A review by sassispring
419 by Will Ferguson

3.0

This writer starts off strong with prose that not only weaves an interesting story, but creates a picture in the mind of the scene. Unfortunately this author did not have staying power and by the end of the book, the story was written in a simple manner, matter-of-fact and quite different from the beginning. It was as if two people had written the story. The book revolves around 3 separate stories that come together at the end, however, the way the book is written, it's very different to stay on track with the story. While in the middle of one story, another short chapter (often 6 sentences) pops up with a totally different view that has no connection to any part of the book and then disappears. The main character - Laura - is changed from a copywriter editor who remains distant from her life and views the world very concretely, without much emotion and with much criticism, to a woman bent of revenge no matter who is harmed in the way. The author appears to have some knowledge about Nigeria, however, he didn't go far enough with his research. The information regarding 419 scams was real, in terms of how it happens, the why and where, but fell down on the RCMP's reaction when learning someone has been harmed by a 419 scam. In fact, I don't think it ever went to the special task force within the RCMP and stayed with the Calgary Police (but I could be wrong, as I tended to gloss over bits that were written in a dull fashion). The research on how banks deal with a member suddenly taking out large sums of money and remortgaging their home was poorly done. As someone who was involved back in the '90s with a group that worked on educating the public about scams (specifically in my case, romance scams), I found Laura's brother's approach insulting. We did not do this to "make those scammers look like fools and idiots" as her brother did and we didn't take scammers "down the garden path". It was serious work, we spent time educating the public and if information came forward on a scammer, it was dealt with in a professional manner. I would give this book 2.5 rating if possible, but since it's not, I give it 3. I recommend reading because the middle-end part is interesting - about oil development in Nigeria and the main character in that story was very interesting - wanted to learn more about Nnamdi . I would have loved reading an entire story on this character and his village, how Shell oil development impacted the Nigerian Delta and all the fall-out. As a result I spent time researching and reading more on this area, very tragic. Anyhow, if you want to read a different type of book about many different storylines that come together in the end, this is for you.