The overarching theme of this exciting debut-in-translation is prominently displayed on the front cover: justice is not always black and white. Pierre Lemaitre skillfully manipulates the reader's sympathies in this fast-paced twisting crime thriller. The final act elegantly displays the authorities' frustrations as only through second-hand testimony and inferences can conclusions be reached.
Lemaitre works within the expected tropes of the European crime novel. His team of detectives, led by the diminutive Inspector Verhoeven, display their unique personality quirks but are a largely effective unit. The character of Verhoeven is haunted by past mistakes, gives short shrift to higher ranking officers, and has complicated familial relations, placing him firmly in the pantheon of Wallender, van Veeten, Hole and Sveinsson.
What sets this work apart from other European crime dramas is the character of Alex Prévost. Equal parts antagonist, protagonist, sympathetic victim and visceral culprit, Alex benefits from the patient reveal of her true nature. While Inspector Verhoeven suffers when one step behind, readers can take pleasure in a slow-burning mystery of one individual with an horrific set of circumstances.
(Review of ARC provided by Quercus Books via a First Reads giveaway)
Lemaitre works within the expected tropes of the European crime novel. His team of detectives, led by the diminutive Inspector Verhoeven, display their unique personality quirks but are a largely effective unit. The character of Verhoeven is haunted by past mistakes, gives short shrift to higher ranking officers, and has complicated familial relations, placing him firmly in the pantheon of Wallender, van Veeten, Hole and Sveinsson.
What sets this work apart from other European crime dramas is the character of Alex Prévost. Equal parts antagonist, protagonist, sympathetic victim and visceral culprit, Alex benefits from the patient reveal of her true nature. While Inspector Verhoeven suffers when one step behind, readers can take pleasure in a slow-burning mystery of one individual with an horrific set of circumstances.
(Review of ARC provided by Quercus Books via a First Reads giveaway)
These characters' heritage lingers in the background until brought to the forefront when the family comes together in the final act. However, Ghana Must Go never feels like 'an African novel'. More than a simple immigrant experience, more than a depiction of struggle and success, the novel explores the most relatable of all themes: family.
This reader with four older siblings found the complicated inter-relationship between Kweku's four children particularly well-crafted. Selasi's prose floats from the page as effortlessly as the shifts in time period and character's point of view. At times the novel is an elaborate piece of poetry. Fractured sentences and run-on thoughts comfortably nestle within the same paragraph.
A very mature work by a debut novelist, fully deserving of all the praise it will undoubtedly receive in awards season.
(Review of ARC provided by Penguin Books via a First Reads giveaway)
This reader with four older siblings found the complicated inter-relationship between Kweku's four children particularly well-crafted. Selasi's prose floats from the page as effortlessly as the shifts in time period and character's point of view. At times the novel is an elaborate piece of poetry. Fractured sentences and run-on thoughts comfortably nestle within the same paragraph.
A very mature work by a debut novelist, fully deserving of all the praise it will undoubtedly receive in awards season.
(Review of ARC provided by Penguin Books via a First Reads giveaway)