Usually I like Hill’s stuff a whole lot. Usually I finish books I start.
Neither is true in this case.

Dream of Darkness, which was originally published under a
pen name, is something of a schizophrenic thriller. The main plot
concerns a young woman named Sairey Ellis, who is tormented by nightmares
involving her mother’s death in Uganda during the time of Idi Amin, and
the therapy she receives at the hands of a psychiatrist who is also an
old family friend. She was just a small girl when her mother died; now,
save for her dreams her memories of those days have vanished.

Sairey’s story is interlarded with brief memories of Idi Amin and his
reign of terror. Some are cast as letters, reminiscences, and journal
entries from some kind of government intelligence archive; others are
excerpts from a book being written by Ellis’ father, a British agent
who was instrumental in bringing Amin to power and now regrets it.

The point of the book seems to be that Idi Amin was a very bad man, and
that Britain did wrong to covertly assist him–assuming, of course,
that they actually did. OK, fine. Amin was a monster; I buy that.
I’ve met men who narrowly escaped being killed by him. But the piecemeal
nature of the Ugandan side of the narrative isn’t compelling, and young
Sairey Ellis and her problems are frankly dull. There’s some evidence,
up to the point that I’ve read, that the events of yesteryear are going to
intrude into Sairey’s quiet if troubled life, but unfortunately I can’t
bring myself to care.

Possibly Hill was trying to awaken a national sense of guilt by exposing
Britain’s complicity with Amin’s rise. I dunno. But the book sure fell
flat for me.