barbara fister reviewed Gaslight by Femi Kayode
Review of 'Gaslight' on 'LibraryThing'
Philip Taiwo, a psychologist trained in America who has moved back to Nigeria with his family, is urged by his religious sister to look into a missing persons case - the wife of a megachurch leader has vanished, but nobody seems all that worried about her. Before long, though, it becomes clear there's more going on with the church, which has vast influence, than is on the surface. The case blows up when the police get involved, eager to make a mark whether or not their accusations have merit.returnreturnInterspersed in the story are fairly cryptic messages from ... someone, it's not at all clear at first who. As that threat unravels, the psychologically complex nature of the story becomes clear, though I'm not sure the characters' motivations were ever entirely clear to me. The final scenes seem a little over the top. returnreturnBut the view into fundamentalist Christianity in Nigeria …
Philip Taiwo, a psychologist trained in America who has moved back to Nigeria with his family, is urged by his religious sister to look into a missing persons case - the wife of a megachurch leader has vanished, but nobody seems all that worried about her. Before long, though, it becomes clear there's more going on with the church, which has vast influence, than is on the surface. The case blows up when the police get involved, eager to make a mark whether or not their accusations have merit.returnreturnInterspersed in the story are fairly cryptic messages from ... someone, it's not at all clear at first who. As that threat unravels, the psychologically complex nature of the story becomes clear, though I'm not sure the characters' motivations were ever entirely clear to me. The final scenes seem a little over the top. returnreturnBut the view into fundamentalist Christianity in Nigeria and the celebrity megachurch cults that sprout out of it, complete with sinister controlling behavior and patriarchal beliefs, was interesting as is the lively voice of the narrator and his multi-talented if somewhat conveniently skilled sidekick, a common trope in the genre.