Starts as a police procedural, which is fine by me - I love them: Chicago cops turn up to investigate a death, the cause of death is very weird, and how it was managed is baffling. Cops hear about a similar murder a long way across the country...

Meanwhile, someone has just arrived in England - we don't know where from - and talks like someone from a bad 1930s film. She meets a grifter, they fall into some trouble together, and of course their paths eventually cross the paths of the American cops. And I can't tell you why or how without going into some of the key revelations, the discovery which was a massive part of why I enjoyed this novel so much.

I spent a lot of this novel not really sure who the traveller was, where they were from, and what their purpose would turn out to be. Sometimes this sort of suspense is really annoying, but not here: although their overall intention was mysterious, Oyebanji still managed to create a character who was fascinating and appealing enough that I wanted to keep hanging out with them. He also does some very clever things with the American cops, I think, although as a white Australian I'm really not in a position to fully comment on that.

The book is fantastic. There's wonderful characters, excellent interactions between them, and an intriguing and compelling mystery. It covers racism, mammoth questions like what justice really is or looks like - and is a standalone story. Highly recommended.

Esperance hooked me from page one and didn’t let go. I mean, how could it? It opens with an impossible murder - a father and son drown in seawater inside their 20th-floor Chicago apartment (with no water tank around, floors dry, and nail scratches on the ceiling). A dead barracuda is just lying there next to them. For me, that’s the kind of opening that demands attention, and trust me, Oyebanji knows exactly how to keep it.

All of this somehow ties to a woman in Bristol who dresses and speaks like she walked out of the 1930s Nigeria, has and builds tech that shouldn’t exist, and is on a very specific historical scavenger hunt. Yeah, I’m in.

The pacing is perfect - the short chapters told from two points of view (Detective Ethan Krol and Abi) fly by quickly thanks to the right mix of action, mystery, and those oh-crap moments where everything shifts. The sci-fi elements are there, but Oyebanji doesn’t over-explain them, which somehow makes them even cooler. I found the twists top-tier, but your mileage may vary. Anyway, just when I thought I had things figured out, nope. With that said, it’s possible some readers won’t be crazy about police procedural elements, but since I love them, I had no issues here.

I also loved the dynamic between Hollie and Abi. Hollie is basically most of us. Abidemi, on the other hand, is an enigma - charismatic, dangerous, and inhumanly brilliant. Their relationship had the odd but interesting energy, and I loved how their interactions went from trust and suspicion and back.

Even the antagonist had motivations that actually made sense. There’s logic to their actions, even if their methods are, let’s say, a lot.

By the time I hit the final act, I was all in. The twists come fast, the revelations hit hard, and the ending is equally satisfying and unsettling. I feel it’ll stick with me. If you’re into Blake Crouch-style thrillers, Neal Stephenson-esque tech mysteries, or just a smart, fast-paced story that refuses to be predictable, Esperance is absolutely worth your time.

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a thriller and I don’t know that I’ve ever read one this engaging. It hits all the usual marks and then some, since in addition to being a well-crafted police procedural/mystery, it’s also a well-crafted sci-fi novel. The social commentary is also spot on, though I’ll be curious to see if there are any changes in the final draft, particularly with how often race is mentioned in the first section. It seems to be intentional as a way of characterizing the white cop’s relationship to the idea of race, but it felt unnecessary, especially since it wasn’t consistent throughout the book.

Once the perspectives shifted, though, and especially as we got to know all the characters better, the book really hit its stride and became unputdownable. The final act was as thrilling as you could hope for it to be and kept me eagerly page-turning until the last. Overall, it was a very enjoyable read and I look forward to seeing how others enjoy it once it is released.

Many thanks to Adam Oyebanji and DAW Publishing for this advanced reader copy in exchange for my review.

This is so good. A new favourite author for me. Science fiction meets action meets twists and turns. Truly great read. I am off to read the author’s other books. More please.

This is so good. A new favourite author for me. Science fiction meets action meets twists and turns. Truly great read. I am off to read the author’s other books. More please. Thank you to the author. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

Writing: 5/5 Characters: 4/5 Story: 4.5/5

Part (very weird) murder mystery, part speculative fiction and a wow ending — Esperance is an evolving surprise from start to finish.

Ethan Karol is the Chicago PD detective trying to solve the seemingly inexplicable murder of a father and son, found drowned in seawater next to a large (also dead) fish on the 20th floor of a fashionable apartment building. Meanwhile, Abidemi Eniola is roaming the streets of Bristol (England), dressed in 30s attire, speaking in a weird accent, and full of technological trickery that is beyond anything her accidental sidekick, Hollie, has even considered possible. And both Karol and Eniola appear to be trying to track down a very specific, long ago sea captain…

All the characters are fun to read and slowly learn about. Character insight comes through action and behavior more than any kind of introspection. Themes of racism, justice, and intergenerational trauma are core to the story, but (IMHO) serve primarily as background motivation for what is an intense, action filled set of pages. In truth, a little more action than I usually care for, but so well-written and full of surprising twists I didn’t even have time to complain (to myself).

I’ve read all four of Oyebanji’s books in the last four months and they have all been written (or at least published) in the last three years. This is promising! Two books are straight up mysteries (not cozies, but also not *too* thrilling for me) and two are SciFi Crime / Mystery. Author has exactly the kind of interesting bio that leads to creative plots and unusual characters. I’ll be keeping an eye out for all his new, apparently rapidly produced(!), works.

I powered through this book in a couple of days, trying to make it last longer, but it’s a difficult one to put down. Comparisons to Blake Crouch and Andy Weir caught my attention, and the author did not disappoint.

The story starts out as a murder mystery, drowned bodies, with seawater in their lungs, are found many miles from the sea. It soon becomes apparent that the murderer has the ability to disrupt technology and hack in to systems that make him or her invisible to the investigator. Detective Ethan Krol is determined to find out why and how these families are being murdered,

Meanwhile, in Bristol, England, Abedimi Eniola is also hunting down targets, claiming she needs to deliver heirlooms to their rightful owners.

She says she is Nigerian, but speaks like a 30’s gangster moll, and seems not quite human.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and highly recommend. Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was everything that I was looking for from a thriller novel, it had that concept that I was looking for and thought the use of racism and trauma worked with the story being told. It has really well written and thought Adam Oyebanji wrote a strong story that the characters felt like they belonged in this universe. I thought everything fit together and was glad I read this.