Gaslight by Femi Kayode

While requested to investigate the disappearance of the wife of a powerful priest based in Lagos, accused of killing his wife, detective psychologist Philip Taiwo may get caught into the nets of corruption of the highst holy level. 

Gaslight by Nigerian writer Femi Kayode is the second in the series featuring detective Philip Taiwo and my first read by this author. Mixing investigation techniques with psychological observation and deep knowledge of the well oiled machine of local corruption, Gaslight is a paced murder mystery taking place in challenging circumstances.

The story - told by Taiwo himself - operates perfectly in the local environment, seamlessly adapting to it. Hence, the very authentic ambiance and the specific twists of the story that cannot make sense anywhere else. As a side thought, it shows how distorted the realities shaped by corruption of all kinds could be.

The suspense is built through the intermezzo of the fragments attributed to the victim preparing the unexpected dramatic ending.

Through Taiwo´s family story, especially her daughter challenges to adapt to the new school and social environment in general, there are also some no-crime related thoughts about beauty standards and self-acceptance worth considering.

I´ve enjoyed personally reading this book, also because I had the chance to discover a new Nigerian author, and new murder series that hopefully will continue soon.

Rating: 4 stars

Random Things Tours: Diagnosis or Death by Jake Lynch&Annabel McGoldrick

One may expect from books set in Oxford a bookish highly intellectual ambiance, maybe at the limit some exquisite noble mystery. But - surprise, suprise - in Oxford live very normal people as well, with everything that includes this category, including very mundane crimes.

As her colleague is unexpectedly killed, Janna Rose feels compelled to contribute to solving the investigation. A psychoterapist specialising in the very special Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy and a former journalist, she is ingeniously looking for hints and explanations, although she may need to cope with extremely complex challenges built by the malevolent use of AI.

Diagnonsis or Death by the Oxford-based BBC-trained journalists duo Jake Lynch and Annabel McGoldrick was a very interesting encounter both in terms of the writing as well as the subject. The second in the series featuring Janna - a blend of the authors´ names - but my first - it has a dense prose while bringing in the forefront topics like local corruption in the social housing and benefit fraud. The story in itself is engaging, but in subtext tries to explore the genesis of human motivation under different circumstances.

For me, it was a very intense read, while bringing up interesting topics in the very challenging context of new technologies. 

Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Lucky Girl by Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu

 ´I wanted to live a big life too´.

Some books may ignite mixed reactions in the reader, but the challenge may just encourage the precious critical thinking. 

Soila, the character of Lucky Girl, the debut novel of Kenyan-American writer Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu left for the US in order to break the control of her over-protective and over-achieving mother. As she is growing up as a person, writing her own life story and breaking with tradition, she is caught in the boiling cauldron of choices. She followed a career for the sake of her mother´s expectations, and she will keep practising it long after she regained her own independence until a personal turn of events will convince her to follow her passion for photography.

Although I enjoyed the story milestones and the main character, as well as the change of perspective between African Amerians and Africans on issues like race and priviledge and the insightful take on dementia, I had some issues regarding either the plot or the characters´ development.

For instance, Soila lacks consistency, and so do her relationships: we are told about she having boyfriends, but there is no story. 

But despite those shortcomings and my mixed reactions, I´ve learned some interesting intellectual nuances from Lucky Girl that will keep in mind when thinking about race and priviledge.

Rating: 3 stars

Lost in Mecca by Bothayna Al-Essa translated by Nada Faris

´Was there a hidden meaning behind this hell?´

Literary journeys are even most open minding as the simple discovery travel. They open up the eyes towards worlds we accepted to ignore, deeply diving into our own self-sufficient bubble. I am a passionate reader of elaborated crime novels but unfortunately, for many reasons - translation being one of them, my limited literary proficiency, another - I am mostly stuck into the European-North American realm. But I know there are so many brilliant ´noir´ authors outside this realm and Lost in Mecca by bestseller Kuwaiti author Bothayna El-Assa translated into English by Nada Faris encouraged me to be more determined in discovering different literary voices.

Last year I´ve read several reviews of the book and was on my TBR for a long time, but nothing prepared me for the deeply trauma valiantly told. 

Lost in Mecca is a story of a kidnapping. A little 7-year old boy of Kuwaiti origin is getting lost and subsequently kidnapped while being separated from his parents during the circumambulating the Kaaba in Mecca. The happy normality of a rich normal family trying to fulfill their duties is shaken by the realities of a world where survival is beyond any other human consideration. 

Told from different perspectives, including the shivering testimony of the kidnapped child´s, during less than three weeks chronologically, but within the framework of a fluid time, this is also a story of how life cannot go as usual after the encounter of tragedy. Belief is shaken, relationships are shaken, trust is eroded. 

The realities surrounding the circumstances are far from what we usually associate with when talking about rich countries like Saudi Arabia. A region where illegal immigration and human trafficking reaches peaks we aren´t aware of (as a side note though, some ´facts´ regarding organ trafficking/harvesting in the region may miss some double checking and rather follow some ideological patterns). As we are also rarely aware of the randomness of life in some parts of the world. In the book, one (bad) character asks the other (very bad) character: ´Is it really possible to live a life - normal life - away from the world we currently inhabit?´. It is a rhetorical question, but the answer may be that we rarely can. The - terrible - fate of the little boy - is an example. Moral compass may lead to hunger. 

I have another book by Bothayna Al-Essa on my TBR and definitely will read it in the next weeks, but as for now, I am deep in the thoughts ignited by Lost in Mecca. That´s how good books are shaking our mental comfort.

Rating: 4 stars

Rachel´s Random Resources: Wild Italian Nights by Christy McKellen

 

Good girl Juno meets Playboy Alessandro and both of them they have one full Italian (wild) week to enjoy life at its fullest. From Florence to the hills of Tuscany there are not enough places where they can literally feel the world. But could it be more? Should it be? Is there any place for more than passion?

Wild Italian Nights by Christy McKellen is spicy, passionate, even funny...a little bit of everything that one may need to for the hot season. As the title already suggests, it is definitely not for the prude of heart. 

I really enjoy the reading and the uneven meeting of the characters, in addition to the irresistible Italian environment which resonates very well with the hot feelings and adventures of the characters. I really appreciated that the characters, especially Juno, are more than protagonists in a hot setting, but they do also evolve according to their feelings and interests too.

For me it was the first encounter with this author, but from now on, I know where to look when I am in need of a spicy reading adventure.

Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Random Things Tours: The Drowning Place by Sarah Hilary

DS Joseph Ashe is the sole survivor of a tragedy that happened 17 years ago. A bus carrying young people drove in Edenscar and all drowned but him. This miraculous survival is haunting him until now. As a detective he is requested later on investigating a crime that may bring him closer to elucidating an old mystery haunting him to this day. 

I´ve found the book from the very beginning emotionally challenging, but in the good literary sense. Both the atmosphere of the book and the characters - the bad and the good ones equally - are very well developed, with many hidden secrets that are dramatically challenging the plot in unexpected twists. 

Particularly Ashe is a world in itself, articulated and memorable. The choice of place and location in general may be surprising, as such a crime may work very well in a highly urbanized area. The eerie, spooky even, Peak District - situated in central-northern England - adds however additional elements of surprise to the challenges of the characters and of the story itself. 

The quality of the writing goes well beyond the usual police procedural investigation and this adds an additional quality to this very unique book.

The Drowing Place is the first in a series dedicated to Joseph Ashe and would be curious to continue with the next installments. For me, it was also the first encounter with this author that will definitely keep on my future radar.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Lázár by Nelio Biedermann

Lázár by Nelio Biedermann is like on everyone´s German speaking book list this summer and as usual, I couldn´t resist such a bookish temptation. Since the launch of the book in 2025, the 22-year old Swiss author is a literary sensation. The book was last year, among other prestigious nominations and awards, on the Schweizer Buch Preis list. Lázár is Biedermann´s second published novel.

I had one additional reason to read this book besides the German-speaking realm fame: it is set in Hungary/Austro-Hungarian Empires/Central Europe, a region that will always remain my big academic love. 

The author´s family, on the father´s side, is of noble Hungarian origin, refugiated to Switzerland in the 1950s. Lázár follows a family history during one century, from the times of the Austro-Hungarian empire until the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. The format may remind of the Miklós Bánffy´s Transylvanian Trilogy that hopefully will review it one day part of my CLASSIC READS series (eventually with some additional reading in Hungarian).

The ambiance of Lázár is similar to many books set during this period in this geographical realm, therefore relatable and so is the behavior of most of the characters, suffering of a timeless mal-de-siècle.

But, but, but...I felt for the duration of the 300-page of the novel operating mostly in a bubble. Although towards the end of the book there are more characters relating to the noble family, most of the time they behave as being in a bubble, without too much interaction - and social reflection of their immediate environment. Many locations are vague, unclear, lacking any specific individuality and therefore largely unauthentic.

The sex is true and it keeps busy many of the characters, almost most of the time. Which is fine, but for many characters it seems like this was the only reason why they existed in the story; they had sex once and again, and then few years later they died - not necessarily due to the sex activity. 

Hence, the book missed for me some depth, although it is not easy to emulate the style and talent of the Central European literates. On the other hand, it is noteworthy that the literature based in this region is still of interest and may create such a high wave of literary interest.

Rating: 3 stars