It's not so much that the author didn't like his characters in "The African Queen" as that *all* C.S.Forester books are like that; Hornblower is constantly cynical about his own perceived motives, which makes it less obvious, but most of the non-Hornblower books have that same unpalatable (to me) under-note to them, and they tend to have pretty dark endings. Hornblower is the bright and cheerful side of Forester, believe it or not -- his native style seems to be more Patrick Hamilton :-O