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A Novel
by Kwei Quartey
Book Reviewed by:Kwei Quartey's first novel, Wife of the Gods, is a
dark, edgy mystery that's almost gritty enough to be considered noir. The book
is a marvelous detective procedural; its complex plot includes a plethora of
suspects and clues that will keep readers guessing the murderer's identity until
the inevitable confrontation at the book's climax. The main character,
Detective Inspector Darko Dawson, relies on deduction and observation to solve
the crime at the heart of the book. There's no room for guesswork or
coincidence in this novel; it remains eminently logical until its very
satisfying conclusion.
Ghana is a country in the midst of rapid change, and Quartey takes full
advantage of the friction caused by this change to add another, deeper layer to
Wife of the Gods. The conflict between the old and the new is a constant
theme running throughout the book and a source of dramatic tension between its
characters. Social commentary is added to the basic mystery format of the novel
with great success, resulting in a book that is more than your run-of-the-mill
whodunit.
The author also creates a perfect sense of place, whether the action is in
Ghana's capital city Accra or in its countryside. Instead of establishing this
ambiance with long paragraphs of description he weaves the
surroundings into the narrative's action and dialog. The exotic locale functions
as a colorful backdrop, adding interest without allowing the atmosphere to
overwhelm or drag down the plot.
There are aspects of the book that will keep many readers from fully enjoying
it. Its major failing is its relatively unlikable main character. Sometimes
you can encounter a figure in literature who breaks all the rules, and you find
yourself rooting for him in spite of it (or even because of it). Such is not
the case with Darko Dawson. Throughout the narrative he comes off as an
arrogant bully who uses his position to intimidate or harass others. He's also
an unrepentant marijuana smoker who knows the drug is illegal yet chooses to
disregard the law. His almost preternatural investigative ability is not quite
adequate to mitigate all the bad behavior that goes along with it.
Quartey's ability to create three-dimensional characters is also somewhat
inconsistent. Dawson is very richly drawn, and Quartey has gone to great
lengths to help his readers understand this multi-faceted character. There are
others here who are also nicely realized, but there are just as many who are
utterly unremarkable, unnecessarily falling into a banal, formulaic mold. In
addition, there are a number of excessively violent scenes scattered throughout
the novel. While I'm not generally disturbed by brutality, there does have to
be a reason for it; it has to make sense within the context of the plot - but at
times, these scenes come across as overly gratuitous.
Wife of the Gods is an excellent debut, and the series shows a lot of
promise; however, the comparison that some have made to The No. 1
Ladies' Detective series is misleading. Other than that they're both
character-driven mysteries set in Africa, the books have very little in common.
Wife of the Gods is a fine novel but it lacks the charm of the Alexander
McCall Smith books (think Dashiell Hammett as opposed to Agatha Christie).
Fans of the hardboiled mystery genre will undoubtedly want to add this one to
their lists. In addition, book groups that can overlook the novel's flaws will
find ample topics for conversation beyond its basic plot.
Ghana
Ghana is located on West Africa's Gulf of
Guinea only a few degrees north of the Equator (map).
The country's 23 million people are concentrated along the coast and in the
principal cities of Accra and Kumasi. Ethnically, Ghana is divided into small
groups speaking more than 50 languages and dialects. English, the official and
commercial language, is taught in all the schools.
By West African
standards, Ghana has a relatively diverse and rich natural resource base.
Minerals, principally gold, diamonds, manganese ore, and bauxite, are produced
and exported. In 2007, a major oil discovery off the coast of Ghana led to
the entry of a number of multinational companies. Timber and
marine resources are important but declining. Agriculture remains
a mainstay of the economy, accounting for more than one-third of GDP and about
55% of formal employment.
The first known Europeans to visit the area were a group of Portuguese
explorers in 1471, followed shortly after by Dutch and English traders who were
attracted by the area's gold, ivory and slaves. There were more than forty
forts along the coast by the mid-17th century. Increasing conflict
with the native population, as well as events in their own countries, caused
most of these traders to eventually abandon their interests in the "Gold Coast,"
as it came to be known, until the Dutch withdrawal in 1874 left only the British
remaining, at which point the Gold Coast became a protectorate under British
colonial rule. The native resistance movement continued to gain momentum
in the decades that followed, which in 1957 led to the creation of Ghana from
the merger of the Gold Coast and British Togoland (British Togoland was formed after a 1916 mandate partitioned the area formerly controlled by Germany into two areas run by Britain and France). Kwame
Nkrumah, who had been a resistance leader, became the nation's first Prime
Minister and President.
After enduring many years of coups and counter
coups Ghana is now considered a relatively stable democracy. Although
its economy is growing and its prospects look brighter than many parts of
Africa, factors such as the estimated US$2500 per-capita annual income cause the UN to classify it as a low-income, food-deficit country.
This review was originally published in The BookBrowse Review in August 2009, and has been updated for the
August 2010 edition.
Click here to go to this issue.
If you liked Wife of the Gods, try these:
by Richard Crompton
Published 2014
The Maasai believe in two gods. Enkai Narok, the Black God, is benign. Enkai Nanyokie, the Red God, is the god of anger, vengeance, and death.
by John Mahama
Published 2013
My First Coup d'Etat chronicles the coming-of-age of John Dramani Mahama in Ghana during the dismal post-independence "lost decades" of Africa.
by Malla Nunn
Published 2009
A stunning and darkly romantic crime novel set in 1950s apartheid South Africa, featuring Detective Emmanuel Cooper -- a man caught up in a time and place where racial tensions and the raw hunger for power make life very dangerous indeed.
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