Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet, and political activist (he joined Nigeria's fight for independence, clashed with subsequent Nigerian governments, lambasted apartheid, and burned his green card when Donald Trump was elected president), Soyinka was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1986. As he noted in his address, it was "the first Nobel Prize awarded to an African writer or to any writer from the 'new literatures' in English thatWole Soyinka have emerged in the former colonies of the British Empire." In this, his first novel in nearly 50 years, Soyinka imagines a Nigeria in which a crafty entrepreneur is stealing body parts from Dr. Menka's hospital and selling them for ritual use. Dr. Menka shares this awful finding with his distinguished friend Duyole Pitan-Payne, who's about to assume a key position at the UN, and it soon emerges that Duyole is himself in danger. Both a pointed critique of Nigeria's political elite—and of political abuse worldwide—and a rollercoaster ride of a literary thriller to discover the culprit, this book should make news.

When Nigeria's best and brightest, educated in the United Kingdom, return home eager to improve the lives of their fellow citizens, things often fall apart. Soyinka (The Interpreters) assails this phenomenon by probing the lives of four college friends: math genius Prince Badetona; engineer and future UN representative Duyole Petan-Payne; preeminent surgeon Dr. Kigare Menka; and Farodion, the clever, calculating one who vanished from their cohort. Over the decades, these idealistic men gain wealth and prestige, yet each is prevented from realizing his altruistic goals by seeming bad luck—or is it something darker? In stylistically lovely prose, Soyinka gleefully skewers the blatant corruption in Nigerian government, ridiculing the preening, posturing politicians and their sycophants who prevent good governance from succeeding. The medical establishment fares little better, and the novel's portrayal of Ekumenika (a fictionalized religion that's a mash-up of various Nigerian religious traditions) is scathing. References to the fake news media, the state of U.S. prisons, conniving families, and women's rights, or the lack thereof, are indicative of a writer whose passion is global as well as local. The question he poses: Are these challenges already insurmountable? VERDICT A lifelong political activist, essayist, playwright, poet, and teacher, Soyinka is the first African recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature, and this highly anticipated novel, his first in almost half a century, will be much sought after.—Sally Bissell, formerly at Lee Cty. Lib. Syst., Fort Myers, FL

Nobel Prize winner Soyinka's first novel in almost 50 years (after the essay collection Beyond Aesthetics) delivers a sharp-edged satire of his native Nigeria. The tone is set early, as an omniscient narrator caustically refers to the country as the home of "the Happiest People in the World," a status bolstered by a Nigerian governor's creation of "a Ministry of Happiness," to be led by the governor's spouse. Soyinka presents a dizzying array of characters and plotlines to bolster the notion that his country's "success" is a facade built on corruption and lies. This is perhaps best illustrated by the story line involving Dr. Kighare Menka, a surgeon particularly adept at treating the victims of terror attacks. Menka's approached by representatives of Primary Resources Management, dedicated to combating waste by maximizing "human resources." Menka learns that behind the slogans is a business plan to obtain body parts for an affluent clientele, and that he's viewed as a steady source for the limbs and organs the venture needs. Soyinka injects suspense as well with a whodunit plot. Those with a solid grounding in current Nigerian politics are most likely to pick up on allusions to events and personalities that will elude the lay reader. Still, the imaginatively satirical treatment of serious issues makes this engaging on multiple levels. (Sept.)