Zeb Larson reviews Burning Fields #2…
As new murders arise across the oilfields of Iraq and their surrounding cities, strange alliances form: Dana and Aban delve into one another’s pasts in the search for the killers, while Verge, the private military company that blocks Dana and Aban at every turn, makes its own inroads on the case.
After Burning Fields’ gory introductory issue, we settle into the rhythm of an investigation here. At one level, we’ve got a detective story with three different investigators, none of whom like or especially trust the others. It’s also a form of political parable as well as a horror story, all of which are feeding into each other. This gives Burning Fields a considerable amount of narrative depth for the reader to enjoy.
Now that Kirkuk has seen its fifteenth killing, the investigations are branching off. Verge, represented by Decker, are trying to keep tabs on the population in Kirkuk, even though the sectarian tensions are nearing a critical boiling point. Dana suspects that Verge is killing people to drive Carapace out of the region and believes the perpetrator is an American. Fasad, on the other hand approaches Dana with his theory that the killings have a ritual component. Dana is skeptical, but as Fasad claims to have more leads, she’s reluctantly forced to cooperate with him. Meanwhile, the killer is still moving around Kirkuk, and Fasad and Dana encounter a new group with as-yet unknown tie to Fasad’s past.
Though Moreci and Daniel have just begun to establish Fasad and Dana as characters, their partnership is an interesting one. Neither of them completely trust the other person. Dana is an American intruder in Fasad’s home, which has been repeatedly devastated by war and sectarian violence. Fasad’s theories don’t sound particularly credible to an outside ear, and he’s not exactly shy about voicing his complaints about the American presence in Kirkuk. They don’t dislike each other exactly, but neither knows what to make of the other person.
It’s hard to ignore the political element to this story, especially given the prominence ISIS has held in the media in recent weeks. The foreign presence in Kirkuk has been a deeply destabilizing force, according to Fasad. Any semblance of leadership in the city has been destroyed, creating a power vacuum and unleashing people and things that had once been restrained. In that absence of legitimate authority, a new violent force has arisen, one which seems to target everybody indiscriminately. The violence has a peculiar logic that only the wielder seems to understand, one that is senseless to any bystanders. Meanwhile, the people who might have been able to restrain the evil in their midst, the people of Kirkuk, have been brutalized into collective inaction. Does this sound familiar to anybody?
*Spoiler*
Of course, this isn’t just a political tale, and we get a few hints of the supernatural here. In the killer’s ramblings, one name jumped out to me as worthy of a quick search on Wikipedia: Asag. Sure enough, Asag is an ancient Sumerian demon. Kirkuk wasn’t technically part of Sumeria as the region was known as Gutium, but given the proximity and links between the two civilizations, it’s safe to say that they’re connected. Fittingly, the ancient city that Kirkuk today sits atop has never been excavated. How fitting then that an oil company might discover something like a Sumerian demon (and what an appropriate reference to The Exorcist and Pazuzu).
Burning Fields is going strong so far, so I’m looking forward to the third issue. This is a smart and scary series with a lot of potential, especially as Dana and Fasad will be forced to work together. As Iraq and much of the Middle East is trapped in worsening cycles of violence, this is also a very relevant book.
Zeb Larson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqtW2LRPtQY&list=PL18yMRIfoszFJHnpNzqHh6gswQ0Srpi5E
Originally published February 19, 2015. Updated April 13, 2018.
