Esperance

Oyebanji (Braking Day) dextrously blends genres in this suspenseful sci-fi mystery. Chicago police detective Ethan Krol is tasked with solving an impossible double murder. Nigerian medical student Amadi Okoro and his infant son, Ben, are found drowned by sea water in the corridor outside their 20th-floor apartment, lying near a dead barracuda. Okoro’s wife Jennifer is also at the scene, unconscious. When she wakes, she tells Krol that a strange man was waiting for her and Ben in their apartment. He said that Ben needed to be punished, before biting her neck, causing her to pass out. Though a powerful neurotoxin was found in her system, the absence of a bite mark troubles Krol. The puzzle deepens when he learns that, six months earlier, three other members of Amadi’s family died in Lagos in the same way. Oyebanji intersperses the tense police inquiry with chapters focused on Abidemi Eniola, an enigmatic Nigerian woman who arrives in Bristol, England, determined to learn about a ship, the Esperance, which left Bristol in 1791. The plotlines eventually intersect, yielding a satisfying, if grim, solution. Rob Hart and Blake Crouch fans should check this out. (May)