With revenge always on her mind, Tina spends the next four years surviving on the streets alone, working as a master thief for the Goondas, Sangui City’s local gang. Greyhill's personal study, she knows exactly who’s behind it. So when her mother is found shot to death in Mr. But Tina soon learns that the Greyhill fortune was made from a life of corruption and crime. Her mother quickly found work as a maid for a prominent family, headed by Roland Greyhill, one of the city’s most respected business leaders. After fleeing the Congo as refugees, Tina and her mother arrived in Kenya looking for the chance to build a new life and home. In the shadows of Sangui City, there lives a girl who doesn't exist. Glossaries of Swahili and French words are appended.įrom the March/April 2017 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo meets Gone Girl in this enthralling murder mystery set in Kenya. A useful and heartfelt appended author’s note gives more context (“Much of this story is based on real events affecting real people”) and explains what was imagined by the author (“Things that are not real: the characters, plot, Sangui City…are all from my imagination…For those who know Kenya, you can imagine Sangui City as a mix of Mombasa’s beauty and Nairobi’s hustle”).

Anderson’s dark thriller will appeal to readers who prefer their mysteries political and their stakes high and who will feel rewarded by solutions in shades of gray rather than black and white.

Greyhill may not be the killer, but his mining company and former associates seem to be involved in a years-long conspiracy against the people of Africa. Their investigation leads them away from their home of Sangui City, Kenya, back to Congo, where Tina was born.

Michael insists his father is not a murderer, and against her better judgment, Tina agrees to work with Michael to clear his father’s name and find her mother’s true killer. Greyhill’s study to hack his bank accounts, she is caught by his son Michael, with whom she grew up.

She deposited Kiki at a boarding school in town, while Tina herself joined the Goondas, a dangerous gang. After her mother was murdered in cold blood by Roland Greyhill, a white mining tycoon and the father of Tina’s half-sister Kiki, Tina made a run for it.

City of saints & thieves