Blood Money: The Incredible True Story of David Morris and the Tragedy of Somalia.

• Author: Hutching, Megan

Author: Trisha Stratford Published by: Penguin, Auckland, 1996, 243pp, $24.95.

Trisha Stratford went to Somalia as a television journalist covering the story of the murder of Tyson Morris, and ended up writing a book about his father, David Morris, the driving force behind Morris Catering which provided food for the United Nations forces in Somalia on `Operation Restore Hope'.

The book begins with the murder of Tyson Morris. In Mogadishu Stratford stayed in the Morris Catering compound, interviewed key people in the firm, returned to New Zealand and filed her story. Then, it seems, she returned to Somalia although she does not say so and a dearth of dates makes the chronology of events difficult to follow. The rest of her book is concerned with the activities of David Morris and the inefficiencies of the United Nations operation in Somalia and its impact on Morris's business.

The subject matter is gripping. Stratford must try to convey the violence in Mogadishu, the frustration of David Morris as he tried to get the money he was owed by the United Nations administration, as well as the large personality of the man who set up fishing factories to help the Somalis and to provide food for his business, had direct phone lines with the two major warlords, Mohammad Farrah Aidid and Mohammad Ali Mahdi, and saw himself as the power behind the throne of any future Somali administration. I am not sure that she is completely successful. The strength of her book is the depiction of David Morris whose character is strongly conveyed. He comes across as a wildcard who developed a strong emotional attachment to Somalia which he illustrated by his attempts to alleviate the plight of ordinary Somalis trying to survive in a situation of constant violence and economic uncertainty.

Stratford is less successful when writing of Morris' dealings with the United Nations'...