Esperance
-
- $22.99
Publisher Description
"[D]extrously blends genres in this suspenseful sci-fi mystery.... Rob Hart and Blake Crouch fans should check this out." — Publishers Weekly
"Lovers of sharp, fast sci-fi from the likes of Neal Stephenson will be right at home with Esperance." —BookPage (starred)
A whip-smart thriller in the vein of Blake Crouch, Andy Weir, and Neal Stephenson, Esperance plumbs the depths of a seemingly impossible crime rooted in racism, intergenerational trauma, and an inhuman concept of justice
Detective Ethan Krol is on the twentieth floor of a Chicago apartment building. A father and son have been found dead, their lungs full of sea water—hundreds of miles away from the ocean.
Abidemi Eniola has arrived in Bristol, England. She claims to be Nigerian, but her accent is wrong and she can do remarkable things with technology, things that her new friend, Hollie Rogers, has never seen before. Abi is in possession of a number of heirlooms that need to be returned to their rightful owners, and Hollie is more than happy to go along for the ride.
But neither Abidemi Eniola nor her heirlooms are quite what they seem. Abi is a target of Ethan Krol’s investigations, and Hollie’s life is about to become far stranger than she bargained for. In a clash of cultures, histories, and different ideas about justice, the consequences will be deadly…
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Oyebanji (Braking Day) dextrously blends genres in this suspenseful sci-fi mystery. Chicago police detective Ethan Krol is tasked with solving an impossible double murder. Nigerian medical student Amadi Okoro and his infant son, Ben, are found drowned by sea water in the corridor outside their 20th-floor apartment, lying near a dead barracuda. Okoro's wife Jennifer is also at the scene, unconscious. When she wakes, she tells Krol that a strange man was waiting for her and Ben in their apartment. He said that Ben needed to be punished, before biting her neck, causing her to pass out. Though a powerful neurotoxin was found in her system, the absence of a bite mark troubles Krol. The puzzle deepens when he learns that, six months earlier, three other members of Amadi's family died in Lagos in the same way. Oyebanji intersperses the tense police inquiry with chapters focused on Abidemi Eniola, an enigmatic Nigerian woman who arrives in Bristol, England, determined to learn about a ship, the Esperance, which left Bristol in 1791. The plotlines eventually intersect, yielding a satisfying, if grim, solution. Rob Hart and Blake Crouch fans should check this out.
