Allure
of Deceit
Susan
Froetschel
Prometheus/Seventh Street
Books, Feb 3 2015, $15.95
ISBN: 9781616140175
On their honeymoon in India, Photizonet CEO Michael and
his pregnant wife Rose Sendry die in a terrorist attack. The affluent Michael’s will established the
GlobalConnect foundation headed by his grieving mom Lydia. She feels out of her Michigan element hosting
fundraising events in Manhattan as the face of the foundation whose annual goal
is to distribute $400 million to no more than fifty charities that focus on
developing nations. Instead Lydia lives
to learn why her son was the target.
Pearl Hanson heads a small rural Texas-based organization
that runs an orphanage and natural family planning programs. She requests a grant to deploy her programs
to Laashekoh, Afghanistan where GlobalConnect development director Paul
Reichart performed miracles. In the
small Afghan farm community, village leader Parsaa struggles with what to do
about a family whose matriarch committed filicide ostracizing the innocent other young female members. However, now he also has to deal with some
know-it all “Tex-is” females who just want to help while he and the
other villagers just want to help them go home.
With
more examples than just the second paragraph above, Allure of Deceit is a powerful exposé of the Ugly American believing in
the divine right of exceptionalism and other equally as arrogant western
intruders insisting they know what is best for a culture no one tries to
understand. Instead all that money
floating around leads to cutthroat competition, greed and intrusive poor
decisions that create a cesspool outcome.
The discerning storyline starts leisurely yet gripping as Susan Froetschel introduces her readers to the underbelly of charities working in
poor nations, but also accelerates when Americans go missing where they are not
wanted.
Harriet Klausner
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