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    Nairobi Heat
    Unavailable
    Nairobi Heat
    Unavailable
    Nairobi Heat
    Ebook201 pages3 hours

    Nairobi Heat

    By Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    A cop from Wisconsin pursues a killer through the terrifying slums of Nairobi and the memories of genocide

    IN MADISON, WISCONSIN, it’s a big deal when African peace activist Joshua Hakizimana—who saved hundreds of people from the Rwandan genocide—accepts a position at the university to teach about “genocide and testimony.” Then a young woman is found murdered on his doorstep.

    Local police Detective Ishmael—an African-American in an “extremely white” town—suspects the crime is racially motivated; the Ku Klux Klan still holds rallies there, after all. But then he gets a mysterious phone call: “If you want the truth, you must go to its source. The truth is in the past. Come to Nairobi.”

    It’s the beginning of a journey that will take him to a place still vibrating from the genocide that happened around its borders, where violence is a part of everyday life, where big-oil money rules and where the local cops shoot first and ask questions later—a place, in short, where knowing the truth about history can get you killed.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRandom House Publishing Group
    Release dateSep 13, 2011
    ISBN9781612190075
    Unavailable
    Nairobi Heat
    Author

    Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ

    Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ was born in Illinois but raised in Kenya. His poetry and fiction has been shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing and his columns have appeared in the Guardian, the International Herald Tribune, Chimurenga, Los Angeles Times, South African Labour Bulletin and Business Daily Africa. He has been a guest on Democracy Now, Al Jazeera and the BBC World Service and his essays have appeared in World Literature Review, Black Commentator, Progressive Magazine and Radical History Review. His short stories have been published in Wasafiri, African Writing, Kenyon Review and St. Petersburg Review and his poems in the New York Quarterly, Mythium, Brick Magazine, Kwani? And Tin House Magazine.

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    Reviews for Nairobi Heat

    3.5/5

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    • 3/5
      There is a lot to like here. It is a page turner, and it is pretty well written. And it is a story I haven't read before. After a mysterious phone call, a black Madison, Wisconsin detective named Ishmael journeys to Kenya to delve into the past of a murder suspect, who happens to be a hero, having saved hundreds during the Rwandan genocide. Once in Kenya, the detective, who has never been to Africa and doesn't feel particularly African, is adopted by his Kenyan counterpart, known as "O" for short, and even stays in his house during the visit. Together, they follow up a series of clues, which leads them into the bars, slums, gated rich communities, and other nooks and crannies of greater Nairobi.To say that blood flows freely during their investigation would be an understatement. The mystery at the center of this book is well done and even has its moving moments, and the book is filled with memorable characters, including a beautiful woman that Ishmael immediately falls for. But in their violence, it is difficult to separate the good guys from the bad guys. Perhaps that is the author's point--but it is difficult to imagine an American police detective turning so coldblooded so fast--unless he was that way to begin with. But there is nothing in the early part of the book to indicate that. So while I found this book fascinating, I also found the moral universe it creates to be more than a little alien. I could understand, however, Ishmael's growing appreciation for the more "real" life that he discovers in Africa. I'm sure we are in store for sequels, and despite my misgivings about the detective, I might still come along for the next ride. This could make an excellent movie, by the way.Thanks to the fabulous netgalley.com for providing this book.
    • 3/5
      Writing was a bit choppy at first. However, all in all not a bad book. I would read something else by this author.
    • 4/5
      Transplanting an African-American detective from Madison, WI to investigate a crime in Nairobi makes for an interesting crime thriller. The character is well-developed and the plot is keeps the reader turning the pages. I would recommend this to any reader who enjoys crime novels.
    • 4/5
      Fast, thoughtful and fun thrillerA dead white girl is found on the doorstep of a Rwandan Professor, revered as a hero for his actions during the genocide. A mix which has the media in a frenzy, the local KKK riled and a scapegoat desperately needed. Dead ends abound until a glimmer of light, far far away in Nairobi. Ishmael is going to have to go back to his ancestral home and face some truth about himself, about societyRacial tensions and corruption, colonialism and genocide mix in the heady culture clash of USA and Kenya. Mixed with the love, friendship & finding ones place in the world. It’s a heady (used heady twice)mix but stays a cool noir thriller throughout with car chases and internal conspiracies, whilst using the genre to look to explore how to right a terrible wrong, what lengths do you go. What does justice mean. It’s exactly the kind of thing Noir is for.“Do not commit crimes against white people because the state will not rest until you are caught.” I bought this for a non-western slant and to my inexperienced eye wasn't disappointed. The characters slowly grew on me and afterwards I find myself needing to read book 2. O and Ishmael make a good partnership and if women don't overload the text at least they aren’t wallflowers. The action’s good, I enjoyed the mystery, although parts of it do stretch the credibility.. suspension of disbelief I suspect required, I mean I had to overcome the oddity at a US cop flown to Nairobi to pursue a case when the obvious suspect is sitting right there (& they didn’t even search his house). My only other complaint is that the initial US bits felt a bit flat compared to Kenya. Still it makes a change.. ahem.Recommended, a fine Noir/hard boiled crime novel. However if you are extremely fixated on plots being 100% believable & perfect this may raise hackles.