Lightseekers Review

Lightseekers is the first novel in a new crime series, starring Dr Philip Taiwo, an investigative psychologist recently returned to Nigeria.

General impressions

The most succinct way I have of summarizing this read is: I picked it up to read a few chapters before bed and closed eight hours later when I finished it.

It was really eerie to be reading a book about mob mentality and its dangers and then watching the American news about the breach of the Capitol but that just went to show that the author knew the subject matter very well.

This book doesn't exactly paint a flattering picture of Nigeria in any front but I still liked seeing a culture I recognized from other books and the people I interact with being portrayed as the norm rather than foreign and I hope to find more books by African authors being published in the future.

Dr Philip Taiwo

Saying the main character was not my favourite is a huge understatement: he's the smartest guy in the room and yet has to have his hand held a hundred times while other people explain that poor people don't get the same chances he got and have to do all the dirty work for fools like him. The most dutiful husband until he sees a woman existing in a room his wife is not in. The most spineless coward until he has to be a knight in shining armour because god forbid the middle-aged married guy is not a superhero in disguise,… he might as well have been white but I guess even that is a sign of progress.

The only thing I liked about him was the way he was unapologetic and heartfelt in his love for his children and the loving way they interacted with each other, which was so different from the way he interacted with his own father. The villain, on the other hand, I really enjoyed and looked forward to every one of his chapters.

Conclusion

The plot itself kept me hooked from beginning to end, with how the author explored what leads to and the aftermath of a crime and how crowds react to being made a part of it, something I had never have read about before and that made for a completely original take on the thriller genre.

Thank you to Bloomsbury and Raven Books for this proof.

Rating 3/5