Less a straightforward narrative than an intimate memoir, Headhunters on My Doorstep binds external exploration with internal journey--in this case, the struggle to overcome a fierce case of alcoholism. Told through the jovial, offbeat voice of J. Maarten Troost, however, recovering from addiction in the far corners of the earth can seem exciting... even fun. Though he's been compared to Bill Bryson, Troost's proclaimed hero in travel writing is Robert Louis Stevenson. Headhunters is in fact a homage to the late author and explorer, as Troost retraces his path to the Marquesas, the Tuamotus, Tahiti, the Gilberts and Samoa.
Troost has previously written about the Pacific Islands in The Sex Lives of Cannibals (2004) and Getting Stoned with Savages (2006). Though he arrives in the Marquesas with fellow tourists, his status as such never escapes him. He is keen to point out how Western contact has altered the region, perhaps based on his experience as a consultant for the World Bank. Wry though he may be, Troost's infatuation with the islands is evident in every quip and bemused observation. Of a mountain on Hiva Oa, he recalls a "striking prominence" around which a "swirl of puffy white clouds elicited a dramatic windswept plume, as if God's hair dryer was now focused on its slopes."
Headhunters on My Doorstep is a story of the strength in humor, the thrill in strangeness and the joy in stretching the limits of our lives. --Annie Atherton