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Truth is a Flightless Bird
President Obama's impending arrival to Nairobi is the electric backdrop to this dazzling debut, Truth is a Flightless Bird (TIFB). Yet, beneath the glittering celebrations, beats the pulse of a city aflame.
It is into this crucible that Nice (real name Theresa) lands, fleeing her Somali drug-dealer boyfriend, her brutal UN work in Mogadishu, and the life choices stalking her. So desperate is she to flee that she involves one of her oldest friends, Duncan, an American pastor heading a church in Nairobi. On the way back from the airport, their car crashes, and Nice is abducted by a crooked immigration cop, Hinga.
Duncan awakes after the car crash to find himself captive to the sociopathic Hinga, and the charmingly amoral Ciru. Plucked from his middle class bubble, Duncan must plunge into the moral complexities of the under-city to rescue Nice. But how deep can Duncan go, without destroying his faith, and himself?
TIFB is a brutal love letter to the frontier town that is present-day Nairobi: a studied observation of the the failures of bare-knuckled capitalism, the inequality machines our cities have become, and - ultimately - the profoundly irrational human capacity to hope, to risk everything in order to have something in which to believe.
With TIFB, Hussain establishes a remarkable voice, one truly his own.
It is into this crucible that Nice (real name Theresa) lands, fleeing her Somali drug-dealer boyfriend, her brutal UN work in Mogadishu, and the life choices stalking her. So desperate is she to flee that she involves one of her oldest friends, Duncan, an American pastor heading a church in Nairobi. On the way back from the airport, their car crashes, and Nice is abducted by a crooked immigration cop, Hinga.
Duncan awakes after the car crash to find himself captive to the sociopathic Hinga, and the charmingly amoral Ciru. Plucked from his middle class bubble, Duncan must plunge into the moral complexities of the under-city to rescue Nice. But how deep can Duncan go, without destroying his faith, and himself?
TIFB is a brutal love letter to the frontier town that is present-day Nairobi: a studied observation of the the failures of bare-knuckled capitalism, the inequality machines our cities have become, and - ultimately - the profoundly irrational human capacity to hope, to risk everything in order to have something in which to believe.
With TIFB, Hussain establishes a remarkable voice, one truly his own.
- GenresAfrica
257 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 10, 2022
11 people are currently reading
69 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
December 5, 2022
Rating: 4* of five
The Publisher Says: President Obama's impending arrival to Nairobi is the electric backdrop to this dazzling debut, Truth is a Flightless Bird. Yet, beneath the glittering celebrations, beats the pulse of a city aflame.
It is into this crucible that Nice (real name Theresa) lands, fleeing her Somali drug-dealer boyfriend, her brutal UN work in Mogadishu, and the life choices stalking her. So desperate is she to flee that she involves one of her oldest friends, Duncan, an American pastor heading a church in Nairobi. On the way back from the airport, their car crashes, and Nice is abducted by a crooked immigration cop, Hinga.
Duncan awakes after the car crash to find himself captive to the sociopathic Hinga, and the charmingly amoral Ciru. Plucked from his middle class bubble, Duncan must plunge into the moral complexities of the under-city to rescue Nice. But how deep can Duncan go, without destroying his faith, and himself?
Truth is a Flightless Bird is a brutal love letter to the frontier town that is present-day Nairobi: a studied observation of the the failures of bare-knuckled capitalism, the inequality machines our cities have become, and—ultimately—the profoundly irrational human capacity to hope, to risk everything in order to have something in which to believe.
With Truth is a Flightless Bird, Hussain establishes a remarkable voice, one truly his own.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: The African view...especially the Kenyan view...of Barack Obama's presidency wasn't like the US view in most particulars. Kenyans saw the son of one of their own people rise to the most powerful position in the world and felt slightly awed and overjoyed. (I don't need to discuss what happened here. You know.) It was a moment of real hope, much like the moment the war criminals in charge squandered when the World Trade Center was brought down.
When there aren't "legitimate" means to make a living, improve one's lot in life, people find other means to accomplish those eternally applicable goals. That the drug-smuggling world brings misery and poverty to millions, and millions to the very, very few, doesn't matter to those whose needs include enough food and a decent place to live. (Nor do these same concerns animate the decisions of the tens of thousands in this country who work for defense contractors, or chemical manufacturers.) Nice, as young Theresa is called, is a bored American girl whose needs are catered to by a drug-dealing Somali boyfriend...she's in Mogadishu on an international-aid financed jamboree...and she's cajoled into becoming a drug mule. Fly from Mogadishu to Nairobi, deliver the goods, come back and all will be well.
All is not well.
Nice is kidnapped by people who would prefer their own profits get fattened by the cargo inside Nice. Duncan, her fellow American and a truly clueless White Savior spreadin' the Gospel to people he begins to realize need something to explain the randomness of the Universe and he's there, so he'll do. It's a sobering moment, facing up the fact you're really not qualified to speak for God. Especially when that's the path you've chosen to tread.
When it comes to the Kenyans who set the plot's stressful parts in motion, they're all driven by Big Needs. You know, Revenge and Power and stuff like that. Nothing important...no one here's hurtin' for their next meal. What I got most clearly when I read this uniquely sourced thriller was that there's really no one in it who has one single solitary excuse for what they're doing to make others miserable. Lots of reasons! Not one excuse.
The other thing I learned is that it's hugely dangerous to imagine you're in any way immune from the consequences of your actions. Long may it be so, only a little more equitably distributed and on a thriller novel's time scale. Every one of these souls is screwed over, screwed up, and just plain screwed when the story ends. I wonder if any of them learned anything...I wonder what they dream about when they think of their time in Nairobi. I suspect a lot of "what might have been"s are thought.
None of the characters have great depths that get plumbed but this is a thriller so why would they? What we're offered instead is telling moments...a man thinks of his worthlessness while looking at a grieving father's earlobes in the strong sunshine through a window, a woman picking up an airplane-food omelette whole and shoving it into her mouth...that concisely delineate the characters' inner states. The quietness of it could be read as an absence of effort on the author's part. I say it is, rather, a subtle and really quite uncharitable summing-up of the people in question.
These aren't the details a writer of schlock calls to your attention. They're subtle selections presented at an oblique angle. They are the epitome of show me, don't just tell me. To be sure, there are moments of telling me what might profitably been shown:
To this revelation, which crystallized so much of Duncan's recent experience, Edmund delivered that devastating dialectical upper cut. With a curl of his lip, he asked, "So what?"
Duncan was too stunned and stoned to formulate a sentence.
Too bald. Too prescriptive...I can only be allowed one response to someone who has curled a lip...and not in keeping with the best moments of storytelling in here.
I'll still recommend to y'all that this book join your library. I think what it offers is what the best kinds of thrillers offer: A window into the worst moments of an unremarkably decent person's life. A view into a world not quite as you thought it was, or should be; that no one thinks is as good as it could be. And the bonus is that you're in competent hands guided by eyes and ears that have been where they're telling you about often enough and long enough to command your belief. There's the indefinable air of a person with local knowledge imparting it to you.
Go on the trip, give your thriller-eater the trip, or best of all do both.
The Publisher Says: President Obama's impending arrival to Nairobi is the electric backdrop to this dazzling debut, Truth is a Flightless Bird. Yet, beneath the glittering celebrations, beats the pulse of a city aflame.
It is into this crucible that Nice (real name Theresa) lands, fleeing her Somali drug-dealer boyfriend, her brutal UN work in Mogadishu, and the life choices stalking her. So desperate is she to flee that she involves one of her oldest friends, Duncan, an American pastor heading a church in Nairobi. On the way back from the airport, their car crashes, and Nice is abducted by a crooked immigration cop, Hinga.
Duncan awakes after the car crash to find himself captive to the sociopathic Hinga, and the charmingly amoral Ciru. Plucked from his middle class bubble, Duncan must plunge into the moral complexities of the under-city to rescue Nice. But how deep can Duncan go, without destroying his faith, and himself?
Truth is a Flightless Bird is a brutal love letter to the frontier town that is present-day Nairobi: a studied observation of the the failures of bare-knuckled capitalism, the inequality machines our cities have become, and—ultimately—the profoundly irrational human capacity to hope, to risk everything in order to have something in which to believe.
With Truth is a Flightless Bird, Hussain establishes a remarkable voice, one truly his own.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: The African view...especially the Kenyan view...of Barack Obama's presidency wasn't like the US view in most particulars. Kenyans saw the son of one of their own people rise to the most powerful position in the world and felt slightly awed and overjoyed. (I don't need to discuss what happened here. You know.) It was a moment of real hope, much like the moment the war criminals in charge squandered when the World Trade Center was brought down.
When there aren't "legitimate" means to make a living, improve one's lot in life, people find other means to accomplish those eternally applicable goals. That the drug-smuggling world brings misery and poverty to millions, and millions to the very, very few, doesn't matter to those whose needs include enough food and a decent place to live. (Nor do these same concerns animate the decisions of the tens of thousands in this country who work for defense contractors, or chemical manufacturers.) Nice, as young Theresa is called, is a bored American girl whose needs are catered to by a drug-dealing Somali boyfriend...she's in Mogadishu on an international-aid financed jamboree...and she's cajoled into becoming a drug mule. Fly from Mogadishu to Nairobi, deliver the goods, come back and all will be well.
All is not well.
Nice is kidnapped by people who would prefer their own profits get fattened by the cargo inside Nice. Duncan, her fellow American and a truly clueless White Savior spreadin' the Gospel to people he begins to realize need something to explain the randomness of the Universe and he's there, so he'll do. It's a sobering moment, facing up the fact you're really not qualified to speak for God. Especially when that's the path you've chosen to tread.
When it comes to the Kenyans who set the plot's stressful parts in motion, they're all driven by Big Needs. You know, Revenge and Power and stuff like that. Nothing important...no one here's hurtin' for their next meal. What I got most clearly when I read this uniquely sourced thriller was that there's really no one in it who has one single solitary excuse for what they're doing to make others miserable. Lots of reasons! Not one excuse.
The other thing I learned is that it's hugely dangerous to imagine you're in any way immune from the consequences of your actions. Long may it be so, only a little more equitably distributed and on a thriller novel's time scale. Every one of these souls is screwed over, screwed up, and just plain screwed when the story ends. I wonder if any of them learned anything...I wonder what they dream about when they think of their time in Nairobi. I suspect a lot of "what might have been"s are thought.
None of the characters have great depths that get plumbed but this is a thriller so why would they? What we're offered instead is telling moments...a man thinks of his worthlessness while looking at a grieving father's earlobes in the strong sunshine through a window, a woman picking up an airplane-food omelette whole and shoving it into her mouth...that concisely delineate the characters' inner states. The quietness of it could be read as an absence of effort on the author's part. I say it is, rather, a subtle and really quite uncharitable summing-up of the people in question.
These aren't the details a writer of schlock calls to your attention. They're subtle selections presented at an oblique angle. They are the epitome of show me, don't just tell me. To be sure, there are moments of telling me what might profitably been shown:
To this revelation, which crystallized so much of Duncan's recent experience, Edmund delivered that devastating dialectical upper cut. With a curl of his lip, he asked, "So what?"
Duncan was too stunned and stoned to formulate a sentence.
Too bald. Too prescriptive...I can only be allowed one response to someone who has curled a lip...and not in keeping with the best moments of storytelling in here.
I'll still recommend to y'all that this book join your library. I think what it offers is what the best kinds of thrillers offer: A window into the worst moments of an unremarkably decent person's life. A view into a world not quite as you thought it was, or should be; that no one thinks is as good as it could be. And the bonus is that you're in competent hands guided by eyes and ears that have been where they're telling you about often enough and long enough to command your belief. There's the indefinable air of a person with local knowledge imparting it to you.
Go on the trip, give your thriller-eater the trip, or best of all do both.
abandoned
August 21, 2023Abandoned at 21%.
I picked this ARC up solely because I was intrigued by the title (why it was even being offered as an ARC beats me—it turns out that it was published well over a year ago).
The plot didn't grab me; I had no problem whatsoever putting the book down in the middle of a chapter or even paragraph. Quite a feat, considering that it starts with a drug-packing pregnant woman on a plane, a car chase and accident, a kidnapping, murder, and subsequent corpse disposal, so I doubt that I would've been less bored if I'd kept on. The characters were cookie-cutter, the dialogues unnatural, and the writing so peculiarly bad, I started highlighting odd sentences. This was the worst offender: "Ciru arrested her sentiment"—from context, I gathered that she stopped speaking because she was getting worked up and losing her temper, but who ever used that arrangement of words? It can't be chalked up to a bad translation, either; the novel was written in English, the author isn't Kenyan, but rather an American co-founder of a fintech startup living in New York. I guess making your living by passively profiting off capitalism gives you the time to dabble in writing, but that doesn't mean you should.
—————
Note: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I picked this ARC up solely because I was intrigued by the title (why it was even being offered as an ARC beats me—it turns out that it was published well over a year ago).
The plot didn't grab me; I had no problem whatsoever putting the book down in the middle of a chapter or even paragraph. Quite a feat, considering that it starts with a drug-packing pregnant woman on a plane, a car chase and accident, a kidnapping, murder, and subsequent corpse disposal, so I doubt that I would've been less bored if I'd kept on. The characters were cookie-cutter, the dialogues unnatural, and the writing so peculiarly bad, I started highlighting odd sentences. This was the worst offender: "Ciru arrested her sentiment"—from context, I gathered that she stopped speaking because she was getting worked up and losing her temper, but who ever used that arrangement of words? It can't be chalked up to a bad translation, either; the novel was written in English, the author isn't Kenyan, but rather an American co-founder of a fintech startup living in New York. I guess making your living by passively profiting off capitalism gives you the time to dabble in writing, but that doesn't mean you should.
—————
Note: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
March 14, 2024
This was recommended to me by a lovely book seller in Nairobi and for good reason! I’d been struggling to find a really engaging novel set in Nairobi but I really loved this (even if it was a bit scary!) It walks the line between reality and mystery in Nairobi’s underworld of crime. The characters were all really engaging - complex and flawed and really easy to emphasis with. Would highly recommend!
July 6, 2022
Full of suspenseful situations, morally ambigious characters, stunning place-based descriptions and with a driven plot that will leave you wanting more, this debut is different to anything I've ever read. I can easily see why it has been optioned for a mini-series and would love to see it all come to life on the small screen.
November 5, 2025
Nice will do anything to flee from her drug-dealer boyfriend, Toogood; even smuggle some drugs. So when she finds herself on a plane with smuggled drugs and her unborn baby, she hopes this is the end. Roping in her oldest friend Duncan to help her escape, they’re attacked at the airport and Nice is abducted by a crooked cop, Hinga. Now, Duncan finds himself doing everything he can to help find and save her before it’s too late; crossing lines he never thought he would. This was supposed to be a horror novel, but this reader didn’t pick up on those vibes. Instead, this read more like a literary fiction, that is when they understood what was happening. This felt rather confusing, like multiple things were happening at once and everything got jumbled up as we moved along. The plot would get lost because the pacing was off; it would be fast and then slow down, up and down, multiple times that the reader couldn’t find any sort of rhythm. There was just too much happening. It felt like the author was trying to connect too many dots and make sure everything bridged together perfectly, which had this feeling fake. It didn’t help that this reader’s copy had spelling mistakes that left it irritating to read. The writing itself also wasn’t the best; it was full of awkward sentences that took the reader out of the story too many times. They would fall into the plot only to be taken out by the writing, which left us missing parts of the plot, but there wasn’t enough there to make the reader want to go back to re-read it. As for the characters, they were alright, there wasn’t anything special or memorable about them. We meet them, but it felt like we didn’t spend enough time with them because this novel was so short and we bounced around from point of view too much. The way it ended with everything tying up perfectly didn’t work because for how messy this plot was, it didn’t feel like a perfect ending fit. In the end, this novel was okay, but it just felt like it was trying too hard to be too much.
August 10, 2022
Thrillers are not usually my jam, but after reading Truth is a Flightless Bird I wonder if they should be! This novel was a breathless rush from beginning to end. I can see how this would make a fantastic television series and I am looking forward to seeing the unravelling around Duncan, Ciru, and Nice on the screen. I even want to see Toogood -- which is a commendation to Hussain's skill at writing terrific flawed villains.
The novel is explosive from the get-go. Nice is a drug mule flying from Mogadishu (Somalia) to Nairobi (Kenya) and Duncan, her friend and a pastor, is unwittingly dragged into the mess that she has made of this illicit mission. The story revolves around Duncan's nightmare as drug dealers, corrupt officials, petty thieves, and others attempt to take advantage of Nice and the dangerous situation which naturally results from ingesting and walking around with drugs in your body. Ciru is one of those individuals who attempts to use Nice and the drugs to further her own agenda. She is a witch doctor, a con-woman, a mother who has lost her wayward child due to the machinations of others further up in the drug-smuggling world. Toogood is a Somalian gangster, also trapped in this convoluted drug-criminal world trying to make amends for a past he had little control over. Then there is Edmund, a young man deported from the United States, and Hinga, a corrupt police officer, and a crew of other characters who each come into the tale with their own ambitions.
As a thriller, there isn't much interiority to these characters, but the reader will discover that no one is who they seem to be on the surface. The truth matters very little in this underbelly world; what matters is using what you have to get what you need or what you want. I don't usually try to read too much into thrillers; but, it is here -- in this discussion of the utility of truth -- that Hussain's title has to give the reader pause to reflect. There is something being said here about the futility of struggling against tides that are out of our control. Truth is one of those obstacles, or at least, the idea that there is a single Truth, capital T. All the characters of this novel, Duncan, Nice, Ciru, and Toogood, have found themselves in situations less than ideal, despite their best efforts. The truth, their truth, does not matter to the forces and people who hold the reins of their lives. It should not even matter to themselves; to survive Nairobi they've got to let go of the idea that there is only one truth, one version of events, one version of a person. They have to let go of an idea of themselves that either doesn't really exist or will drag them down. In a way, their blind pursuit of truth stifles them, prevents them from taking flight -- being free.
The novel also makes a subtle comment on the corruptibility of the human soul -- and the possibility of redemption. As events unfold, it becomes clear that the characters are more than what they appear. They are flawed, corrupted, but that doesn't mean they are wholly bad people. The bad decisions they've made in their lives should not define them, but inevitably do. The novel is about their attempts to right their wrongs. Some of them succeed, some of them fail -- and spectacularly. Entwined in a drug-smuggling mess the characters find that one error leads to another one, deeper and darker and more dangerous than the last.
Plot and characters aside, Truth is a Flightless Bird is a fantastic novel of place. It gives the reader a view into a world most of us will never get to see or experience in person: the seedy underworld of Nairobi and Mogadishu. I don't doubt these worlds really exist. Every city in the world has its unsavory parts, its criminal societies, and there are good people everywhere who are drowned in it. People like Nice and Duncan and Ciru. Even Hinga and Toogood. The interactions of the characters, the crimes committed, and Hussain's prose take the reader there, immerse them in it for a brief moment.
The novel is explosive from the get-go. Nice is a drug mule flying from Mogadishu (Somalia) to Nairobi (Kenya) and Duncan, her friend and a pastor, is unwittingly dragged into the mess that she has made of this illicit mission. The story revolves around Duncan's nightmare as drug dealers, corrupt officials, petty thieves, and others attempt to take advantage of Nice and the dangerous situation which naturally results from ingesting and walking around with drugs in your body. Ciru is one of those individuals who attempts to use Nice and the drugs to further her own agenda. She is a witch doctor, a con-woman, a mother who has lost her wayward child due to the machinations of others further up in the drug-smuggling world. Toogood is a Somalian gangster, also trapped in this convoluted drug-criminal world trying to make amends for a past he had little control over. Then there is Edmund, a young man deported from the United States, and Hinga, a corrupt police officer, and a crew of other characters who each come into the tale with their own ambitions.
As a thriller, there isn't much interiority to these characters, but the reader will discover that no one is who they seem to be on the surface. The truth matters very little in this underbelly world; what matters is using what you have to get what you need or what you want. I don't usually try to read too much into thrillers; but, it is here -- in this discussion of the utility of truth -- that Hussain's title has to give the reader pause to reflect. There is something being said here about the futility of struggling against tides that are out of our control. Truth is one of those obstacles, or at least, the idea that there is a single Truth, capital T. All the characters of this novel, Duncan, Nice, Ciru, and Toogood, have found themselves in situations less than ideal, despite their best efforts. The truth, their truth, does not matter to the forces and people who hold the reins of their lives. It should not even matter to themselves; to survive Nairobi they've got to let go of the idea that there is only one truth, one version of events, one version of a person. They have to let go of an idea of themselves that either doesn't really exist or will drag them down. In a way, their blind pursuit of truth stifles them, prevents them from taking flight -- being free.
The novel also makes a subtle comment on the corruptibility of the human soul -- and the possibility of redemption. As events unfold, it becomes clear that the characters are more than what they appear. They are flawed, corrupted, but that doesn't mean they are wholly bad people. The bad decisions they've made in their lives should not define them, but inevitably do. The novel is about their attempts to right their wrongs. Some of them succeed, some of them fail -- and spectacularly. Entwined in a drug-smuggling mess the characters find that one error leads to another one, deeper and darker and more dangerous than the last.
Plot and characters aside, Truth is a Flightless Bird is a fantastic novel of place. It gives the reader a view into a world most of us will never get to see or experience in person: the seedy underworld of Nairobi and Mogadishu. I don't doubt these worlds really exist. Every city in the world has its unsavory parts, its criminal societies, and there are good people everywhere who are drowned in it. People like Nice and Duncan and Ciru. Even Hinga and Toogood. The interactions of the characters, the crimes committed, and Hussain's prose take the reader there, immerse them in it for a brief moment.
Read
September 19, 2023DNF at 47%
I was sent an advanced copy of this book by Iskanchi Press in exchange for an honest review. Takes deep breath; here we go.
This book should have been just what I wanted. It is billed as a Literary Fiction and Horror book and has the makings of some really great commentary between race, criminal underground, and society as a whole. However, Hussain seemed to be trying to find his voice as an author and the writing fell a little short for me.
I did not finish the book, stopping after reaching the 47% mark. I will not be decimating this book, as I do think that others might enjoy it. This book just wasn’t for me. I found it hard to fully immerse myself in the story, or to care about the characters, which is a shame because I really wanted to. I really wanted to care about a pregnant woman who is trying to make a better life for her and her child, but finds herself in the midst of a drug war while being a mule. I really wanted to care about her white, pastor friend who will do anything to make her safe. I really wanted to care about the inner workings of this ring and the underground as a whole. I just didn’t.
I would not have described this book as a horror, or at least not based on the portion I read. Sure, horrible things are happening, but it’s not a horror book. Literary Fiction is also a bit of a stretch. I didn’t find it to be “literary,” but maybe it’s just over my head and actually super amazing and cleverly written. Just because a writer uses odd phrasing, does not make a book “literary”.
I did enjoy that the book takes place in Nairobi and that the author actually lived there for a time (though he currently lives in New York and is the co-founder of a fintech startup company). I enjoyed the idea of what the book is trying to get across as well as the conceptualized commentary, plot, and action. Everyone has a story to tell, but maybe not everyone is an author.
Again, I am sure other readers would enjoy this one. It’s just not for me and probably wouldn’t be something that I would recommend.
I was sent an advanced copy of this book by Iskanchi Press in exchange for an honest review. Takes deep breath; here we go.
This book should have been just what I wanted. It is billed as a Literary Fiction and Horror book and has the makings of some really great commentary between race, criminal underground, and society as a whole. However, Hussain seemed to be trying to find his voice as an author and the writing fell a little short for me.
I did not finish the book, stopping after reaching the 47% mark. I will not be decimating this book, as I do think that others might enjoy it. This book just wasn’t for me. I found it hard to fully immerse myself in the story, or to care about the characters, which is a shame because I really wanted to. I really wanted to care about a pregnant woman who is trying to make a better life for her and her child, but finds herself in the midst of a drug war while being a mule. I really wanted to care about her white, pastor friend who will do anything to make her safe. I really wanted to care about the inner workings of this ring and the underground as a whole. I just didn’t.
I would not have described this book as a horror, or at least not based on the portion I read. Sure, horrible things are happening, but it’s not a horror book. Literary Fiction is also a bit of a stretch. I didn’t find it to be “literary,” but maybe it’s just over my head and actually super amazing and cleverly written. Just because a writer uses odd phrasing, does not make a book “literary”.
I did enjoy that the book takes place in Nairobi and that the author actually lived there for a time (though he currently lives in New York and is the co-founder of a fintech startup company). I enjoyed the idea of what the book is trying to get across as well as the conceptualized commentary, plot, and action. Everyone has a story to tell, but maybe not everyone is an author.
Again, I am sure other readers would enjoy this one. It’s just not for me and probably wouldn’t be something that I would recommend.
November 5, 2022
With its intriguing title, Truth is a Flightless Bird by Akbar Hussain is a debut literary fiction novel. It is set in Nairobi just prior to an imminent American Presidential visit by Barack Obama. A female United Nations worker returning from Mogadishu named Nice, is carrying drugs in her stomach and comes under the attention of Hinga, a corrupt immigration police officer. Duncan, an American pastor and friend, picks up Nice at the airport, but their car is forced off the road and Nice is abducted. Duncan awakens to discover he is a captive of Hinga and enlists the help of Ciru, a ruthless woman able to navigate the city’s dark underbelly. In the final chapter as the climax occurs, the radio plays Presidential Obama’s speech as a juxtaposition of the unfolding events. Its easy-flowing narrative captures the ambiance of Nairobi and its machinations played out in this enjoyable tale with a three star rating. My thanks to Iskanchi Press and the author, for an uncorrected advanced reader copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own and freely given.
September 16, 2023
Thanks Netgalley for this ARC!
Overall this was not bad but not really my style. I assumed this would be something completely different based on the netgalley description and the fact that it was categorized as Horror, but it read more like action/thriller? Also, this was the description on Netgalley:
A female immigration officer in Kenya strives to thwart the efforts of an American expatriate pastor with a white savior complex.
and I feel like that isn't the plot?? did I misunderstand? I feel like this description told me nothing but also misled me. I spent the first 30% of this book figuring out what was going on. The goodreads description is a lot more helpful!!
So, I liked the setting and I think the story was relatively fast paced. I also liked the female police officer who told Duncan, "Be your own Barrack Obama."
Honestly I don't think this was bad but I (a person who doesn't like thrillers) was not really the correct audience for it.
Overall this was not bad but not really my style. I assumed this would be something completely different based on the netgalley description and the fact that it was categorized as Horror, but it read more like action/thriller? Also, this was the description on Netgalley:
A female immigration officer in Kenya strives to thwart the efforts of an American expatriate pastor with a white savior complex.
and I feel like that isn't the plot?? did I misunderstand? I feel like this description told me nothing but also misled me. I spent the first 30% of this book figuring out what was going on. The goodreads description is a lot more helpful!!
So, I liked the setting and I think the story was relatively fast paced. I also liked the female police officer who told Duncan, "Be your own Barrack Obama."
Honestly I don't think this was bad but I (a person who doesn't like thrillers) was not really the correct audience for it.
June 8, 2022
Theresa, nicknamed Nice, is peddling drugs for her drug lord ex-boyfriend. She lands safely at her destination and asks that her friend Duncan picks her up from the airport. Unknown to both of them, that day will mark a pivotal turnaround in the course of their lives. I found this story quite engaging. The sights and the sounds of Nairobi and Mogadishu overlap subtly in the narrative, but Nairobi takes the lead. Each character's evolution lay bare in the narrative, begging understanding and the barest form of empathy. I would never fathom Nice's life choices, though. But I appreciate her willfulness in demanding a change from herself.
November 19, 2023
DNF
Unfortunately this book was not for me. I tried several times to get into this one, but always ended up putting it down. The idea sounds interesting, but I think the storyline and dialogue felt forced and I wondered if the author was trying to write a book that would turn into a movie rather than falling in love with the written book version. It probably would make a good movie, maybe the author should try screen writing.
Thanks to Netgalley and Iskanchi Press for providing me with a digital review copy.
Unfortunately this book was not for me. I tried several times to get into this one, but always ended up putting it down. The idea sounds interesting, but I think the storyline and dialogue felt forced and I wondered if the author was trying to write a book that would turn into a movie rather than falling in love with the written book version. It probably would make a good movie, maybe the author should try screen writing.
Thanks to Netgalley and Iskanchi Press for providing me with a digital review copy.
August 31, 2023
What a fun read! Slowly but precisely it draws you into each character where you find yourselves siding with one or the other, sometimes many of them at the same time. The Nairobi/Mogadishu setting is nice and gritty. Besides the overall plot line, the Marabou storks will remain one of the lingering images for me :)
November 3, 2023
Billed as a horror book but was really a thriller. The plot was good, but the ending was just not quite there. It all felt a little too convenient the way it ended. I found reading it heavy going as well.
November 3, 2023
This thriller didn't quite have me on the edge of my seat. I thought the ending was a little weak with the drug lord not playing as big a part in the end as I thought. I found the book to be slow going compared to other thrillers. A shame as I kept wanting it to get better.
Want to read
November 13, 2022 I've received an advanced digital copy of this book, courtesy of the author and publisher, via Netgalley, for review consideration.
RTC
RTC
October 20, 2023
The truth took flight 🤦🏽♀️
Everyone in this book deserves to either die or be in jail except Duncan. The most annoying character is Nice. She's basically an opportunist
Everyone in this book deserves to either die or be in jail except Duncan. The most annoying character is Nice. She's basically an opportunist
January 2, 2023
A great read! Truth is a Flightless Bird is a fast-paced novel with an engaging plot that keeps the reader engaged and curious about what comes next for each of its distinct characters.
Though the story unfolds across different countries and from varied points of view, the author’s strong voice remains consistent throughout. Each character is fully fleshed out and brings unique perspective to the story adding layers of enjoyment.
I have never been to the cities in which the book takes place, but felt immersed by the author's impressive world building and never got lost in the locations that I have no personal experience with. I felt that I learned a lot!
The cover mentions that the story is soon to be a miniseries and I am excited to be able to one day watch it.
Four stars!
Though the story unfolds across different countries and from varied points of view, the author’s strong voice remains consistent throughout. Each character is fully fleshed out and brings unique perspective to the story adding layers of enjoyment.
I have never been to the cities in which the book takes place, but felt immersed by the author's impressive world building and never got lost in the locations that I have no personal experience with. I felt that I learned a lot!
The cover mentions that the story is soon to be a miniseries and I am excited to be able to one day watch it.
Four stars!
October 9, 2025
Fairly solid thriller set in Nairobi with a woman caught in a larger snare ends up having things made worse by a pastor with a white savior complex, and things kind of spiral from there. Apparently this had a streaming adaptation at some point. Solid thriller.
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