Making Wolf

by Tade Thompson

A gritty thriller set in modern-day West Africa
 
Weston Kogi, a security guard in a supermarket in London, returns to his home in West Africa for his aunt’s funeral. After catching up with his family, his ex-girlfriend Nana, and an old schoolmate over good food and plenty of beer, it seems like a bit of harmless hyperbole to tell people he works as a homicide detective. But when he is kidnapped by separate rebel factions to investigate the murder of a local hero, Papa Busi, Weston soon finds out that solving the crime may tip the country into civil war. A noir novel set in the blazing sunlight of the tropics, Making Wolf is an outrageous, frightening, violent, and sometimes surreal homecoming experience of a lifetime.

Genres: Crime, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Africa, Horror, African Literature

307 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2015

About the author

Tade Thompson is a British born Yoruba psychiatrist who is best known for his science fiction novels.

Reviews

[Paromjit · Rating 5 out of 5]

A scintillating and particularly brutal African Noir from Tade Thompson, lyrical, beautifully written, thought provoking, full of black humour but not really for the faint hearted. Set in the fictitious West African civil war torn country, the Yoruba dominated Alcacia, a version of Nigeria, where murder, killing and brutality is an everyday affair in the never ending civil war, life is cheap, the beggars with their self inflicting wounds and amputations, hypocrisy, corruption and bribery rife, the government's sky high defence spending favouring foreign powers keen to sell their weapons of mass death and destruction. Weston Kogi grew up in Alcacia prior to being helped by his Aunt Blossom to escape the war and his home country, along with his sister, Lynn, going to Britain, where he is now unhappily working as a supermarket store detective in London. Kogi now returns 15 years later, to attend the funeral of his aunt in Ede city, intending to stay only for two days.

Kogi has forgotten what his home country is like, making the kind of errors that make him an easy target, in a country where every person has their own agenda that is not always transparent. When he bumps into an ex-school bully, Churchill 'Church' Okita, at the funeral, Kogi claims to be a Met homicide detective in the hope that this will ensure he is left alone. However, this backfires spectacularly when he is abducted by Church and the People's Liberation Army led by Osa Ali, with their motto of 'in guns we trust'. Shocked by seeing a man torn apart and dismembered by a pick up truck, he is tasked with investigating the murder of the sainted Enoch Olubusi, a contender for the Nobel Peace Prize. Kogi sinks into the deadly abyss that is Alcacia, caught between two homicidal rebel factions, a shadowy state secret police, losing any sense of morality and values as he faces danger round every corner, beatings, threats to his life and assassins.

Thompson paints a vividly vibrant picture of a sweltering Alcacia of guns, bombs, the blood curdling brutally casual killings, its fast running rivers of blood, the ongoing war and machinations between the rebel factions, and a government bureaucracy that is oiled by extensive bribery, replicated in every aspect of life elsewhere too. How Alcacia came to be in this invidious position goes back to its colonial history and murky current relations with Western nations and other major outside powers and corporations, where its government officials are on the take big time, and ordinary people are left with next to nothing. Kogi himself is no innocent either, a victim who very soon begins to resemble the people he is surrounding by, the nation that was his former home, establishing a relationship with a bright ex-girlfriend he had dropped like a hot potato when he first left the country. The author provides an all too pertinent social and political commentary in this hugely compulsive and riveting read, an African crime noir that I recommend highly. A brilliant and unforgettable debut. Many thanks to Little, Brown for an ARC.

[K.J. Charles]

This is brilliantly written and completely compelling--detective novel set in a collapsing African state, with incredible atmosphere and build up--but it's just too much for me right now. Extremely violent and frankly I can't take the tension. 100% "it's not you it's me" because it's one of the best written thrillers I've read in forever, and I really want to keep reading even while I can't. Can you read a book while hiding behind the sofa? I sort of need to do that.

[Anna Carina · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 Sterne

Da lauert ordentlich Gesellschaftskritik unter der Haube. Hab das Buch als Hörbuch gehört und glaube, dass das in diesem Fall nicht die beste Wahl war.
Der Schreibstil: Kurze, kantige Sätze. Alles wirkt durch den Stil abgeklärt, kühl, nüchtern.
Ein bereits in London verweichlichter, naiver Erzähler, befindet sich in seiner alten Heimat. Es legt vieles nahe, dass wir uns hier in Nigeria befinden, obwohl ein fiktiver Staat genannt wird.
Ganz spannend ist die Dimension von Klasse und Bildung, die der Autor aufmacht. Auf der einen Seite erleben wir ein Land voller Gewalt, Rebellengruppen, Warlords, Schmutz, Dreck, Hitze und Sexismus gegen Frauen. Ob freiwillig oder erzwungen, in dem Buch nimmt Sexualität eine zentrale Rolle ein. Als Gegenpol setzt der Autor Aktzente mit Studierten Einheimischen, die über Literatur und Philosophie reden und stellt eine wohlhabende, gebildete Person in den Fokus. Diese krassen Gegensätze des Landes sind wirkmächtig in dem Buch.
Allerdings habe ich den Plot konfus gefunden. Ich hatte totale Probleme der Logik des Buches zu folgen. Kann nicht ausschließen, dass das dem Hörbuch geschuldet ist.
Der Schreibstil hat auch nicht gerade dazu beigetragen, dass sich das Buch angenehm liest/hört.
Die Dialoge sind für meinen Geschmack nicht sonderlich gelungen.

Kurzum, ich bin etwas durch das Buch gestolpert und hab mir viele blaue Flecken geholt. Was bleibt, ist ein besseres Gespür für die Menschen einer Region in Afrika.
Das ist mir bereits beim letzten Buch aus Afrika aufgefallen, es geht mir gar nicht so sehr um den Plot, sondern darum zu fühlen, wahrzunehmen. Wenn ich mit einem Wort die bisherige Literatur, die ich aus Afrika las, beschreiben müsste wäre es: Schmerz.

[The Tattooed Book Geek (Drew). · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review can also be found on my blog The Tattooed Book Geek: https://thetattooedbookgeek.wordpress...

Weston Kogi left Alcacia a former colony and now independent Yoruba-dominated fictional West African country fifteen years ago. Kogi was a teenager and left for London on one of the last planes to leave the capital, Ede City as the airport was under attack and bombs were going off, blood was being spilt, people were dying, riots were breaking out and civil unrest and war were spreading throughout the country. Lynn, his sister had fled the year before. After their mother died his aunt Blossom looked after the pair, paid for the tickets and made sure that they both safely got out of Alcacia. Weston has long since repaid his aunt back in monetary terms but, other debts run deeper and he is forever indebted to her for helping him escape the hell of Alcacia and that is something that he can never repay. He returns to Alcacia and Ede City for her funeral, to pay his respects to his dearly departed aunt and to honour her passing. He hopes to be there for 48 hours, a brief stay before getting on a plane and heading back to London.

At the after funeral service, Kogi is reacquainted with a couple of faces from his past. Firstly, Nana the girlfriend that he left behind when he fled Alcacia and secondly, the school bully Churchill ‘Church‘ Okuta who plagued his childhood and who is now a member of the rebel faction known as the People’s Liberation Army. Whilst the pair are talking Church asks Kogi what he does in London and Kogi lies, telling Church that he is a homicide detective in the Metropolitan police. The idea behind the lie is that no-one, not even Church will want to mess with a homicide detective and that it will allow Kogi to be left alone until his plane leaves when in truth he is a supermarket security guard. The lie backfires, rather spectacularly and Kogi is drugged and abducted by Church and offered a job by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Later, still contemplating the offer Kogi is once again abducted. This time, he is taken from his hotel room by the rival rebel faction known as the People’s Christian Army (PCA) as they also see him as the ideal candidate for the same job.

The job is to find out who murdered Enoch ‘Pa Busi’ Olubusi. Pa Busi was a beloved elder statesman and a national hero who was murdered in neutral territory in a time of relative calm in Alcacia. At the time of his death, Pa Busi was brokering peace talks between the LFA and the PCA and he was making progress. Both factions had put down their arms, laid down their guns, ceased hostilities and there was no active conflict taking place between the two rebel factions. There was a flicker of light in the darkness, a glimmer of hope and the possibility of peace in the future of Alcacia. With the death of Pa Busi, any hope of peace withered, dying alongside him and the bloody conflict for control of Alcacia between the unholy trinity of the two prominent rebel factions and the federal government who are all vying for power resumed.

On his return to Alcacia Kogi is seen as an outsider, a stranger. Due to that, he is the perfect person to investigate the murder as he will be neutral and impartial as he has no political affiliation to either faction. Although the job is ‘offered‘ to Kogi with the opportunity to walk away with no reprisal. Neither faction includes the type of people who you refuse if you want to continue breathing and so, with no real choice Kogi accepts the job. Throwing him into the middle of the divided nation, the conflict between the LFA and the PCA that is tearing the country apart and he is swallowed back into the corrupted and poisoned belly of the beast that is Alcacia.

Kogi left Alcacia for a chance at a better life and a future away from the violence, suffering and the constant atrocities being committed in the country. With years spent in a western country, his view has altered, the years have clouded his memory and he sees through the eyes of a visitor. Investigating the death of Pa Busi sees Kogi plunging back into the maelstrom of Alcacia where bribery and corruption are rife and government officials are all on the take and lining their own pockets. Where barbarity and brutality reign and death begets more death and violence begets more violence. And, where secret police roam and kidnappings, ransom demands, threats, torture, bombings and shootings are commonplace and the daily way of life. Alcacia is in his blood and Kogi comes to realise that innocence and being innocent have no place amongst the dangerous men and women who populate the dangerous streets and surrounding areas. That to survive he will need questionable morality, to become inured to and to embrace the darkness that is the fabric of, that is coursing through the veins of Alcacia.

Making Wolf is well-written and well-paced with the story unfolding in the first person through Weston Kogi. Thompson is a descriptive and fine storyteller and a talented writer with a tremendous sense of place. As a setting Alcacia comes to life on the pages and Thompson is unflinching in his portrayal painting a bleak, blood-soaked, corrupt, dark, gritty and savage picture of a country that is coming apart at the seams. Thompson doesn’t pull any punches and there are some vivid scenes and graphic depictions (for those who appreciate warnings, there is a rape scene late on that some will find very uncomfortable to read) featured throughout Making Wolf. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that it is ultra-violent but, there is an abundance of graphic violence during the story. Look beneath the violence though and there is a depth to the story that Thompson is telling.

Making Wolf is taut, gripping and unnerving. I won’t mention any details about the brutal, intense and unsettling journey that Kogi finds himself on in search of Pa Busi’s killer. However, I will say that Making Wolf sees Kogi descending into the hell that is Alcacia, losing himself, finding himself and features a satisfying and worthwhile conclusion that ties things up nicely but, should Thompson ever wish to revisit Weston Kogi and Alcacia also allows for the possibility of future books.

[Aliette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Weston Kogi comes back to Alcacia, the Yoruba-dominated nation he left during the civil war that tore it apart. He means only to attend the funeral of his aunt, and to leave soon afterwards--flash around his money, boast about his job in the Metropolitan Police in London, and generally have a good time. But his ex-school buddy bully Church, now a member of the People's Liberation Army, has other ideas: Weston is the perfect person to investigate the murder of a local hero who was trying to mediate between two rebel armies. And that'd be fine, wouldn't it, if Weston hadn't told a teensy tiny lie about what himself--he's merely a supermarket guard, not a homicide investigator. As violence begets more violence, Weston finds himself drawn deeper into the quagmire of Alcacia--and this isn't a country kind to anyone, least of all to its inhabitants...


This is a suffocating, suspenseful thriller about one man inexorably caught in a spiral of violence in a country torn apart by civil war. The tense atmosphere is heightened by the author's eye for detail, which make even a simple marketplace scene come alive, and remarkably render the sense of a vise closing around Weston. Alcacia is a place rife with corruption, where everyone fights for their own existence--and where Weston, struggling to remain neutral, is an anomaly. In many ways, it's a gradual descent into darkness--except that it soon becomes obvious that the innocent stand no chance in Alcacia, and that one cannot remain free of darkness to survive--and that corruption and darkness might well be the price of making a stand... It's a terrific and riveting read that pulls no punches.

Highly recommended.

[David Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm grateful to the publisher for an advance copy of Making Wolf to consider for review.

If you have read Thompson's Rosewater trilogy you'll know that he should be seriously rated as a fiction writer but you may expect to only find him writing SFF. However with Making Wolf he's brought some of the same sensibility to the crime/ thriller genre - albeit a great deal more gore!

Making Wolf is a homeconing for Weston Kogi, a young man who left - fled - the West African state of Alcacia some fifteen years before amidst civil war. He's come back for his aunt's funeral (his aunt, who helped him get away in the first place) and doesn't intend to stay long, indeed the first part of book has some amusing scenes where it's clear that Kogi's time in London (he works as a store detective) has left him rather adrift in Alcacia. He can't bear the heat and humidity and has a a morbid fear of mosquitos.

However, those are the least of his problems. Once it comes known that he's a "detective" (he may have been vague about what sort) he becomes a prize for two warring rebel factions, each of whom wish him to prove that the other was responsible for the death of the revered Papa Busi, the only political figure who might have been able to unite the nation. Soon Kogi's plunged into a nightmare of abductions, executions, and what begins as a performative investigation meant simply to keep him alive and buy some time while he works out a way to escape.

Which is where the comedy stops, as Thompson transitions into a very smart thriller, one that allows Kogi to explore the ins and outs of Alcacian society, sketching out both its postcolonial woes and the necessities of life there. This is done through Kogi fairly quickly relearning (in order to survive) how not to appear like a gullible foreign visitor (though he has a few near misses to begin with) while not so quickly discovering exactly what's going on around him (which is what poses the greater threat).

The latter element is a satisfying complex web of motivations and double crosses - Making Wolf may be a relatively short book but there's a great deal going on here and no time at all for the story to sag.

It's good so see that Thompson leaves the ending sufficiently open that we can imagine follow-ups in which Weston Kogi turns his attention to new mysteries.

I would mention that Making Wolf contains some pretty brutal scenes - in particular a couple of gruesome deaths. They're not gratuitous (the book takes place amidst a low intensity civil war) but aren't for the squeamish.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 🌟

The book gripped me initially as it was interesting watching a native that had been westernized adjust back to his home country and see the sheer atrocities that he may have taken for normality if he had stayed there. The story was promising and it did deliver up until a point. There were some sections that were unnecessary and didn't add anything to story line itself. There were several of these which led to my attention waning. I did enjoy the character development of Weston and it was interesting to see how traumatic events can shape a person physically, mentally and morally.

[Dawn F · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel was recognizably Tade Thompson, though I prefer his scifi trilogy Rosewater. This was more of a straightforward crime thriller, not my usual preference. I wasn’t really able to get invested in the actual case, nor were the characters particularly interesting. However I loved the setting of modern day Nigeria and the culture, history and politics I could glean from this.

[Rachel Bridgeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Weston last saw Alcacia as a child, fleeing a-fictional-Nigerian state deeply entrenched in corruption, deceipt and death.

Death brings him back once more, to do his familial duty to the aunt who set him free, who saved for him and his sister to get to London before they could become a part of a system that turns men into killers and women into bargaining chips.

Grumbling from the start that it should have been his sister taking this journey, he does something small,seemingly  insignificant and what many of us have been guilty of-he tells a white lie to Church, his old school bully, who shows an inordinate interest in this familiar, yet not, man.

And from such inconsequential starts, promoting himself from store detective to real one, Weston finds himself out of his depth, knee deep in blood and conflict ,waving a private detective card to anyone who will listen. 9 times out of 10 this lands him in mre trouble than it frees him from, but his journey from start to finish is pitch black and broiling over with trouble and cultural conflict.

At the center of his investigation into the death of Papa Busi, the state mandated intermediary between 2 warring factions of civil unrest -the Liberation Front of Alcacia (LFA) and the People's Christian Army (PCA)-Weston's neutrality and London centric sensibilities being seen as a neutral ground. Both sides blame each other, but are prepared to let Weston, with his 'experience' investigate, seemingly beyond the touch of both. 

Immediately picking up with the girlfriend he left behind, Nana, Weston has no real comprehension of the situation he has landed himself in-this was supposed to be, ostensibly, a couple of days away from home, maximum.

It turns into a hellish nightmare as the casual, everyday violence explodes into some truly shocking scenes of torture, brutality and corruption. Weston is in way over his head and the reader knows this before he does. You sense the crescendo of the plot coming, the crashing of his idylls and sense of self importance like an oncoming hurricane.

There is no attempt at exploitation of culture here, Weston (so cleverly named, reflecting hopes which look West) has grown up in London, but his opportunities have begun, and stalled with his lack of ambition and general apathy.

Within a couple of days of arriving in Alcacia, he has done and seen more than his years in London could ever have prepared him for. His Western-ness is the key to his exploitation, contrasted so neatly with his very identity in Africa which has always been fractured, as has his sister's. Both are known as 'Holloway Babies', children whose cultural and literal birth were damning of the woman who bore them, and caused irreperable damage to their mother. 

There is a bitter sweet taste to the fact that this man who straddles two continents is investigating a the death of a man who straddles two armies, and as a reader, you get the growing sensation that this just might cost Weston his sanity at least, his life at worst.

The violence is unflinching, the representation of women cruelly accurate yet not exploitative-I hope that comes across correctly phrased without causing offence, the women in the book are not conduits or lazy representations in any way or shape, they do not fulfil a role of plot devices, they are living, breathing creatures who drive the story forward in a way I found believable and shocking. 

The underlying current of the story is , what we call in Wales, 'belonging'. When you see people you know, you tend to say 'Oh I know you, you belong to such-and-such' rather than you are the cousin of whoever. The familial identity is almost tribal in a way , predicated on dubious connections of genetics and marriage, and very hard to shake off -so and so's so and so eradicated by that one word, belonging.

As Weston discovers, you cannot simply stay neutral, lines must be drawn, sides taken and decisions made-the consequences of your actions can be swift and deadly.He , like the other Alcacians the reader comes into contact with, are all making wolf. Very few of the characters are what they appear to be and on top of this there is an narrator whose entire identity is up for grabs. The narrative he creates for himself becomes his reality as his homecoming develops into making a necessary choice to avoid further conflict.

For a relatively small book-259 pages-there is so much story packed into it yet the noir detective story traditions are richly mined and re-intepreted into what I hope will be the first in a series.

[RG · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great western African set mystery thriller. Action is great, quite graphic in scenes. Love the setting. The writing is great and the well placed humour really works well.

[Jodi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dieses Buch war eine Zufallsentdeckung in der Onleihe. Ich wusste gar nicht, dass es etwas Neues von Tade Thompson gibt. Und während ich noch immer auf den zweiten Rosewater-Band warte, diente dieser Thriller als perfekte Überbrückung.

Obwohl die Handlung in einem fiktiven Land angesetzt ist, ist uns allen sofort bewusst, dass Thompson über Dinge schreibt, die alles andere als fiktiv sind. Es ist ein brutales Buch mit brutalen Szenen, aber diese Stellen sind bei Weitem nicht erfunden. Sie geschehen. Jetzt und hier.

Auch Weston ist nicht unbedingt der Held mit der reinen weissen Weste. Er hat unsympathische Züge, aber genau das macht ihn glaubhaft, menschlich, greifbar. Ausserdem ist er trotz seines Lebens in London noch immer ein Kind Alcacias.

Tade Thompson kann nicht nur Sci-Fi schreiben, sondern auch Thriller. Zumindest mich hat der Autor erneut überzeugt. Ich bin abgetaucht in diese ruchlose Stadt, musste oft beim Lesen pausieren, weil ich mittendrin war und es fast nicht mehr ertrug.

Grossartig, wenn ein Autor einen derart in sein Buch reinziehen kann. Umso besser, wenn es einen dazu anregt, einen klareren Blick auf die Welt und ihre Um- bzw. Zustände zu werfen.

[Runalong · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very great start to what I hope becomes a new crime series. A fascinating yet ambiguous lead character in a . Compelling noir location with some wonderfully tight plotting and exploration of a new country

Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thompson's chatty, casual writing style is tonally unusual for a crime novel, but then most crime novels aren't set in a fictional African country dealing with rival rebel forces, corruption, bribery, violence, and other aspects of everyday life.

This leads to a goodly amount of misdirection, because we're inside Weston's head, which is full of conflict about being home, pride at having got himself a hot girlfriend, fear of the mess he's gotten himself into, and determination to solve the crimes he's been forced to investigate. Spoiler alert, it's the pride that trips him (and us?) up.

I preferred the Wormwood trilogy, but this is an enjoyable enough venture into crime in Thompson's version of Africa

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good crime thriller set in a corrupt West African country.

[Louise Hamill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mixed feelings about this one. An interesting premise but poorly executed. Apart from the protagonist no one gets any character development, and even then it’s sparse. Sex is under explained and over used as a means for the protagonist to get close to people, and in an attempt to shock during the big plot twist finale. Nana as a character was difficult to believe, one that she would forgive Weston after he abandoned her in a literal war zone, and happily be there solely for his sexual fulfilment and transportation needs; and two that she would in fact be leading him on because she was in fact the sexual plaything of Weston’s frenimy Church. There are no female characters in this book that don’t exist for the sexual gratification of the more prominent male characters, which makes the whole plot difficult to believe. Not the most engaging. All this sex and violence, but little in the way of moral reflection, consequences, or a deeper theme holding the sequence of random violence together.

[fromcouchtomoon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bleak, sick, gritty, action-packed-- an award-winning neo-noir detective thriller taking place in a vague Yoruba-dominated nation that, despite the schlocky CGI cover, feels highly realistic and adult. Along with familiar themes of violence, depravity, and shock, also addresses themes of colonialism, corruption, Western involvement, and immigrant guilt (and, if you want to get literary, some underhanded symbolism of cultural dominance, castration, insecurity, and impotence, all cleverly played). Thompson's Alcacia stands for something more, but if you just want a well-written, rip-roaring good read of mystery and depravity, it's that too, making it reminiscent of the more ambitious, but slightly less un-put-downable Booker winner A Brief History of Seven Killings. Looking forward to more from this author.

[Adeel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Making Wolf by Tade Thompson was a gritty, dark and suspenseful African noir novel that I couldn't put down. It's about how one man's lie can cause them to get entrapped in a web of lies, corruption and violence. ⁣⁣
⁣⁣
The story is set in a fictionalized Nigeria known as Alacia. This is a place where violence and murder are the norm, bribery and corruption continues to escalate leading to a spiral of lies and chaos.

"Nobody ever welcomed you to Ede City; they just informed you that you had arrived and left you to fight or fall. Nobody wanted to be here; they only travelled. Like UN peacekeepers. Like UNESCO. Like me."

The stories main character, Weston Kogi has just returned for the funeral of his foster mother Aunt Blossom. Aunt Blossom helped Kogi and his sister Lynn escape to London and get away from all of the violence. ⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Now back in his home town of Ede, Kogi bumps into Churchill "Church" Okita at the funeral. Church was Weston's childhood bully making his life hell during school. Nervous at seeing Church again, Weston lies and claims he is a Homicide Detective in the Met Police. However, he is merely a supermarket store detective. This comes back to bite him in the ass many times as he kidnapped by a group called The Christian People's Liberation Army. Their leader Osa Ali instructs Kogi to solve and investigate the murder of Enoch Olubusi who is a government figure and somewhat of a saint. ⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Thus, we follow Weston as he falls deeper down the rabbit hole of Acacia as he must crisscross between two murderous rebel factions the LFA (Liberation Front of Alcacia) and the PCA (People's Christian Army). Both of these groups see Kogi as the perfect tool in investigating the murder of Enoch Olubusi and also for their own agendas.Weston's investigation activities also see him catch the unwanted eye of the secret police who also attempt to use him for their own agenda.

The deeper Kogi falls the more he loses a sense of normality and his values on what is right and wrong. Kogi will come face to face with murderous assassin's and corrupt officials. He will have to cross the line and his own values in order to survive. ⁣

⁣⁣This was an absolutely exceptional and intense novel that I couldn't put down. I loved the intense atmosphere and the feeling of dread around every corner that awaited Kogi. The paranoia Kogi feels was something that was instantly absobred by me because of the sheer intensity

"I checked the gun clip. Paranoia was addictive."

I loved how Weston had to question whether to stay on the path of good or the path of violence. He literally goes through a lot of shit which raised the bar due to the sheer feeling of dread. I kept worrying about his character as he isn't a detective nor does he know how to use a gun. So obviously I was nervous for him🤦🏽‍♂️. But soon you fear for Weston in the sense that he soon retorts to having to use violence and whatever is necessary to get the job done.

But again this raises the question of ones morality. We believe in ourselves that what we are doing is not the same as others. However, we end up contradicting ourselves doing those actions we argue we would never do. This is essentially the case for Weston who believes he is doing good, but instead it could be argued his actions are the same if not as worse as the people who are fuelling violence and corruption.

This conflict of self is something Weston must deal with throughout the story and come to terms with as pointed out by his sister in a text he receives once he arrives in Alacia

You’re a Yoruba man. Alcacia is your home. You’re only renting England. Stop whining, Weston. I love you. X

The writing in my opinion was also very addictive, descriptive and engaging which made it an even more perfect read for me. Even though it's dark it's mixed with lot of dark humour which lightened the mood but didn't take away from the grittiness of the story. There are also a lot of really great side characters such as Nana, Kogi's love interest and his ex who he jilted to go off to London. We also have Diane who is Obsusi's second wife and Church who scared the shit out of me and was an intimidating figure throughout the story.

"Church was the meanest person I had ever met in my life, and that is saying something. He had made my life unbearable as a child, yet here he was. I had like two inches on him now but back then he towered over me."

I also loved the setting of Alacia. It was so dark and felt kind of like the wild wild west. Corruption and violence is rife in Alcacia with warring factions at each other's throats. The incorporation of the Yoruba language was something I enjoyed and the setting feel more authentic.

"‘Abo oro la nso f ’omo luwabi. To ba de inu e, a di odindi.’ A hint is all you need give a good person. It grows into full knowledge inside them."

Overall, I 100% recommend this book! I found it to be an easy novel to immerse myself into. It's dark, gritty and highly entertaining. Basically, everything hoped for in a noir novel and I am keeping my fingers, toes and eyes crossed that Tade Thompson writes more of these books.

Thank you to Nazia and Orbit 😊

[Havers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Der afrikanische Handlungsort von Tade Thomspons „Wild Card“ (im Original „Making Wolf“) ist ungewöhnlich, aber leider ist ein exotisches Setting noch lange kein Garant für die Qualität eines Thrillers. Dazu bedarf es gerade dann, wenn man eine Story in Afrika ansiedelt, auch einen kritischen Blick auf die gesellschaftspolitischen Probleme des Kontinents.

Weston Kogi ist mit seiner Schwester während des Bürgerkriegs aus Westafrika geflohen und hat sich mittlerweile eine neue Existenz in London aufgebaut. Als seine Tante stirbt, reist er zu ihrer Beerdigung zurück in die alte Heimat. Das Wiedersehen mit alten Bekannten wird zum riskanten Unternehmen, woran er nicht unschuldig ist. Um zu renommieren und seinen Status aufzupolieren, ändert er nämlich kurzerhand seine Profession vom Supermarkt-Wachmann zum Detective bei der Londoner Mordkommission. Und schon erwartet ihn ein Auftrag, denn der allseits geachtete Papa Busi wurde ermordet, und Weston soll den Fall aufklären. Keine gute Idee, wie er bald feststellen muss, denn mit diesem Auftrag gerät er zwischen alle Fronten.

Die Story kommt im Gewand eines Hardboilers daher und weckt Assoziationen zu den Filmen Tarantinos. Blut fließt reichlich, mit roher Gewalt und Sex wird auch nicht gegeizt. Zwar werden immer wieder Passagen zur afrikanischen Realität eingestreut, diese gehen aber in dem Meer der brutalen Gewaltdarstellungen unter. Ich hatte mir mehr erwartet. Kann man lesen, muss man aber nicht.

[Maren Pekruhl · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Wild Card" war mein erster Thriller und auch mein erstes Buch von Tade Thompson. Das Setting war für mich neu und sehr interessant, da ich bisher noch kein Buch gelesen hatte, das in einem afrikanischen Land spielt. Der Autor schaffte es mich mit der Gewalt und Korruption zu schockieren und trotzdem ließ er mich auch die Abgestumpftheit des Protagonisten im Verlauf der Geschichte mitfühlen. Ich war überrascht von einigen Wendungen, die ich nicht vorhergesehen hat. Mir gefiel das rasante Erzähltempo ohne, dass die Handlung gehetzt wirkte. Der Autor hat viele kulturelle Merkmale der Yoruba eingeflochten, was mir sehr gefallen hat. Dadurch konnte ich einiges über das mir noch unbekannte Volk lernen und das Verhalten einiger Figuren besser verstehen. Insgesamt ein gut gelungener Thriller mit einem einzigartigen Setting, der mich neugierig auf mehr Bücher von Tade Thompson gemacht hat.

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliantly written and thought-provoking.
But also very brutal and violent.
A gripping thriller that I couldn’t put down, partly because of the great tension I felt reading it. I was at the edge of my seat most of the time, wanting it to finally end and also not wanting it to end.

[Vivienne · Rating 5 out of 5]

My thanks to Little, Brown Book Group - Constable for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Making Wolf’ by Tade Thompson in exchange for an honest review. It was Thompson’s first novel and originally published in the USA in 2015 and has now found a new home with Constable.

Since 2015 Thompson has established himself as a author of cutting edge science fiction with The Wormwood Trilogy set in Nigeria. ‘Making Wolf’ is a blend of crime and political thriller.

It is set in Alcacia, a tiny fictional country squeezed in between Nigeria and Cameroon. As the novel’s narrator states: “Former British colony, former French protectorate, former Portuguese trading post, now in its fourth decade of independence, the country of my genetic contributors. I’m British these days, but I still consider myself loyal to Alcacia.”

Weston Kogi is a security guard in a London supermarket. When his Aunt Blossom dies, he returns to his West African home country of Alcacia that he had left fifteen years previously to attend her funeral. While there he meets with his estranged family and his ex-girlfriend Nana. More worryingly, he encounters Churchill "Church" Okita, who had bullied him mercilessly when they attended boarding school. Church still makes him nervous.

Still, Weston is enjoying himself and brags to Church that he is a homicide detective with the Metropolitan Police. It seems a harmless deception but one that backfires spectacularly when he is kidnapped twice and forced by two separate rebel factions to investigate the murder of a local hero, Papa Busi.

He has no choice but to look into the case and it quickly becomes apparent that there has been a cover-up. Weston is plunged into a dark, violent underworld in which his life is in constant jeopardy. In addition, the outcome of the investigation might well tip the country, already in the grip of a volatile political situation, into civil war.

While, this is an example of gritty African noir, it also has a vein of dark humour running through it, mainly in the form of Weston’s reflections and asides as he frantically attempts to keep his head above water. This wise-cracking draws on the tropes associated with the hard-boiled detective of classic crime noir.

Despite some disturbing and quite gruesome violence, I found this very entertaining and feel that it could easily have been the start of a series of crime thrillers. Although science fiction has become the focus of Thompson’s writing, perhaps with ‘Making Wolf’ reaching a new audience Thompson will pick up the thread and pen more adventures for Weston.

This was my first experience of Thompson’s work even though I have been intending to read The Wormwood Trilogy. I must rectify that soon as this was excellent.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

[maskedbookblogger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Im neu erschienenen Thriller „Wild Card“ geht es um Weston Kogi, der nach langen Jahren aus England wieder nach Westafrika, zu seinen Wurzeln reist. Seine Tante ist verstorben, sodass eine Beerdigung stattfindet. Vor Ort macht er den Fehler, dass er allen rumerzählt, dass er in London ein Detektiv sei. Dies stimmt leider nicht, da er nur ein Wachmann in einem herkömmlichen Einkaufszentrum ist. Nichtsdestotrotz gelangt er in den Fokus von Rebellengruppierungen, sodass er für sie einen Mord an einem Politiker aufklären muss. Als wäre es nicht schlimm genug, mischt sich der Geheimdienst in diese Angelegenheit ein. Für Weston Kogi bleibt nur eine Möglichkeit hier heil rauszukommen: Er muss die Gruppierungen gegeneinander ausspielen.

Thriller mit einem Handlungsort in einer afrikanischen Stadt habe ich bisher noch nicht gelesen, sodass ich total neugierig war, wie sich die Handlung entwickeln wird. Als Leser befinden wir uns in Nigeria, einem Land, in welchem es nicht den rechten Dingen zu sich geht. Korruption, Morde und Gewalt stehen tagtäglich an der höchsten Ordnung. Und dies ist nicht nur eine Fiktion. Der Autor nimmt kein Blatt vor dem Mund und spiegelt mit grauenhaften Beschreibungen von Folterszenen, Krankheiten und elendiger Armut die heutige Realität des Landes. Deswegen ist dieses Buch auch nichts für Leser, die mit derartigen Themen Schwierigkeiten haben.

An der Seite von dem Protagonisten Weston Kogi stürzen wir uns in ein actionreiches Thriller-Abenteuer. Schon von der ersten Seite an, wird es wild. Diese “wilde“ Atmosphäre kommt durchgängig zur Geltung. Somit liegt auch der Fokus auf den Beschreibungen der Umstände, viel weniger auf einem Entwurf einer durchgängigen Spannung. Natürlich kommt an manchen Stellen durch unvorhersehbaren Wendungen die nötige Spannung auf – diese hält sich aber abseits dieser Momente in Grenzen. Für mich war es trotzdem ein rasantes aber dennoch trauriges Leseabenteuer, da es schon zum Denken anregt, weswegen manche Menschen alles haben und manche in derartigen Verhältnisse leben - wie es im Buch geschildert wird. Dennoch fand ich die Gestaltung von Weston gelungen, da er mir sympathisch wirkte und man im Allgemeinen auch etwas über seine Stammeszugehörigkeit erfahren konnte.

Fazit: „Wild Card“ ist ein Thriller nur für starke Nerven. Mit brutalen Beschreibungen stürzt man sich als Leser in ein rasantes Leseabenteuer im wilden Westafrika. Für mich persönlich war es auf jeden Fall etwas Neues, sodass ich auf diesen Thriller mit großen Respekt zurückblicke.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

...With all its graphic descriptions of violence and other forms of human misery, Making Wolf is not a particularly easy book to read. It made me uncomfortable in several places, which is probably what the author aimed for. You need to be able to stomach quite a lot to handle this book. That being said, it is a lot more than just violence. Thompson has his reasons to tell the story the way he does. He wants the book to be more than a simple fast-paced thriller and succeeds gloriously. It's a book that hides a lot of food for thought under the surface. I've been spoiled with a great many good books this year. Making Wolf is another book I can wholeheartedly recommend.

Full Random Comments review

[Adele · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up.
This book was better than I expected it to be. I got it in a box of books subscription and thought it might not be my thing, but it was surprisingly good. It is a gritty dark portrayal of corruption and warring factions in a fictional (thinly disguised) west African nation. However, the protagonist gets himself into a scrape by exaggerating his credentials, and this leads to the first 3/4 of the book being more darkly humorous than outright violent.
Then comes the turning point, and the disclosure of why Papa Busi was murdered (not a spoiler as this is in the blurb) comes out and it is dark, dark, dark from then on. The morality is lost, the slightly bumbling nature becomes mean, and I stopped enjoying it so much.
Still pleased I read it, but it’s not for the faint of heart.

[Evaczyk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unfreiwilliger Bürgerkriegs-Urlaub - Wild Card

Weston Kogi ist Yoruba und in dem fiktiven westafrikanischen Staat Alcacia (Nigeria lässt grüßen!) geboren. Doch seit seine Tante Blossom ihn und seine Schwester als Teenager in ein Flugzeug nach England gesetzt hat, um die Geschwister in Sicherheit vor politischen Unruhen zu bringen, ist einige Zeit vergangen. Weston mag Afrikaner sein, doch er fühlt sich als Südlondoner. Nun muss er aber zurück in die ursprüngliche Heimat: Die Tante ist gestorben, und Weston kann auf der Beerdigung nicht fehlen, Nur ein paar Tage, so hat er sich vorgenommen. Doch dann kommt für den Ich-Erzähler in Tade Thompsons Roman "Wild Card" alles ganz anders.

Weston gehört nicht zu den Diaspora-Afrikanern, die sich nach den fernen Wurzeln verzehren. Sein Yoruba ist holprig geworden, und schon die Ankunft auf dem Flughafen empfindet er als eher herbe:

"Niemand hieß einen in Ede City willkommen; man wurde lediglich darüber in Kenntnis gesetzt, dass man gelandet war, dann musste man selbst sehen, wie man zurecht kam oder unterging. Keiner war zum Spaß hier, nach Alcacia reiste nur, wer musste. So wie Abgeordnete der UN-Friedensmissionen. Wie UNESCO-Vertreter. So wie ich."

Der erste, aber keineswegs letzte korrupte Beamte lauert gleich bei der Passkontrolle. Auch sonst löst das Wiedersehen mit der Heimat wenig sentimentale Gefühle bei Weston aus: Da sind die Hitze, der Dreck, Aberglauben, das Wiedersehen mit so ungeliebten alten Bekannten wie seinem ehemaligen Mitschüler Church, der ihm auf dem Internat das Leben zur Hölle gemacht hat. Auge in Auge mit seinem Schul-Alptraum kann sich Weston eine kleine Hochstapelei nicht verkneifen, bezeichnet sich als Detective bei der Mordkommission. Dabei ist er lediglich Wachmann in einem Supermarkt.

Die kleine Schwindelei hat Folgen, denn in den 15 Jahren seit Weston Alcacia verlassen hat, ist die Lage dort nicht ruhiger geworden. Gleich zwei Rebellengruppen entführen ihn nacheinander und wollen ihn für ihre Zwecke einspannen. Er soll den Tod eines Politikers aufklären, der zwischen Rebellen und Regierung vermittelte, einen Frieden für das leidgeprüfte Land erreichen würde. Angesichts der ständigen Bedrohung durch Gewalt, Folter und einen vermutlich ziemlich unangenehmen Tod kann Weston gar nicht anders: Er muss ermitteln. Nicht nur fachlich fühlt er sich überfordert, denn Leichen, Gewalt und Gefahren findet er gewissermaßen an jeder Straßenecke.

Tade Thompson überzeugt einerseits mit einer rasanten Handlung und immer neuen Steigerungen der Abenteuer seines Helden, andererseits mit schwarzem britischen Humor und Understatement. So sarkastisch, unterhaltsam und realistisch zugleich habe ich seit Michael Holmans "Kuvisha" Triologie nicht über Afrika gelesen. Und so wie dort unter fiktivem Namen Missstände und Alltag in Kenia gleichermaßen dargestellt werden, ist Alcacia eine einzige literarische Anspielung auf Nigeria. Ob Geisterglauben, Ahnenkult, Korruption, das System der Kleinkriminalität oder der scheinbar ewige Kreislauf politischer, ethnischer und ideologischer Trennlinien und Konflikte - Weston stolpert in jede Krise, die seine alte Heimat bietet. Oft blutig und brutal, immer wieder haarsträubend, mit einem mitunter derben Humor, niemals langweilig ist "Wild Card" ein Lesevergnügen, dass bei mir eine Menge afrikanischer Erinnerungen wachruft. An das Afrika jenseits der Safari-Urlaube - herausfordernd, oft unberechenbar aber immer fesselnd.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tade Thompson took me by surprise with The Murders of Molly Southborne. It was a vivid story, told well, with a vivid main character and a fantastic premise. It was such an impressive story that I immediately tracked down the other books he had written and put them at the top of my to-read list. Making Wolf is the first of those, and Thompson's debut novel.

The story is set in the fictional country of Alcacia in West Africa, where Weston Kogi returns for his aunt's funeral. He left when he was still a teenager, boarding a plane just as riots broke out across his country. His aunt was the one who got him out of the country, so he feels the obligation to return from London to pay his respects. While there, he makes a connection with an old schoolmate and bully who ropes him into investigating the death of a well-loved hero of Alcacia. Things slowly go from bad to worse, though, with Weston seeing first-hand the brutality of violence of living in this divided nation.

The story itself is a noir crime thriller, with Weston being the investigator and Alcacia standing in for the darkened, gritty streets. The plot carries us forward, revealing itself pieces at a time, through betrayals, double-crosses, and intrigue, complete with the long-legged dames and characters with questionable morality. The story is modernized and relocated, and it feels like Thompson has things to say about Africa as perceived through the Western eye, but it's also a solid, page-turning crime thriller with a satisfying conclusion.

Making Wolf feels like it could be the start of a series, but since the point of the story is Weston's character growth, it's hard to imagine there being anything else to tell. Thompson couldn't start over again with Weston, and there aren't any other characters in the book that could serve as the growth for a sequel. It's not an unfinished story by any means, but it does feel like there's more to tell. Were Thompson to write that book, I would read it because I admire his skills as a writer, and because I trust he would be able to find a way to make a sequel fresh.

With all the Swedish crime thrillers that are populating the best-seller lists, there should be room for one more set in West Africa. Making Wolf is that book, and I think anyone looking for a well-told crime thriller, set in a new place, would do well to read it.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weston Kogi is a supermarket store detective in London. When he returns to the country of his birth (Alcacia, a fictional West African state, inspired by Nigeria) for the funeral of his aunt, the woman who took care of him as a child and put him on a plane to London just as the country exploded into civil war and thus secured him a better life, he runs up against people from his past. The abusive father who always disliked and was ashamed of him, the boy who bullied him at school and made his childhood a torment, the girl he loved. 

It is Churchill “Church” Okita, the boy who bullied him at school, who has the biggest and most immediate impact. For he has heard that Kogi is a detective, mistaken his job title to mean he is a proper police detective and abducts him to press him into service investigating a real-life murder. Church is an enforcer for one of two main rebel groups, the Liberation Front of Alcacia (LFA) and they want to know who assassinated an elder statesman who was refereeing negotiations with the Government. Kogi begins his investigations out of necessity (he doesn’t want to be murdered if Church and the LFA discover the truth) but soon discovers he has an aptitude for the work.

It isn’t long before the other guerrilla group, the People’s Christian Army (PCA) get involved, as indeed does the government’s intelligence services and the plot of Making Wolf becomes a combination of gumshoe PI novel in a unique setting, political thriller, and satire about West African corruption.

Tade Thompson is a gifted writer of Nigerian descent. Making Wolf is his first foray into crime fiction (before this he’s written sci-fi) and the first novel of his that I’ve read. Making Wolf seems like the first on a new series and I really hope it is, as this was a thoroughly enjoyable read. A well-written novel with a cast of interesting characters, this is a great read.

[Margarethe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Auf Wild Card muss man sich einlassen...Afrika von der wilden Seiten...nein es schwirren keine "Wilden" durch die Seiten. Das Buch ist sehr schnell und kommt immer mit neuen Wendungen.
Eben noch ein Trauertourist, der seine Tante beerdigen will und sofort zurück nach Hause nach London will und schon ist er ein Spielball zwischen rivalisierenden Banden, die ihm mit Geld überhäufen und ihn instrumentalisieren- Und alles nur weil er einen Schulkameraden beeindrucken wollte. Statt Türsteher war er auf einmal Mordkommissar.
Mal wird er von Strassenräubern ausgenommen, mal von der Gegenpartei entführt und hofiert.
Zum Glück unterstützt ihn seine alte Freundin Nana, die er damals einfach zurückgelassen hat.
Die Nerven eines Europäers werden arg strapaziert. In einem durch Bürgerkrieg zerrüttetem Staat in dem nichts sicher scheint ein Attentat auf einen beliebten Politiker aufzuklären scheint unmöglich zumal sich die Fronten immer wieder verschieben.
Also atemlos durch das Buch und doch Weston Kogi hat ERfolg und findet für sich einen WEg.
Was dem Taschenbuch gut getan hätte wäre eine Glossar am Ende, es gibt doch einige afrikaspezifische Begriffe, die auch im Zusammenhang nicht erklärbar sind.
Aber wer sich mal auf was Neues einlassen will, bekommt mit diesem Buch eine schnelle und rasante Alternative.

[AA_Logan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best kind of pulp. The book does what it needs to and doesn’t outstay it’s welcome.

I’ve really enjoyed Tade Thompson’s previous works, and while I kind of was hoping that this would tie in with Rosewater or Molly Southbourne to form a sort of TTEU, I’m glad to see that he is such a versatile writer- this is refreshingly different to the other two titles, but still has some of what I’m coming to see as his strengths. Making Wolf is set in a fictional location but one grounded in reality- I’m no expert on West African, and especially Yoruba culture, but this throws in enough little details that make me feel, at least while I’m reading it, that I am.

If you were to take the plot out of Alcacia and transpose it, with a few tweaks, to 1940s California, you’d be reading a Chandler novel. That’s no bad thing, and once this realisation dawned on me I enjoyed it even more.

In the build-up to this novel, I was very excited by the fish-out-of-water aspect of the plot, but this ended up being less significant than anticipated: the duality Weston’s life in London and his job in Alcacia isn’t that big a deal, but any disappointment there is wholly down to my own expectations.

Would I read more Weston Keogi stories? In a heartbeat.

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spannender und wendungsreicher Thriller

Der Thriller "Wild Card" von Tade Thompson handelt von Weston Kogi, der nach langer Zeit in das Dorf seiner Kindheit in Westafrika zurückkommt um an der Beerdigung seiner Tante teilzunehmen. Vor alten Bekannten macht er den Fehler sich aufzuspielen und sich als Londoner Police Detective auszugeben obwohl er nur Wachmann in einem Supermarkt ist. Weston wird von zwei rivalisierenden Rebellengruppen gekidnappt und gezwungen den Mord an einem Politiker aufzuklären.

Wild Card ist ein spannender und teilweise auch brutaler Thriller, der die Zustände und den Konflikt zwischen zwei Rebellengruppen in Afrika realistisch und ungeschönt darstellt. Der Thriller hat sehr viele Wendungen und ist dadurch die ganze Zeit spannend zu lesen. Die Dialoge und der Erzählstil sind geistreich und in Teilen ist der Erzählton selbstironisch.

Insgesamt ist Wild Card ein spannender und wendungsreicher Thriller mit gelungenem Afrika Setting.