Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - Lightseekers: Thriller

Our MC is an investigative psychologist hired to look into the death of three undergraduates who were accused of stealing, dragged out, and murdered by a mob of angry community members.
🇳🇬 Set in Port Harcourt and Okriki (based on Okrika), Nigeria

🐺🐕Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags:

👍 We get some background on our investigative psychologist including his relationship with his wife and family. Sometimes that takes me out of a story when I'm more interested in the plot, but it was well done and I cared about Dr. Taiwo since he also was given good character development.

☺️ We are given context for customs, cultural meaning, and traditions without disruptive overexplanation or talking down to the reader. For example, Dr. Taiwo notices how his assistant behaves and speaks to him so that's how we come to understand what is considered formal or informal if you aren't familiar. And when something would be a natural progression due to friendship vs a sign of disrespect, because it's shown not just told.

👌 Similarly, we see that there is political corruption, hatred, and prejudice, but it isn't a judgy good vs evil thing or looked down upon as if Nigeria is less-than. Since Dr. Taiwo was educated in the US and has recently moved to Lagos, he finds himself lost, confused, even horrified sometimes about local ongoings. Other characters help him to understand the history for why some of these systems exist and continue, why many feel it is justified and even keeping them safe, and we learn alongside him. The other characters were also developed - the characters I didn't trust weren't always untrustworthy and those who seemed benign or helpful weren't always so.

😇 Our MC is trying to do his job without ruffling feathers, but his morals and questions sometimes get him into hot water. For me, it wasn’t contrived, convoluted, or annoying because I also felt as shocked, confused, or uncertain about events and people as the MC. The suspense probably relies on caring about our MC though, but he is likeable for the most part (even if sometimes naive).

💥💪 I tend to lose interest in action-adventure crime thrillers, but this worked for me because the high-stakes moments weren't drawn out with overly descriptive action moves, contrived escapes, or long-winded attempts at survival somehow always going wrong. It seemed realistic and plausible.

Mood Reading Match Up:

Crime fiction about corruption and small town secrets
High stakes sleuthing suspense threaded with light touches of cozy mystery moments
Action-adventure dark academia with escape-to-survive plots and violent threats
Contemporary fiction about psychological effects of trauma on societies and communities

Content Heads-Up: Infidelity (suspected). Mob mentality and violence. Fire/fire injury. Drug use (addiction). Homophobia (persecution and imprisonment). Corruption (political and law enforcement). Religious violence. Gun violence. Grief (loss of adult child). Mental illness/breakdown (from trauma).

Format: Kindle

Content Warnings

kirstym25's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Content Warnings

stephriggs25's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Content Warnings

lettuce_read's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

liseyp's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Thank you to the author, publisher Raven Books and The Pigeonhole for access to read this for free. This is an honest and voluntary review.

I absolutely loved this. It’s quite a densely-packed read. Lots happening and brilliant characters, but such dark material a lot of the time that there was a lot to chew over and reflect on. This is unlikely to be a one sitting book, but you also won't want to put it down.

Dr Philip Taiwo is an investigating psychologist. Born and raised in Nigeria he has recently returned to the country after spending a number of years studying in America and working with the police there. His wife Folake got a new job as a lecturer in law at university in Lagos so the family are now living there 16-year-old twin sons and teenage daughter are now living there. Philip is asked to investigate the reasons behind the horrific mob killings of three young men in a Nigerian town. It’s clear the incident has had a lasting effect on the residents, many of whom were part of the mob, and they and the local police are very resistant to outside interference. Supported only by driver Chika, Philip tries to find out the truth about why the mob descended on the men accused of being thieves. But, does the mob even know why they really did what they did?

It’s hard to talk about the plot without giving massive spoilers. The books I would draw parallels with also give away parts of the plot as there are similar elements (handled in a very different way). So, instead I’ll say if you like Michael Connelly, Stephen King or Chuck Palahniuk I think you’ll enjoy this.

Philip is a great character. He sees the good in people while also understanding how easy it is for them to make bad decisions. His driver Chika quickly proves himself to be more than appears kicking off a great partnership that I’m really hoping continues in the future books of this planned series.

The whole book is really well handled. There are immediate threats and challenges which ratchet the tension up, and at the same time there’s a looming sense of a darker figure behind it all. One glimpsed in occasional chapters from his perspective. These chapters rarely gives clues to the time period so everyone Philip meets came under suspicion by me as being the puppet master pulling the strings behind it all.

The whole story is about how people can be unwittingly manipulated to behave as a mob in a way they would never do individually. While social media can help stir up tensions and create this mentality really it’s about understanding human nature and preying on people’s fears. Anyone who watched and listened to the lead up to and events on 6 January 2021 in Washington DC will recognise a lot in the latter half of this book. A reminder that fiction rarely strays far from reality.

Content Warnings

literarymarvel's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad medium-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Content Warnings

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