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Nairobi Heat
"A young and beautiful white woman is murdered in the US, and the prime suspect is former Rwandan school headmaster Joshua - a hero who had risked his life to save the innocent during Rwanda's genocide. Ishmael, an African American detective, must investigate the case by plunging himself into Joshua's past. He travels to Kenya, where Joshua once lived as a refugee, and fi nds himself unearthing his own African identity as he uncovers this violent crime. Kenyan author Mukoma wa Ngugi's debut novel is a gripping and hard-hitting detective thriller that questions race, identity and class"--Publisher's website.
176 pages, Paperback
First published October 28, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 153 reviews
February 27, 2013
I wanted to like this book, particularly as the author's father is Ngugi wa Thiong'o, an incredible writer. But this book is so bad, you guys. SO bad.
The writing is awkward and off-putting, the story unconvincing and predictable, the main character terrible at his job, and the plot absurd. A local police force in a small city decides to send its lead detective to Kenya because he received an anonymous phone call? An entire nation goes totally bonkers over the murder of an unidentified woman because her killer MIGHT be a black man? The KKK has a well-known "bunker" in one of the most liberal cities in the Midwest, and goes completely unbothered by either law enforcement or the community? A police officer kills multiple people and doesn't face so much as a review board, let alone any sort of disciplinary action?
The main problem I had (or one of them, anyway) was that I couldn't tell when it was supposed to be taking place. It was published in 2011 and they have cell phones, but it never seems to occur to anyone that maybe sending a few emails and making a few phone calls might be more cost effective than sending a detective to Africa. The Ku Klux Klan is depicted as just another unsavory but totally normal part of any American community--um, what? The Klan is a) not usually called that anymore, and b) so weakened and ineffectual that their presence as even minor "villains" in this novel is incongruous and laughable. At this point, they're an outdated stereotype and the butt of a bajillion jokes, as they rightfully should be. So what are they doing in this book? This isn't O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Also, going back to the whole when-is-this-happening thing, the characters are always faxing stuff to each other. You know, on a fax machine. You guys. A fax machine. In 2011.
Okay, let me try and put my thoughts on this into order, as it's a tricky issue. This goes back to my issue with the Klan's presence in the book, and to the character of the old white man who thinks he's African. So much of this book is about race relations, which is obviously a discussion that is necessary, valuable and, hopefully, productive. Racism is still an issue in America and in most of the world; white privilege, racial prejudice, none of that has been "solved." I understand why Ngugi looks to address the issue in the book, and I understand the points that he is making. (I won't go into detail so as to avoid spoilers.) I just think that he does it very clumsily, and in doing it clumsily, actually devalues the discussion.
The Klan is one example: it's such a stupid stereotype that it allows the reader to dismiss the whole idea of racism as, well, a stupid stereotype. And that's bad. Because racism is not something that should be dismissed; it should be addressed and challenged. African Americans in positions of authority do struggle with prejudice, as Ngugi rightly points out, but that prejudice is much more insidious and, therefore, damaging than the blatant racism of groups like the Klan. Nobody takes the Klan seriously, nor should they. But the right-wing Republicans insisting that Barack Obama must be a foreigner and demanding his birth certificate? The mall security cop who follows the Latino teenagers around the store, but pays no attention to the white ones? The Papa John's cashier who describes an Asian customer as "Lady Chinky Eyes" on her receipt? That is the subtle, insidious racism that holds us all back, and Ngugi forgoes any mention of this for the much easier statement of "Hey, the Klan sure are a bunch of a-holes, huh? And that white guy who thinks he's 'real African'? What a jerk!" Racism is depicted as mean white bullies who are totally up front about their racism, and that's not true or useful. Racism would be way easier to solve if that were the case.
I also had a problem with the way donations to survivors of the Rwandan genocide were described as "the guilt of the world." Really? People only give money because they feel guilty? They're not, maybe, just human beings wanting to do something good and useful for fellow human beings?
This review is almost as long as the book itself, and is also totally out of character for me; I rarely write reviews. But this book honestly made me angry (as I'm discovering right now) and I had serious issues with it. You guys, it's just a silly crime story. I get that. I'm sorry for taking it so seriously. I didn't think I'd have this much to say until I started saying it. So I'll shut up in a second.
Final thought: the book felt like it was written by someone who had never been to America, but assumed that America was basically like, well, it's bad form to make the same comparison twice, but I'm going to do it--assumed that America was basically like O Brother, Where Art Thou? Only with fax machines.
I'm going to go read The Wizard of the Crow now.
The writing is awkward and off-putting, the story unconvincing and predictable, the main character terrible at his job, and the plot absurd. A local police force in a small city decides to send its lead detective to Kenya because he received an anonymous phone call? An entire nation goes totally bonkers over the murder of an unidentified woman because her killer MIGHT be a black man? The KKK has a well-known "bunker" in one of the most liberal cities in the Midwest, and goes completely unbothered by either law enforcement or the community? A police officer kills multiple people and doesn't face so much as a review board, let alone any sort of disciplinary action?
The main problem I had (or one of them, anyway) was that I couldn't tell when it was supposed to be taking place. It was published in 2011 and they have cell phones, but it never seems to occur to anyone that maybe sending a few emails and making a few phone calls might be more cost effective than sending a detective to Africa. The Ku Klux Klan is depicted as just another unsavory but totally normal part of any American community--um, what? The Klan is a) not usually called that anymore, and b) so weakened and ineffectual that their presence as even minor "villains" in this novel is incongruous and laughable. At this point, they're an outdated stereotype and the butt of a bajillion jokes, as they rightfully should be. So what are they doing in this book? This isn't O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Also, going back to the whole when-is-this-happening thing, the characters are always faxing stuff to each other. You know, on a fax machine. You guys. A fax machine. In 2011.
Okay, let me try and put my thoughts on this into order, as it's a tricky issue. This goes back to my issue with the Klan's presence in the book, and to the character of the old white man who thinks he's African. So much of this book is about race relations, which is obviously a discussion that is necessary, valuable and, hopefully, productive. Racism is still an issue in America and in most of the world; white privilege, racial prejudice, none of that has been "solved." I understand why Ngugi looks to address the issue in the book, and I understand the points that he is making. (I won't go into detail so as to avoid spoilers.) I just think that he does it very clumsily, and in doing it clumsily, actually devalues the discussion.
The Klan is one example: it's such a stupid stereotype that it allows the reader to dismiss the whole idea of racism as, well, a stupid stereotype. And that's bad. Because racism is not something that should be dismissed; it should be addressed and challenged. African Americans in positions of authority do struggle with prejudice, as Ngugi rightly points out, but that prejudice is much more insidious and, therefore, damaging than the blatant racism of groups like the Klan. Nobody takes the Klan seriously, nor should they. But the right-wing Republicans insisting that Barack Obama must be a foreigner and demanding his birth certificate? The mall security cop who follows the Latino teenagers around the store, but pays no attention to the white ones? The Papa John's cashier who describes an Asian customer as "Lady Chinky Eyes" on her receipt? That is the subtle, insidious racism that holds us all back, and Ngugi forgoes any mention of this for the much easier statement of "Hey, the Klan sure are a bunch of a-holes, huh? And that white guy who thinks he's 'real African'? What a jerk!" Racism is depicted as mean white bullies who are totally up front about their racism, and that's not true or useful. Racism would be way easier to solve if that were the case.
I also had a problem with the way donations to survivors of the Rwandan genocide were described as "the guilt of the world." Really? People only give money because they feel guilty? They're not, maybe, just human beings wanting to do something good and useful for fellow human beings?
This review is almost as long as the book itself, and is also totally out of character for me; I rarely write reviews. But this book honestly made me angry (as I'm discovering right now) and I had serious issues with it. You guys, it's just a silly crime story. I get that. I'm sorry for taking it so seriously. I didn't think I'd have this much to say until I started saying it. So I'll shut up in a second.
Final thought: the book felt like it was written by someone who had never been to America, but assumed that America was basically like, well, it's bad form to make the same comparison twice, but I'm going to do it--assumed that America was basically like O Brother, Where Art Thou? Only with fax machines.
I'm going to go read The Wizard of the Crow now.
September 7, 2011
America meets Africa
I just love to travel around the world in my living room. Ngugi takes us from Madison Wisconsin to Africa and back again. Along the way he walks us through social problems in both places. He does great job of providing a mini history and political culture lesson of the Rwandan genocide and its impact. Racism and violence are highlighted but so is the energy of the African people and how deeply they care for one another despite the corruption. When Ishmael, who is a black American detective arrives in Kenya he’s repeatedly called ‘mzungu’, which means white in Kishwahili, because he’s not a native African. He meets David Odhiambo his African counterpart and it takes Ishmael all of 10 minutes to step in a whole lot of doo doo when he comes upon a crime in progress he tries to stop. And that’s before even gets a chance to investigate the crime he’s there to solve.
Back in Madison he’s called to a homicide scene and finds a beautiful young blonde woman murdered on the steps of an African college professor’s house. Of course the professor, Joshua Hakizimana, is the first suspect. Since they don’t have enough evidence to hold him the local cops have to let Hakizimana go. He flees back to Africa where he’s a hero. He’s known for running a school where Rwandan’s who escaped the genocide found aid. One by one he leads them to safety but something doesn’t add up either in Africa or in America. There’s a foundation with lots of unaccounted for money and a plethora of board members who want Ishmael dead or at least to stop investigating and go home so they can carry on with their money making schemes. Ishmael and Odhiambo make a great combination as does the relationship between the US and Africa. Ngugi’s is a great new voice and I’m looking forward to more from him.
I just love to travel around the world in my living room. Ngugi takes us from Madison Wisconsin to Africa and back again. Along the way he walks us through social problems in both places. He does great job of providing a mini history and political culture lesson of the Rwandan genocide and its impact. Racism and violence are highlighted but so is the energy of the African people and how deeply they care for one another despite the corruption. When Ishmael, who is a black American detective arrives in Kenya he’s repeatedly called ‘mzungu’, which means white in Kishwahili, because he’s not a native African. He meets David Odhiambo his African counterpart and it takes Ishmael all of 10 minutes to step in a whole lot of doo doo when he comes upon a crime in progress he tries to stop. And that’s before even gets a chance to investigate the crime he’s there to solve.
Back in Madison he’s called to a homicide scene and finds a beautiful young blonde woman murdered on the steps of an African college professor’s house. Of course the professor, Joshua Hakizimana, is the first suspect. Since they don’t have enough evidence to hold him the local cops have to let Hakizimana go. He flees back to Africa where he’s a hero. He’s known for running a school where Rwandan’s who escaped the genocide found aid. One by one he leads them to safety but something doesn’t add up either in Africa or in America. There’s a foundation with lots of unaccounted for money and a plethora of board members who want Ishmael dead or at least to stop investigating and go home so they can carry on with their money making schemes. Ishmael and Odhiambo make a great combination as does the relationship between the US and Africa. Ngugi’s is a great new voice and I’m looking forward to more from him.
October 22, 2011
The good news is that this is a quick paced, entertaining police procedural. It only took me a few hours to read and I felt like I did not waste my time. I enjoyed the crime and the very over-the-top action, but in the end, the things that I hold onto are the moral questions that are presented. Should we feel guilty for not helping a person in need? Can we buy our way out of this guilt? The answers to these questions are not really answered in this novel, but they are important questions to bring up. Another question is "Is one life more valuable than another?" In the twists and turns of this novel, the answer is "Yes." Realistically, the dead white girl that ends up on the front porch of a prominant freedom fighter during a genocide, is worth about ten lives. And in the name of justice, this is acceptable in this novel. But really? If you say that ten bad people are worth killing over one good one, this is math that does not really add up. This situation ends with everyone being morally bankrupt. The biggest example of this is Ishmael, the hero cop. In the beginning, before he goes to Africa, he does not like the idea of killing people, has done it but it makes him physically sick, and he would like to avoid it at all costs. By the time the book is over, he is almost flippant about killing people; he is only trying to find a way to eliminate as many people as he can that fit into his catagory of people who deserve to die. This makes this novel a little sad because in the end, the morality of finding justice for one death becomes a mask for killing many people you feel does not deserve to live.
I regress. This novel is good, and it makes me think about more than just the plot or the characters. This is a sign of an effective book.
I regress. This novel is good, and it makes me think about more than just the plot or the characters. This is a sign of an effective book.
October 19, 2011
Heading: Greed, Trickery, and Justice
The call came at 2 AM from the police chief of Madison, Wisconsin - a murder had been committed in the wealthy exclusive enclave of Maple Bluff. Detective Ishmael Fofona, an African-American on the “mostly white police force” in an “extremely white town,” knew that if the call came directly from the police chief there had to be a political angle to the crime. An unidentified beautiful blonde woman is found dead on the front steps of the home of Joshua Hakiziman, an African professor who is world-famous for saving hundreds of people from the Rwandan genocide, so this will be the news event of the year and resolving this crime could be a career-defining event. Joshua does not know the girl, and has an air-tight alibi. The police are stumped until Ishmael receives an anonymous call stating that if he wants to know the truth he needs to go to the source – Nairobi. In the gritty thriller, Nairobi Heat by Mukoma wa Ngugi, Ishmael will take a journey to Africa; a place he never gave much thought about, to find justice for an unknown woman, and finds out how volatile, illusive and contradictory justice can be.
Nairobi Heat could have been an ordinary detective novel but due to the author’s storytelling abilities and his lyrical wordsmithing the reader is provided with a fast-paced complex thriller of a mystery. Ishmael is the narrator of the story and it is through his eyes as an African-American the nuances of the Kenyan culture is explored. One of my favorite passages in the book is:
“Soon enough I found myself outside the airport in what felt like a market - a wall of people shouting and heckling, selling newspapers, phone cards, even boiled eggs. But it wasn’t the people that stopped me in my tracks, it was the heat. The heat made New Orleans on a hot summer day feel like spring. Humid, thick and salty to taste, that was Nairobi heat.”
But, luckily for Ishmael he is paired up with O, a Nairobi detective. As the pair of detectives search for the truth, the reader is shown how crime and crime detection is different in a particular country. As in a crime story there are good guys and bad guys, but the well-developed characters all come across as individuals with their own complexities. It is through these characters that the larger issues of genocide, political corruption, NGOs, and Kenyan culture are revealed to the reader. The story does not blink at showing the ugly truths, but the tone is never preachy.
I was thoroughly entertained and informed by reading this story and read easily in one session. Mukoma wa Ngugi is definitely a wonderful addition to the mystery genre and I look forward to his future books. I recommend this book to readers who like a well-developed plot and international crime stories.
This book was provided by the publisher for review purposes.
Reviewed by Beverly
APOOO Literary Book Review
The call came at 2 AM from the police chief of Madison, Wisconsin - a murder had been committed in the wealthy exclusive enclave of Maple Bluff. Detective Ishmael Fofona, an African-American on the “mostly white police force” in an “extremely white town,” knew that if the call came directly from the police chief there had to be a political angle to the crime. An unidentified beautiful blonde woman is found dead on the front steps of the home of Joshua Hakiziman, an African professor who is world-famous for saving hundreds of people from the Rwandan genocide, so this will be the news event of the year and resolving this crime could be a career-defining event. Joshua does not know the girl, and has an air-tight alibi. The police are stumped until Ishmael receives an anonymous call stating that if he wants to know the truth he needs to go to the source – Nairobi. In the gritty thriller, Nairobi Heat by Mukoma wa Ngugi, Ishmael will take a journey to Africa; a place he never gave much thought about, to find justice for an unknown woman, and finds out how volatile, illusive and contradictory justice can be.
Nairobi Heat could have been an ordinary detective novel but due to the author’s storytelling abilities and his lyrical wordsmithing the reader is provided with a fast-paced complex thriller of a mystery. Ishmael is the narrator of the story and it is through his eyes as an African-American the nuances of the Kenyan culture is explored. One of my favorite passages in the book is:
“Soon enough I found myself outside the airport in what felt like a market - a wall of people shouting and heckling, selling newspapers, phone cards, even boiled eggs. But it wasn’t the people that stopped me in my tracks, it was the heat. The heat made New Orleans on a hot summer day feel like spring. Humid, thick and salty to taste, that was Nairobi heat.”
But, luckily for Ishmael he is paired up with O, a Nairobi detective. As the pair of detectives search for the truth, the reader is shown how crime and crime detection is different in a particular country. As in a crime story there are good guys and bad guys, but the well-developed characters all come across as individuals with their own complexities. It is through these characters that the larger issues of genocide, political corruption, NGOs, and Kenyan culture are revealed to the reader. The story does not blink at showing the ugly truths, but the tone is never preachy.
I was thoroughly entertained and informed by reading this story and read easily in one session. Mukoma wa Ngugi is definitely a wonderful addition to the mystery genre and I look forward to his future books. I recommend this book to readers who like a well-developed plot and international crime stories.
This book was provided by the publisher for review purposes.
Reviewed by Beverly
APOOO Literary Book Review
October 3, 2013
There is a pretty good novel hiding in this book, if it edited and rewritten.
The novel reads like a first draft. There are many points at which you feel like an editor could have pushed an author to make changes. For example, the author touches on issues of race: being an African American in the US vs. in Africa as well as the role of white in Africa (colonial exploiters and others who appear to be well intentioned missionaries) but these themes are not well developed and the character's discussion just comes across as angry cliches. Also, the plot moves and is interesting, and has kind of a twist which could have really been developed to show how evil a character is, but overall the story relies on too many coincidences--of all the villages he winds up in the one that can crack the case.
The other problem is the protagonist, the author seems to have thought a bit about his background and discusses issues of identity of being a black cop in a smaller city like Madison, Wisconsin. When the character gets to Africa, the author appears to have forgotten where is character is actually from, he suddenly appears as comfortable with gun play and indiscriminate killing as Jack Bauer--the story would have been more interesting if the story had focused on the protagonist's partner in Nairobi "O", the comfort with violence and working WAY outside the law would have seen more plausible.
I did enjoy the author's descriptions of modern day East Africa and I wish there had been more of that as I think that is where the author was comfortable and where the book really worked.
The novel reads like a first draft. There are many points at which you feel like an editor could have pushed an author to make changes. For example, the author touches on issues of race: being an African American in the US vs. in Africa as well as the role of white in Africa (colonial exploiters and others who appear to be well intentioned missionaries) but these themes are not well developed and the character's discussion just comes across as angry cliches. Also, the plot moves and is interesting, and has kind of a twist which could have really been developed to show how evil a character is, but overall the story relies on too many coincidences--of all the villages he winds up in the one that can crack the case.
The other problem is the protagonist, the author seems to have thought a bit about his background and discusses issues of identity of being a black cop in a smaller city like Madison, Wisconsin. When the character gets to Africa, the author appears to have forgotten where is character is actually from, he suddenly appears as comfortable with gun play and indiscriminate killing as Jack Bauer--the story would have been more interesting if the story had focused on the protagonist's partner in Nairobi "O", the comfort with violence and working WAY outside the law would have seen more plausible.
I did enjoy the author's descriptions of modern day East Africa and I wish there had been more of that as I think that is where the author was comfortable and where the book really worked.
May 6, 2020
Exhausting and the plot was not convincing.
May 1, 2020
'If you want the truth, you must go to its source. The truth is in the past. Come to Nairobi.'
Humid, thick and salty to taste was Nairobi heat for Detective Ishmael who never dreamt of bringing his black ass to Africa till a young blonde woman was found murdered on the doorstep of a black man back in US. Joshua Hakizimana, a lecturer of Testimony and Genocide whose background was from Rwanda and Kenya was his main suspect. However, he was a hero in both countries. A hero who according to many rescued Rwanda genocide victims unknown to many he helped execute most of them. The underground railroad. "The school was the honey, and we were the ants. Only a handful of us, left for dead, survived."
His journey to the city under the sun is welcomed by Detective O (Odhiambo) where each tail leads them to more discoveries, murder, rescue, deception and the heat puts them in danger. "Facts and truth get lost in hate." Mukoma wows a reader with thrilling action that would make a great Oscar award movie. He brings to light anarchy where life is cheap and the rich and the criminals can buy a whole lot of it.
Cutting weed from garden reveals genocide victims who are paid to shut up about Joshua. Moreover, institutions meant for the vulnerable swindle money that end up with corrupt officials thanks to letters, documents from the Refugee Centre and a logbook with hundreds of names in it. This is Kenya in the present. Poems, songs are used symbolically and Muddy's interests me more. "When they cut down my roots they will find the blood of many, of friends, of lovers, of family and of enemies. Here children learn to grow into the earth and breastfeed themselves, and like death or life, my enemies feed on many cutting them down like sugar cane or weeds..."
The equation leads Ishmael back to the States. The criminal he is looking for was there in the first place. The beast should not walk the earth no more. On the other hand, the beast is cunning, manipulates people and gets away with murder by playing pawn. He walks free after his enemies are eliminated, after his companies go under but like a greedy hyena who wants more Ishmael pieces the puzzle after the case is closed.
What happens to justice deferred? What happens to love deffered? The African connection to Macy Jane the blonde girl makes Ishmael hire KKK goons who go after Joshua. He also leaves US at the height of his career for another beginning in that same Africa he left.
"Only what you do when you meet the Joshuas of this earth matters. Everything else- what you could have done, what some prosecutorbor attorney says-is details."
I have never smiled so big and danced when I was done with this book.
Humid, thick and salty to taste was Nairobi heat for Detective Ishmael who never dreamt of bringing his black ass to Africa till a young blonde woman was found murdered on the doorstep of a black man back in US. Joshua Hakizimana, a lecturer of Testimony and Genocide whose background was from Rwanda and Kenya was his main suspect. However, he was a hero in both countries. A hero who according to many rescued Rwanda genocide victims unknown to many he helped execute most of them. The underground railroad. "The school was the honey, and we were the ants. Only a handful of us, left for dead, survived."
His journey to the city under the sun is welcomed by Detective O (Odhiambo) where each tail leads them to more discoveries, murder, rescue, deception and the heat puts them in danger. "Facts and truth get lost in hate." Mukoma wows a reader with thrilling action that would make a great Oscar award movie. He brings to light anarchy where life is cheap and the rich and the criminals can buy a whole lot of it.
Cutting weed from garden reveals genocide victims who are paid to shut up about Joshua. Moreover, institutions meant for the vulnerable swindle money that end up with corrupt officials thanks to letters, documents from the Refugee Centre and a logbook with hundreds of names in it. This is Kenya in the present. Poems, songs are used symbolically and Muddy's interests me more. "When they cut down my roots they will find the blood of many, of friends, of lovers, of family and of enemies. Here children learn to grow into the earth and breastfeed themselves, and like death or life, my enemies feed on many cutting them down like sugar cane or weeds..."
The equation leads Ishmael back to the States. The criminal he is looking for was there in the first place. The beast should not walk the earth no more. On the other hand, the beast is cunning, manipulates people and gets away with murder by playing pawn. He walks free after his enemies are eliminated, after his companies go under but like a greedy hyena who wants more Ishmael pieces the puzzle after the case is closed.
What happens to justice deferred? What happens to love deffered? The African connection to Macy Jane the blonde girl makes Ishmael hire KKK goons who go after Joshua. He also leaves US at the height of his career for another beginning in that same Africa he left.
"Only what you do when you meet the Joshuas of this earth matters. Everything else- what you could have done, what some prosecutorbor attorney says-is details."
I have never smiled so big and danced when I was done with this book.
October 12, 2011
Most books are lifted from the realm of '”just good” to “great” usually through the advancement or elevation of parts of the writers craft. Story, plot, characters, pacing, structure, etc…Think Raymond Chandler and his elegant use of language in a tough guy setting or James Ellroy and his staccato sentences and telegraphic prose style.
Others use original themes in the pacing – James Patterson’s short chapters for instance drawn almost as scenes from a film or Hemingway’s short, declarative sentences.
Other great authors are able to achieve greatness through inventing plot devices – the locked room mystery, creative use of the MacGuffin, the Deus ex machina. Still others rise above the norm through using or revealing not just realism, but relevant story lines that shine the light of truth on society or current events – Dashiell Hammett did this in his hardboiled stories by writing stories about corruption in small town business and government. Revealing what is there, but seldom seen or recognized by the general public. Nairobi Heat by Mukoma Wa Ngugi does just that and becomes more than just a good book.
Nairobi Heat rises above being just great “international noir, it’s a peek behind the curtain of racial relations and points of views; between African Americans and how they perceive white Americans and between African Americans and how they are perceived by black Africans.
This alone would have made for a thought provoking book, and an important addition to the crime fiction world, but Mukoma Wa Ngugi took it one step further and explored that murky world and motives of international charities, foundations and religious zealots, and how the rest of the world pays for their conscience.
The story opens with a beautiful dead white girl discovered on the door step of a black man, an African professor in Madison, Wisconsin. It not only is the news story of the year, but the crime of the year. As Ishmael, the detective in charge of the investigation puts it, “If I was to give advice to black criminals, I would tell them this: do not commit crimes against white people because the state will not rest until you are caught.”
Usually if a crime is not solved in the first forty-eight hours, it is all but officially gone cold. The professor Joshua Hakiziman, is African – from Kenya and Rwanda. He is not only a learned man but an internationally recognized hero for his actions in rescuing countless thousands of refugees from the genocide of the civil wars. He has been considered for the Nobel Prize and he is on the board of an international charity.
But the girl is not readily identifiable, and the cause of death is not readily determined. There would seem to be no reason to suspect Joshua, no motive, and if he had indeed committed the crime, why would he leave her body on his doorstep and call the police? But he is the only suspect, and the police sense that he is hiding something and he isn’t talking.
Ishmael soon determines that to find a motive, the answers lie in Africa. As Ishmael arrives in Africa he is confronted with thoughts that feel like the thoughts of any American returning to the land of his ancestors: “How many times had I thought of Africa? Not many, I’m afraid. Yes, I knew of Africa. After all it was the land of my ancestors; a place I vaguely longed for without really wanting to belong to it.”
Once in Nairobi, or “Nairobbery” as his Kenyan police liaison, David Odhiambo – called simply ‘O’- names the city, Ishmael confronts the fact that in Africa, he may be black, but to Africans he is ‘Mzungu, mzungu’ – a white man. Ishmael soon takes this label as badly as if a fellow American had called him a nigger. It is a strange irony to him that as an African American to other black Africans he is just another wealthy tourist – a white man. It takes more than the color of your skin to determine your identity.
He also discovers that the whites in Africa, as well as the wealthy African’s live in walled and guarded compounds and that life is cheap. It quickly becomes apparent that someone does not want him to learn the truth about Joshua or the dead girl or the true workings of the Foundation, Refugee Centers or charities that supposedly are helping the displaced refugees of the civil wars. There are many attempts on his life, seemingly from all factions and as the story unfolds in ‘whodunit’ fashion, it veers into violent territory that most whodunits and police procedurals don’t explore.
The book is very much plot driven, but at the same time the characters drive the story as they develop – ‘O’ and his family unveil African life for Ishmael, and he meets and gets to know artists, women, white Africans, the folk lore and the recent history of Africa on his quest to uncover the motive, and thus the murderer.
Ngugi not only writes Africa, but writes great noir in this somewhat disturbing, but beautiful piece of crime fiction that breathes that rarified air of great fiction. There is a certain deliberate cadence to the prose in the telling that works very well and the narration is excellent. The dialogue is real without being cliché. The twists and turns of the tale are a morass because so many characters have so much invested in keeping the truth behind the curtain. Ngugi uses these twists that could otherwise bog the story down to draw a picture of Kenya and her people and also the people and organizations big and small that have their own agendas in mind, whether in enriching themselves or in helping the people. These twists and turns and seemingly endless puzzle upon puzzle are put to good use as Ngugi uses the time interval to reveal more and more of the character of Africa , the motives of her people and the beauty of her soul. There is blood and violence as the bodies pile up, but it hardly seem gratuitous since Ngugi is so successful in conveying that sense of place that is Africa.
The Dirty Lowdown
Others use original themes in the pacing – James Patterson’s short chapters for instance drawn almost as scenes from a film or Hemingway’s short, declarative sentences.
Other great authors are able to achieve greatness through inventing plot devices – the locked room mystery, creative use of the MacGuffin, the Deus ex machina. Still others rise above the norm through using or revealing not just realism, but relevant story lines that shine the light of truth on society or current events – Dashiell Hammett did this in his hardboiled stories by writing stories about corruption in small town business and government. Revealing what is there, but seldom seen or recognized by the general public. Nairobi Heat by Mukoma Wa Ngugi does just that and becomes more than just a good book.
Nairobi Heat rises above being just great “international noir, it’s a peek behind the curtain of racial relations and points of views; between African Americans and how they perceive white Americans and between African Americans and how they are perceived by black Africans.
This alone would have made for a thought provoking book, and an important addition to the crime fiction world, but Mukoma Wa Ngugi took it one step further and explored that murky world and motives of international charities, foundations and religious zealots, and how the rest of the world pays for their conscience.
The story opens with a beautiful dead white girl discovered on the door step of a black man, an African professor in Madison, Wisconsin. It not only is the news story of the year, but the crime of the year. As Ishmael, the detective in charge of the investigation puts it, “If I was to give advice to black criminals, I would tell them this: do not commit crimes against white people because the state will not rest until you are caught.”
Usually if a crime is not solved in the first forty-eight hours, it is all but officially gone cold. The professor Joshua Hakiziman, is African – from Kenya and Rwanda. He is not only a learned man but an internationally recognized hero for his actions in rescuing countless thousands of refugees from the genocide of the civil wars. He has been considered for the Nobel Prize and he is on the board of an international charity.
But the girl is not readily identifiable, and the cause of death is not readily determined. There would seem to be no reason to suspect Joshua, no motive, and if he had indeed committed the crime, why would he leave her body on his doorstep and call the police? But he is the only suspect, and the police sense that he is hiding something and he isn’t talking.
Ishmael soon determines that to find a motive, the answers lie in Africa. As Ishmael arrives in Africa he is confronted with thoughts that feel like the thoughts of any American returning to the land of his ancestors: “How many times had I thought of Africa? Not many, I’m afraid. Yes, I knew of Africa. After all it was the land of my ancestors; a place I vaguely longed for without really wanting to belong to it.”
Once in Nairobi, or “Nairobbery” as his Kenyan police liaison, David Odhiambo – called simply ‘O’- names the city, Ishmael confronts the fact that in Africa, he may be black, but to Africans he is ‘Mzungu, mzungu’ – a white man. Ishmael soon takes this label as badly as if a fellow American had called him a nigger. It is a strange irony to him that as an African American to other black Africans he is just another wealthy tourist – a white man. It takes more than the color of your skin to determine your identity.
He also discovers that the whites in Africa, as well as the wealthy African’s live in walled and guarded compounds and that life is cheap. It quickly becomes apparent that someone does not want him to learn the truth about Joshua or the dead girl or the true workings of the Foundation, Refugee Centers or charities that supposedly are helping the displaced refugees of the civil wars. There are many attempts on his life, seemingly from all factions and as the story unfolds in ‘whodunit’ fashion, it veers into violent territory that most whodunits and police procedurals don’t explore.
The book is very much plot driven, but at the same time the characters drive the story as they develop – ‘O’ and his family unveil African life for Ishmael, and he meets and gets to know artists, women, white Africans, the folk lore and the recent history of Africa on his quest to uncover the motive, and thus the murderer.
Ngugi not only writes Africa, but writes great noir in this somewhat disturbing, but beautiful piece of crime fiction that breathes that rarified air of great fiction. There is a certain deliberate cadence to the prose in the telling that works very well and the narration is excellent. The dialogue is real without being cliché. The twists and turns of the tale are a morass because so many characters have so much invested in keeping the truth behind the curtain. Ngugi uses these twists that could otherwise bog the story down to draw a picture of Kenya and her people and also the people and organizations big and small that have their own agendas in mind, whether in enriching themselves or in helping the people. These twists and turns and seemingly endless puzzle upon puzzle are put to good use as Ngugi uses the time interval to reveal more and more of the character of Africa , the motives of her people and the beauty of her soul. There is blood and violence as the bodies pile up, but it hardly seem gratuitous since Ngugi is so successful in conveying that sense of place that is Africa.
The Dirty Lowdown
November 29, 2011
I'm always excited to read crime stories set in other cultures, and so I picked up this Kenyan-set book with great anticipation. The story actually opens in the American college town of Madison, Wisconsin, where a beautiful young white woman has been found dead on the doorstep of a visiting Rwandan professor. A local African-American police detective named Ishmael catches the case, and is soon sucked into a whirlpool of confusion involving the legacy of the genocide in Rwanda 15 years in the past. The professor is a hero of the genocide, referred to as a kind of Rwandan Schindler (Paul Rusesabagina is purposefully not invoked), who used his school as a safe haven and waystation to smuggle people to safety. Now he is one of the public faces of a international charity devoted to supporting the victims of the genocide.
With no clues to go on, Ishmael and his chief are stuck -- until an anonymous phone call directs them to go to Nairobi to find the truth. Ishmael hops on a plane, and soon enough, is knocking around the Kenyan capital with a local police detective, stirring up trouble. As they start to look into the charity, and the center it runs, they encounter varying degrees of resistance, and meet a string of shady characters (most notable among them is a crazy rich white plantation owner), and Ishmael falls for a sexy slam poetess who helps him uncover the truth.
Unfortunately, while he book does a great job of capturing the feel of Nairobi's slums and rich enclaves, the story itself is kind of ridiculous in a lot of ways. For example, it's not very plausible from either a cost or jurisdiction perspective that a local police force would send a detective halfway around the world on the strength of an anonymous phone call. Nor is it very plausible that the professor would be as readily dismissed as a suspect as he is. It's hard to get into it without spoiling the story, but even a basic police search of a particular building would have revealed all the evidence needed to identify the culprit from the get-go. But since that would have removed the whole basis for the trip to Kenya, it's conveniently glossed over. These flaws (and a few others) make the crime element of the story feel rather amateurish.
When the story moves to Kenya, it does find itself on more solid ground, and the setting and characters feel a little more real. What doesn't work quite as well is the attempt to have Ishmael undergo a kind of racial awakening while in Africa. While on the case, he becomes more and more comfortable in the country and finds a certain serenity there that is so beguiling that he's tempted to move there. It all feels a bit thin and I wasn't convinced by it. Another element that wasn't particularly convincing was the corrupt charity that Ishmael is investigating, or rather, not that it is corrupt, but the mechanics of its corruption. The scheme that's uncovered is paper thin, and it's (again) not particularly plausible. You have to buy into the notion that the entire Board of Directors of a giant company like Shell are directly involved in the corruption. I've certainly got no love for Shell, especially given their behavior in Nigeria, but people at that level of power aren't going to get directly involved in something as transparently shady as what's the plot describes.
I love the idea of the crime novel as a vehicle for social history and social commentary, but the crime element has to be believable. In this book, it's not, and the entire book suffers as a result. I will, however, be curious to see what the author (who is the son of Kenya's most prominent writer, Ngugi wa Thiong'o) comes up with for his next book.
With no clues to go on, Ishmael and his chief are stuck -- until an anonymous phone call directs them to go to Nairobi to find the truth. Ishmael hops on a plane, and soon enough, is knocking around the Kenyan capital with a local police detective, stirring up trouble. As they start to look into the charity, and the center it runs, they encounter varying degrees of resistance, and meet a string of shady characters (most notable among them is a crazy rich white plantation owner), and Ishmael falls for a sexy slam poetess who helps him uncover the truth.
Unfortunately, while he book does a great job of capturing the feel of Nairobi's slums and rich enclaves, the story itself is kind of ridiculous in a lot of ways. For example, it's not very plausible from either a cost or jurisdiction perspective that a local police force would send a detective halfway around the world on the strength of an anonymous phone call. Nor is it very plausible that the professor would be as readily dismissed as a suspect as he is. It's hard to get into it without spoiling the story, but even a basic police search of a particular building would have revealed all the evidence needed to identify the culprit from the get-go. But since that would have removed the whole basis for the trip to Kenya, it's conveniently glossed over. These flaws (and a few others) make the crime element of the story feel rather amateurish.
When the story moves to Kenya, it does find itself on more solid ground, and the setting and characters feel a little more real. What doesn't work quite as well is the attempt to have Ishmael undergo a kind of racial awakening while in Africa. While on the case, he becomes more and more comfortable in the country and finds a certain serenity there that is so beguiling that he's tempted to move there. It all feels a bit thin and I wasn't convinced by it. Another element that wasn't particularly convincing was the corrupt charity that Ishmael is investigating, or rather, not that it is corrupt, but the mechanics of its corruption. The scheme that's uncovered is paper thin, and it's (again) not particularly plausible. You have to buy into the notion that the entire Board of Directors of a giant company like Shell are directly involved in the corruption. I've certainly got no love for Shell, especially given their behavior in Nigeria, but people at that level of power aren't going to get directly involved in something as transparently shady as what's the plot describes.
I love the idea of the crime novel as a vehicle for social history and social commentary, but the crime element has to be believable. In this book, it's not, and the entire book suffers as a result. I will, however, be curious to see what the author (who is the son of Kenya's most prominent writer, Ngugi wa Thiong'o) comes up with for his next book.
September 27, 2011
This police procedural novel/mystery thriller had an original, engaging plot.The beginning is set in Madison, Wisconsin where Ishmael, an African-American homicide detective works under the direction of a black police chief. The setting is predominately white, and the Ku Klux Klan still hold rallies.
The mystery begins when a pretty,young blond girl is found murdered on the doorstep of a University professor, Joshua Hakizimana. No one can discover the identity of the girl.Ishmael questions Joshua, who is described as an elegant, sophisticated, scholarly African. He denies any knowledge of the murdered girl. It is learned that Joshua was a huge hero during the Rwandan genocide. He was honored for smuggling a thousand Rwandans who took refuge in his school into a refugee camp in Kenya. Local people are insisting on rapid justice for the murder of the white girl, and the blame is falling on Joshua.
Ishmael receives an anonymous long distance phone call: "The truth is in the past. Come to Nairobi."
In Nairobi he meets up with a local policeman, called O, and learns that it is common to shoot suspects first, and ask questions later. He did not feel that he fitted in at home, being a black policeman in a mostly white town. He also feels he does not belong in Africa, where the people regard him as a mzungu (foreigner) a term usually given to white tourists. They spend time in local bars and Ishmael falls for a beautiful singer who calls herself Muddy. They rescue a young girl who has been raped and take her to a school run by nuns. A visit to a Foundation 'Never Again' finds that the American running it has committed suicide. This foundation is a charity receiving huge sums of money from Americans and others worldwide stirred by the plight of Rwandan victims, and connected with the refugee camp. In Nairobi, Ishmael meets many African survivors of the Rwandan genocide, and eventually learns the truth about Joshua and the Never Again charity. He is in danger from both black and white thugs. Just before returning to America, the identity of the young blond murdered girl and how she fits in to the mystery is solved..
Back in Wisconsin, Ishmael again visits Joshua,has a run in with thugs on his return to his apartment, visits the Ku Klux Klan compound, and finally solves the mystery and gives the story to a female reporter friend.
This is a story where no one is what they seem. I did not find Ishmael likeable, due to his administering rough justice by his own hands, and the dark side of his character grew as the story progressed.I also wished that some of the Rwandan survivors he met in Kenya were identified as Hutu or Tutsi. I would read another of Ngugi's books which I hope would set Ishmael on another mystery back in Africa.
The mystery begins when a pretty,young blond girl is found murdered on the doorstep of a University professor, Joshua Hakizimana. No one can discover the identity of the girl.Ishmael questions Joshua, who is described as an elegant, sophisticated, scholarly African. He denies any knowledge of the murdered girl. It is learned that Joshua was a huge hero during the Rwandan genocide. He was honored for smuggling a thousand Rwandans who took refuge in his school into a refugee camp in Kenya. Local people are insisting on rapid justice for the murder of the white girl, and the blame is falling on Joshua.
Ishmael receives an anonymous long distance phone call: "The truth is in the past. Come to Nairobi."
In Nairobi he meets up with a local policeman, called O, and learns that it is common to shoot suspects first, and ask questions later. He did not feel that he fitted in at home, being a black policeman in a mostly white town. He also feels he does not belong in Africa, where the people regard him as a mzungu (foreigner) a term usually given to white tourists. They spend time in local bars and Ishmael falls for a beautiful singer who calls herself Muddy. They rescue a young girl who has been raped and take her to a school run by nuns. A visit to a Foundation 'Never Again' finds that the American running it has committed suicide. This foundation is a charity receiving huge sums of money from Americans and others worldwide stirred by the plight of Rwandan victims, and connected with the refugee camp. In Nairobi, Ishmael meets many African survivors of the Rwandan genocide, and eventually learns the truth about Joshua and the Never Again charity. He is in danger from both black and white thugs. Just before returning to America, the identity of the young blond murdered girl and how she fits in to the mystery is solved..
Back in Wisconsin, Ishmael again visits Joshua,has a run in with thugs on his return to his apartment, visits the Ku Klux Klan compound, and finally solves the mystery and gives the story to a female reporter friend.
This is a story where no one is what they seem. I did not find Ishmael likeable, due to his administering rough justice by his own hands, and the dark side of his character grew as the story progressed.I also wished that some of the Rwandan survivors he met in Kenya were identified as Hutu or Tutsi. I would read another of Ngugi's books which I hope would set Ishmael on another mystery back in Africa.
August 1, 2015
Concise but written with a craving intrigue, this crime thriller fiction investigates the past in Africa and connects it to the present from Africa to America with a salty suspense. Leading the reader through the twists and turns of crime investigation punctuated with bloodshed, smoke and sex, the novelist presents issues relating to justice, race, power, genocide and self-identity.
Although the protagonist (detective) appears too lucky, making the story to appear a bit unrealistic, it is still important to note that this novel is a beautiful African crime fiction.
Although the protagonist (detective) appears too lucky, making the story to appear a bit unrealistic, it is still important to note that this novel is a beautiful African crime fiction.
May 12, 2014
Nothing in this book is remotely believable or plausible. Plot, characters, motivations and consequences are all equally ludicrous.
Read
October 14, 2021I have high hopes this will teach well. Deals with thoughtful issues in a way that will be accessible for my students without letting them retreat to cliche, Hallmark lessons learned readings.
August 25, 2020
his is not a book for the faint of heart. In the course of its two hundred pages, the body count mounts again and again. In the end, I counted twenty-seven dead. Now, perhaps that’s to be expected in a novel about the Rwanda genocide, when more than a million perished. But it seems a little over the top nearly two decades after the event. And it all unfolds when an African American detective in Madison, Wisconsin, travels to Nairobi to check out the past of an unlikely murder suspect at home. That’s the setup in Nairobi Heat by the Kenyan-American author Mukoma Wa Ngugi.
A charity scam about the Rwanda genocide
The detective’s unfortunate name is Ishmael, with no surname given (and no discernible link to whales or nineteenth-century American literature). Because the murder victim in Madison is “a beautiful young white woman,” Ishmael’s African American chief feels he has no choice but to pursue the case aggressively. So he dispatches the detective to Nairobi to investigate the past of the obvious suspect, a university professor named Joshua Hakizimana, since the young woman’s body turned up (literally) on his doorstep. Hakizimana is widely regarded as one of the heroes of the genocide. “He gave sanctuary to thousands,” it is said. He describes himself as a “teacher of Genocide and also Testimony.”
Yet in Nairobi, as Ishmael gathers evidence from a Kenyan police detective and Rwandan refugees, it soon becomes clear that Hakizimana is not the man he’s thought to be. In fact, he turns out to be the front man for what can only be described as a charity scam that raises millions ostensibly to help the survivors of the genocide.
Unfortunately, in Ishmael’s quest to learn the full story, many more must die. And Ishmael must come to terms with his own role in the case. As the Kenyan detective tells him, “Ishmael, we are bad people too . . . The only difference is that we might on the side of the good. I hope you have no illusions about that.”
This story should have been set in Rwanda
It’s understandable that the author set his novel in Nairobi. After all, though born in Illinois, he was raised in Kenya and is clearly familiar with the ethnic diversity, the languages, the violence, and the corruption. However, this story could have been much more dramatically told had it taken place in Kigali, Rwanda’s beautiful capital city.
Last year, on the 25th anniversary of the genocide, my wife and I spent several days there to visit the deeply moving Rwanda Genocide Memorial and visit a nonprofit organization my company works with. The experience was revealing. Paul Kagame, Rwanda’s president—dictator, really—was the rebel leader who put a stop to the killing in 1994. Although he is widely faulted for human rights abuses, he has done a spectacular job of rebuilding the country. As of 2019, Rwanda was the world’s second fastest-growing nation. And Kigali is a showcase of what the regime has accomplished—clean, beautifully maintained, and modernizing at a rapid clip.
I doubt very much that Ishmael could have racked up such a large body count had he gone to Kigali instead of Nairobi. I doubt very much that Paul Kagame would have allowed it.
A charity scam about the Rwanda genocide
The detective’s unfortunate name is Ishmael, with no surname given (and no discernible link to whales or nineteenth-century American literature). Because the murder victim in Madison is “a beautiful young white woman,” Ishmael’s African American chief feels he has no choice but to pursue the case aggressively. So he dispatches the detective to Nairobi to investigate the past of the obvious suspect, a university professor named Joshua Hakizimana, since the young woman’s body turned up (literally) on his doorstep. Hakizimana is widely regarded as one of the heroes of the genocide. “He gave sanctuary to thousands,” it is said. He describes himself as a “teacher of Genocide and also Testimony.”
Yet in Nairobi, as Ishmael gathers evidence from a Kenyan police detective and Rwandan refugees, it soon becomes clear that Hakizimana is not the man he’s thought to be. In fact, he turns out to be the front man for what can only be described as a charity scam that raises millions ostensibly to help the survivors of the genocide.
Unfortunately, in Ishmael’s quest to learn the full story, many more must die. And Ishmael must come to terms with his own role in the case. As the Kenyan detective tells him, “Ishmael, we are bad people too . . . The only difference is that we might on the side of the good. I hope you have no illusions about that.”
This story should have been set in Rwanda
It’s understandable that the author set his novel in Nairobi. After all, though born in Illinois, he was raised in Kenya and is clearly familiar with the ethnic diversity, the languages, the violence, and the corruption. However, this story could have been much more dramatically told had it taken place in Kigali, Rwanda’s beautiful capital city.
Last year, on the 25th anniversary of the genocide, my wife and I spent several days there to visit the deeply moving Rwanda Genocide Memorial and visit a nonprofit organization my company works with. The experience was revealing. Paul Kagame, Rwanda’s president—dictator, really—was the rebel leader who put a stop to the killing in 1994. Although he is widely faulted for human rights abuses, he has done a spectacular job of rebuilding the country. As of 2019, Rwanda was the world’s second fastest-growing nation. And Kigali is a showcase of what the regime has accomplished—clean, beautifully maintained, and modernizing at a rapid clip.
I doubt very much that Ishmael could have racked up such a large body count had he gone to Kigali instead of Nairobi. I doubt very much that Paul Kagame would have allowed it.
June 7, 2023
Turning to find the voice I came face to face with one of the blackest men I had ever seen. I mean, I’m black but this brother was so black he looked blue.
It is a crime novel, or maybe it's a thriller, or maybe it's a crime-thriller. But it's a novel alright, and if there are overused tropes of the genre I wouldn't know for the simple reason that there are but a handful of Kenyan thrillers in existence (not to mention my ignorance of the genre) and anyone who writes a publishable genre novel is bound to be among the best writers in that regard, no matter how terrible the book might be, as is the case with the lazy, egregious, and ultimately villainous Kinyanjui Kombani. There are, of course, the novels of Kiriamiti, perhaps the most popular Kenyan writer to Kenyan readers, which are not bad, but which are best left behind beyond a certain age, when one has seen much more of the world and has had her sensibilities sharpened. So well when one comes across a novel written by a kenyan that is actually good, one has to pause and thank the gods, even if that writer is not entirely Kenyan, having spent as much time abroad as in this country. All in all, this is a Kenyan novel, and as such it is very nice indeed.
The themes adressed in this novel are as many as they are disparate. The Rwandan genocide is perhaps the main concern. Or maybe it's racism. One could argue for corruption. It is clear, though, that each of these themes are both important and marginal to the tale, and are not there by implication; one might even say that the novel exists for those conflicts only. Whatever the sources of the novel, one has to commend the author's dexterity with his themes, his genial narrator, a black American cop on assignment in Kenya, who is neither arrogant nor condescending, his, in other words, audacity.
It's possible to dismiss Mr Ngugi's book as a cheap bag in which he puts precious themes. Who cares about the themes of race and the Rwandan genocide and corruption if they're presented in a thriller? Why not write a novel, a real novel, in the tradition of his own father, one might wonder. But what difference would it make; what is so bad, to use a rather strained metaphor, what is so bad with adding some sugar to the bitter syrup?
March 11, 2024
As a Kenyan, the book felt relatable. I love the book.
August 31, 2019
I am considering taking a missions trip to Kenya next year with my church. This book did not dissuade me (unlike Roxane Gay’s An Untamed State—I was leery about even going to the Dominican Republic after that one). The setting felt new and fresh and increased my desire to check out Kenya.
The story line was intriguing and entertaining. As a lover of mysteries, in books and TV (Dateline/ID channel), I did not find this book predictable or boring.
The story line was intriguing and entertaining. As a lover of mysteries, in books and TV (Dateline/ID channel), I did not find this book predictable or boring.
December 25, 2024
Fascinated by the books my lecturer picks for us to read… this was so weird and I was enraged that this dude could just do whatever without any consequences 😔🙏 but ‘twas a quick read
October 9, 2016
A dead white girl in a cheerleader uniform lies on Joshua Hakizimana’s front porch. Hakizimana is a hero of the Rwandan massacre, responsible for saving hundreds of lives. He is now a professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and involved with a large charitable foundation dedicated to victims of genocide.
Ishmael, a local African American police detective, is assigned to the case. That cheerleader outfit turns out to be a school uniform from the Rwandan school Hakizimana was connected to. When Ishmael receives a phone call informing him that the answers lie in Nairobi, he boards a plane for Africa.
Wa Ngugi’s novel chronicles Ishmael’s education in world politics, African culture, and the profound corruption that may lie at the heart of what society perceives as idealistic endeavors. He is a stranger to this world, yet he still bridles when he hears black Kenyans refer to him as mzungu, the Kiswhahili word for ‘white man.” With the help of O, a Kenyan detective, he moves through Nairobi society from the highest to the lowest levels. Murders and suicides begin to occur almost immediately, and after a couple of these Ishmael comments, with no sense of irony, that “the bodies are beginning to pile up.” He seems to be forgetting that this case goes back to events that left one hundred thousand dead.
During an interview with a duplicitous, corrupt link to the investigation, while the man smarmily ingratiates himself to Ishmael, this occurs:
Ishmael witnesses sickening violence and uncovers nauseating levels of corruption. The portion of the novel set in Africa is by far the strongest part of the book. When Ishmael returns to Madison, some elements perhaps too neatly together, but luck is an important part of any investigation.
Nairobi Heat is the first of two Wa Ngungi crime novels published to date.
Ishmael, a local African American police detective, is assigned to the case. That cheerleader outfit turns out to be a school uniform from the Rwandan school Hakizimana was connected to. When Ishmael receives a phone call informing him that the answers lie in Nairobi, he boards a plane for Africa.
Wa Ngugi’s novel chronicles Ishmael’s education in world politics, African culture, and the profound corruption that may lie at the heart of what society perceives as idealistic endeavors. He is a stranger to this world, yet he still bridles when he hears black Kenyans refer to him as mzungu, the Kiswhahili word for ‘white man.” With the help of O, a Kenyan detective, he moves through Nairobi society from the highest to the lowest levels. Murders and suicides begin to occur almost immediately, and after a couple of these Ishmael comments, with no sense of irony, that “the bodies are beginning to pile up.” He seems to be forgetting that this case goes back to events that left one hundred thousand dead.
During an interview with a duplicitous, corrupt link to the investigation, while the man smarmily ingratiates himself to Ishmael, this occurs:
He didn’t finish the sentence because O shot him once through the head. Then, taking a lighter from his pocket, he struck a flame and threw it onto the bed, which soon caught fire. There was a fury and logic in him I was beginning to understand – maybe because I was becoming like him. O had drawn a line between his world and what he considered the outside world. The good people…existed in the outside world. When he was in that world he was visiting and behaved accordingly. He did not carry his bad dreams and conscience into it. But sometimes people from his world went into the outside world and did terrible things. And when he came across them, or they crossed back into his world, there were no rules, and there was no law. There was a duality to him that was so complete that he moved between the two worlds seamlessly.
Ishmael witnesses sickening violence and uncovers nauseating levels of corruption. The portion of the novel set in Africa is by far the strongest part of the book. When Ishmael returns to Madison, some elements perhaps too neatly together, but luck is an important part of any investigation.
Nairobi Heat is the first of two Wa Ngungi crime novels published to date.
February 26, 2012
I picked up this book to exchange at a murder mystery bookswap and it was a fresh reminder of why this genre is so exciting. This book is a short pleasant read, where you're figuring out each step of the African-American cop's journey in Africa finding the past history of the African man on whose doorstep a dead blonde woman was found. There is no connection between them, but the cop thinks otherwise and after a random phone call from Kenya, he is compelled to go there and figure out what clues he can find for this case.
February 13, 2021
Set mainly in Kenya this isn't a bad crime novel but with quite a few flaws as it lacks a realistic plot, particularly in some of the U.S.-based vigilantism, and there are significant implausibilities in the actions of so many of the characters. A white woman is murdered in Wisconsin and a black detective is sent to trace a nebulous connection in Nairobi, eventually found to be linked to the Rwandan genocide. Some really interesting details of African life compensate for a fairly unbelievable story with plenty of loose ends left untied.
December 29, 2011
It was actually more engaging than 2 stars but the ending disappointed me and there was just a bit too much foul language for my liking, coupled with my general disinterest (dislike even?) in crime novels. But being set in Kenya and the US was refreshing and not something I'd read before. 2.5 stars.
March 23, 2013
Pretty good and entertaining detective story, set in the US (Midwest) and East Africa (Kenya mostly). Quite a bit of killing, which didn't always seem justified, but I guess that added to the hardboiled character of the "hero" Ishmael. The plot is a little complicated, but in the end all is resolved - sort of. Still I enjoyed it and look forward to reading more of Ngugi (Jr)'s books.
September 26, 2013
The plot seemed to be pretty standard detective-fare, and the detective a fairly standard detective (he's divorced! he drinks!) but I really enjoyed the settings, both Madison, WI and Nairobi. I also appreciated some of the facets of culture and recent history that the author explored. Solid rec from NPR.
December 23, 2011
I liked it, i did. but it didn't feel consistent in the quality of writing and sometimes the story seemed a little too complex. but i hope he continues to write crime thrillers because i have this feeling he will become better and better at it.
but really, does my cynicism need encouragement? ha.
but really, does my cynicism need encouragement? ha.
October 21, 2011
it was fun reading about different neighborhoods in nairobi, but generally i found this book pretty poorly written and filled with overwrought, cliche phrases. a bit disappointing.
July 26, 2013
Starts on a doorstep in Madison. Written by a UW graduate.
December 4, 2013
Oh Mukoma Wa Ngugi, please write more!
Read
November 15, 2025DNF!
August 19, 2018
This book is a classic first-person detective story, with a lot of noir elements. It is quite brutal, also there are a lot of illegal actions by the protagonist (an African American police detective). These actions do not have any repercussions legally nor are they seriously questioned in their necessity or justifiability. I don't agree with this kind of fight against crime.
That said, if you leave those (real life) considerations where they belong (in real life), this is a good detective novel. It shows a version of Africa through the US-American policeman's eyes. This version of Africa is quite aggressive and dangerous, also full of gangsters and illegal activities. On the other hand, this Africa is also an Africa where the protagonist meets people who touch his inner feelings and where he sees and experiences a totally different way of life. I think it is a pity that it shows such a brutal and violent version of Africa because that is probably what many People think about Africa, anyway. However, what do you expect in a crime novel? At least other aspects of Africa are mentioned, too. I will definitely read the next book in the series!
That said, if you leave those (real life) considerations where they belong (in real life), this is a good detective novel. It shows a version of Africa through the US-American policeman's eyes. This version of Africa is quite aggressive and dangerous, also full of gangsters and illegal activities. On the other hand, this Africa is also an Africa where the protagonist meets people who touch his inner feelings and where he sees and experiences a totally different way of life. I think it is a pity that it shows such a brutal and violent version of Africa because that is probably what many People think about Africa, anyway. However, what do you expect in a crime novel? At least other aspects of Africa are mentioned, too. I will definitely read the next book in the series!
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