An American bussinessman, Lewis Burke, is on his way from Europe to Johannesburg. But he never gets to his destination, for the plane he travels in has to take an emergency-landing deep in the forests of Congo/Zaire.  Very soon after the landing a military group arrives and takes over the plane and its passengers.

Lewis decides to take his fate in his own hands and decides to run away from the plane into the brousse. He doesn’t know where he is nor where he is going to. But he manages to escape from  the military group.

On his way he meets a young boy, Kofi (a Ghanaian name), and his grandmother, they help him on his way. The help given by Kofi is an adventure in itself.

In the United States there is an other development. Helen, the wife of Lewis, decides to go and find him in Congo. Their little blind son, Shaun, she takes with her. They travel on the river Congo and desembark in a small town, with the hope of tracing Lewis, while the other passengers of the plane have been released!

Lewis nearly gets to his freedom, but he leaves Kofi behind. He decides to go back and be on the run again, with the young boy.

At the background is the difficult relationship between husband and wife. Both of them are determined to find a way out and into of the brousse to find the other of to find freedom again.  There is also the relationship with the blind son. For the parents it is hard to find themselves together in their relationship with their Shaun.

The writer uses many comparisons in his writing. In the beginning this was a bit tiring, but the speed of the book put this into the background.

Marcus Stevens – The curve of the world – 2002