Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - Lightseekers

I thoroughly enjoyed this mystery, as did all the other members of my book club. This book was clearly inspired by the Aluu 4 incident, and does a really interesting job discussing "jungle justice," vigilantism, government corruption, modern diaspora of African people, etc. It was a very thought-provoking book. The main character, Dr. Philip Taiwo, is a criminal psychologist, and has recently returned to Nigeria. He and his wife were educated in America, and worked here for many years, but they recently decided it was time bring their young family back to the country of their birth. Because of this, Dr. Taiwo and his family are kind of between cultures--Nigerian and American, both outsider and native at the same time. Dr. Taiwo is asked to investigate a necklace lynching of 3 college students in a village near the city of Port Harcourt--a horrific example of vigilatism that members of the mob videoed and posted on the internet. The mystery is not who did it--that's obvious--the mystery is *why,* and how a crowd of local villagers can transform into a dangerous mob that can kill. My book club felt the author went a little too far with the end of the book, but I felt it worked. Along the way, we really enjoyed the characters and the story, and everything we learned about Nigeria. The relationships between the characters were great. We loved Dr. Taiwo and his family, we desperately hope that Salome gets her own book, and Chika needs one, too!

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fionam's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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