Harmattan Season

By Tochi Onyebuchi

Book Overview

"This is a brilliant blending of worlds and traditions--West African lore meets Easy Rawlins--which makes for something absolutely devourable. And that's exactly what I did. Without a doubt, this is Onyebuchi at his best " --Jason Reynolds

Fortune always left whatever room I walked into, which is why I don't leave my place much these days...

Veteran and private eye Boubacar doesn't need much--least of all trouble--but trouble always seems to find him. Work has dried up, and he'd rather be left alone to deal with his bills as the Harmattan rolls in to coat the city in dust, but Bouba is a down on his luck deux-fois, suspended between two cultures and two worlds.

When a bleeding woman stumbles onto his doorway, only to vanish just as quickly, Bouba reluctantly finds himself enmeshed in the secrets of a city boiling on the brink of violence. The French occupiers are keen to keep the peace at any cost, and the indigenous dugulen have long been shattered into restless factions vying for a chance to reclaim their lost heritage and abilities. As each hard-won clue reveals horrifying new truths, Bouba may have to carve out parts of himself he's long kept hidden, and decide what he's willing to offer next.

From the visionary author of Riot Baby and Goliath, Harmattan Season is a gripping fantasy noir in the tradition of Chandler, Hammond, and Christie that will have you by the throat--both dryly funny and unforgettably evocative.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 125078297X
• ISBN13: 9781250782977
• Release Date: May 2025
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.6" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Interesting

I did find Dion Graham's narration a bit hard to understand at times. He has a very good voice and it did bring authenticity to the story though and once I got used to the flow of speech it was okay and I was intrigued with the story. It is very dark and gritty set in a post-colonial French West African country in a time of unrest and change with rebels wanting to reclaim their land, French police and soldiers attacking them, and then there are the mixed race people, torn between the two nationalities. This story had the added effect of a bit of magic that I found interesting and kept me listening. And surprisingly it also had a political reason (all about removing the part that had been poisoned by the water of the conquered land with an intriguing side effect). That is the broad view of the novel. Narrowing down, this is a story about a detective named Boubacar, weary with the choices he has made in his life and looking for either punishment or redemption for those choices, starting with the woman who burst into his office/home late one night with a peculiar wound and then her subsequent mysterious death. Many surprises and beatings were on that path, and honestly I was amazed by how many beatings Bouba received but how he kept going, unraveling the mystery, plots to reclaim the country, and meeting interesting people like the helpful urchin, rebels, police, and those who changed to survive the French occupation. I also liked how the book both started and ended with the woman that came into Bouba's life and changed everything because of it. So, it was an interesting slice of a dark time with a bit of hope and the ability to change.