this summer.