Ishaya Ibrahim (Reviewer)
A Murder of Hate encapsulates a lot in the 295 pages it is rendered. The crime thriller is gripping with razor-sharp dialogues, humourous interludes, and electrical suspense. It is a multilayered novel that explores the subject of love, hate, racism, and imperialism.
The story begins with Samuel Mugyenyi, a Ugandan in the US who, during an early morning commute, finds the lifeless body of a woman in a parked SUV. This woman, an undergraduate student at a US university, is Sheila Musinga, the niece of Ugandan President Katila Muaji.
The writer then introduces us to Boston detectives Lisa Garcia and Basudde “Bus” Erias tasked with resolving the murder. The fluidity of the investigation will engross the reader in pulsating suspense as the investigators pursue several leads that keep twisting along the line of who wanted Sheila dead.
Sheila’s boyfriend and classmate, Shawn, becomes a suspect. The writer uses the plot to take the reader into the world of Shawn and Sheila and the clash of cultures on the subject of premarital sex. While Shawn believes sex is a loving gesture among love birds, Sheila tells him it is a cultural thing in Africa for young women to preserve their virginity until the first night of their marriage. “I want to be the last woman for my first man,” Sheila tells him. They devise a compromise to limit the romantic spark to foreplay.
Shawn then moves on, believing the relationship to be over due to the no-sex event. But Sheila hangs in there, thinking he is still her man. Shawn later becomes romantically involved with his white classmate Katie who will not stop taunting him about his no-sex experience with Sheila. “And you owe me a lot more information about your ‘no-sex’ girlfriend,” she will tell him. “She’s called Sheila,” he will remind her.
At some point in the novel, Musinga also becomes a person of interest in the case because of the coincidence of his nationality with that of the deceased. He is a victim of Katila Muaji’s Iron Fist regime in Uganda. The investigators, especially Bus, think there may be a motivation for Musinga to exert revenge on a family member of the people who wants to do him bad.
The writer presents President Katila Muaji as a strategic friend of the International Community. This Community, which claims to be the guardian of democracy and human rights in the world, openly preserves despotic regimes that do its bidding. The writer quotes an inner circle member of the regime: “A strong man like our president who is willing to secure resources like gold, diamonds, and lithium for the international community is called an important strategic ally.”
A dialogue in the novel further summarises the point, “If you want to know how the international community operates with men who secure their resources, google a man called Jamal Khashoggi and see. He was killed, and his body was hacked into small pieces. However, still, diplomats and officials including the American president shake the hands of the Saudi Arabia Crown Prince whom the media have cited as orchestrating the reporter’s execution and mutilation.”
Except for Musinga’s lengthy rant in one of his political commentaries, which I think would be better if it were shorter, A Murder of Hate is simply classic; a work of fiction told with the force of truth.
About the author
Yasin Kakande is an international journalist, TED Global Fellow, and author of several critically praised non-fiction books, including “Why We Are Coming” and “Slave States,” which offer fresh perspectives on immigration and geopolitics. His journalism career includes contributions to outlets such as The New York Times, Thomson Reuters, Al Jazeera, The National, and The Boston Globe. Yasin holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College and resides outside Boston.
