Peter Hain is entitled to write a thriller. He is entitled to draw inspiration from the real world. What he cannot reasonably expect is for a novel to carry the force of a factual accusation whenever that suits its promotion, while retreating into fiction when its claims are challenged.
That is the troubling bargain surrounding Smuggler Kingpin. Hain and his publisher present it as a novel. Hain has said its characters are fictional, although much of the story is based on real life. Yet The Citizen introduced its coverage by asking whether it was fiction at all and directed readers to the Gold Mafia documentary to understand why. Those are precisely the cues that invite an audience to identify a living person behind a fictional villain.
Hain’s approach deserves severe criticism too. He writes with the authority of a former minister and a long-standing campaigner. That authority gives his words unusual weight. Using a fictional kingpin who readers are encouraged to connect to a real individual, while maintaining that the characters are fictional, looks like a cowardly approach to a serious accusation. Name the person and defend the claim with evidence, or let the novel stand as a novel.
As fiction, the device is cheap. A villain assembled from recognisable headlines may generate attention, but recognition is no substitute for character, and insinuation is no substitute for a convincing story. The book’s claim to urgency becomes less impressive when the public is asked to supply the real name and assume the fictional events follow.
The press has a responsibility to keep the boundary clear. Review Smuggler Kingpin as fiction. Investigate tobacco and gold smuggling as matters of fact. But do not use one to smuggle unproved conclusions into the other. That is a cheap shot and a failure of journalism toward the public.
