Nairobi Heat by Mukoma wa Ngugi
By Beverly Jackson • Oct 30th, 2011 • Category: Book Review 2011 •
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The call came at 2 AM from the police chief of Madison, Wisconsin – a murder had been committed in the wealthy exclusive enclave of Maple Bluff. Detective Ishmael Fofona, an African-American on the “mostly white police force” in an “extremely white town,” knew that if the call came directly from the police chief there had to be a political angle to the crime. An unidentified beautiful blonde woman is found dead on the front steps of the home of Joshua Hakiziman, an African professor who is world-famous for saving hundreds of people from the Rwandan genocide, so this will be the news event of the year and resolving this crime could be a career-defining event. Joshua does not know the girl, and has an air-tight alibi. The police are stumped until Ishmael receives an anonymous call stating that if he wants to know the truth he needs to go to the source – Nairobi. In the gritty thriller, Nairobi Heat by Mukoma wa Ngugi, Ishmael will take a journey to Africa; a place he never gave much thought about, to find justice for an unknown woman, and finds out how volatile, illusive and contradictory justice can be.
Nairobi Heat could have been an ordinary detective novel but due to the author’s storytelling abilities and his lyrical wordsmithing the reader is provided with a fast-paced complex thriller of a mystery. Ishmael is the narrator of the story and it is through his eyes as an African-American the nuances of the Kenyan culture is explored. One of my favorite passages in the book is:
“Soon enough I found myself outside the airport in what felt like a market – a wall of people shouting and heckling, selling newspapers, phone cards, even boiled eggs. But it wasn’t the people that stopped me in my tracks, it was the heat. The heat made New Orleans on a hot summer day feel like spring. Humid, thick and salty to taste, that was Nairobi heat.”
But, luckily for Ishmael he is paired up with O, a Nairobi detective. As the pair of detectives search for the truth, the reader is shown how crime and crime detection is different in a particular country. As in a crime story there are good guys and bad guys, but the well-developed characters all come across as individuals with their own complexities. It is through these characters that the larger issues of genocide, political corruption, NGOs, and Kenyan culture are revealed to the reader. The story does not blink at showing the ugly truths, but the tone is never preachy.
I was thoroughly entertained and informed by reading this story and read easily in one session. Mukoma wa Ngugi is definitely a wonderful addition to the mystery genre and I look forward to his future books. I recommend this book to readers who like a well-developed plot and international crime stories.
This book was provided by the publisher for review purposes.
Reviewed by Beverly
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Beverly Jackson is is a recent transplant to the Charlotte, North Carolina area. She is an avid reader, and there are very few times you will catch her without a book. Several years ago, she changed her dining room into a library with wall to ceiling bookshelves. She loves sharing her enthusiasm for reading with others and writing book reviews is a way she shares her thoughts. For the last twenty years, she has worked in the technology field for an international consulting firm, but is easing her way into retirement. Her biggest accomplishment is raising two daughters to be productive citizens of society, and they have blessed her with five wonderful grandchildren. Some of her other interest are traveling, watching sports and practicing yoga. And her latest toy is her Kindle which allows her to carry around her library in her purse.
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