You Will See Fire
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The sensational true story of Kenyan missionary John Kaiser: A murdered priest. A covered-up crime. A fight for justice.
John Kaiser, paratrooper turned priest, was a major voice in opposition to the Kenyan dictator Daniel Moi. In 2000, while preparing to speak against the regime, he received a letter telling him Utaona Moto – You Will See Fire. Months later, he is found dead. The initial post-mortem concluded that Kaiser, a complicated man, committed suicide. But for a Roman Catholic this is unthinkable, and eventually the FBI was called in to carry out its own investigation.
But they too concluded that Kaiser killed himself, despite major discrepancies in the evidence. Several years later, with Moi’s hated regime having finally fallen, Kenyan lawyer Mbuthi Gatheni decided to finally get to the bottom of what actually happened. His investigation pointed to a potentially explosive cover-up by both the Kenyan government and the FBI. His long campaign resulted in a new and dramatic inquest.
In ‘You Will See Fire’, 2007 Pulitzer Prize finalist and part of the Pulitzer Prize winning team for 2011 Christopher Goffard tells the stories of John Kaiser and Mbuthi Gatheni – two very different characters whose lives become more closely interlinked as the mystery of Kaiser’s death is finally unravelled in a thrilling conclusion. This is a true story of murder, corruption, courage, and redemption.
About the author
In 2007 Christopher Goffard was one of three finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing for his work for the St Petersburg Times. He lives with his family in Southern California.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
With the support of extensive government documents, interviews, and candid photos, Goffard, a writer for the Los Angeles Times, examines the life and death of a true Roman Catholic warrior priest, Father John Kaiser, an advocate of the poor and abused Kenyans in the bush. Collecting facts of the brutality of the tyrant Daniel Arap Moi's henchmen in journals and affidavits, Kaiser, a missionary labeled uncontrollable by his church superiors, boldly confronted the ruthless rule of a local strongman on his own turf and testified before a commission to expose the atrocities against the townspeople. Goffard's eye for detail and political complexity lends authenticity to the rebel priest's long commitment to the Kenyans, fighting for justice and stability since his early days in the country in the 1960s, and leading to his execution style slaying on a dirt road in 2000. After an FBI investigation concluded Kaiser had committed suicide (with a bullet shot to the back of his head), the author uncovers a later ruling based on evidence neglected in the earlier hearing. Startling revelations, government miscues, and one brave man's crusade to seek the truth make this political mystery exceptional and informative reading. 8 pages of photos.
