Love Is Power, or Something Like That

While most of the nine stories in Barrett’s strong second collection (after From Caves of Rotten Teeth) have Nigeria as their backdrop, the emotional turbulence they capture should strike any reader as universal. Equal time is devoted to rich and poor throughout, and in circumstances both tragic and droll. Many of the stories involve travel, such as the collection’s opener, “The Worst Thing That Happened,” about an ailing woman making her way across town to visit her daughter; or “My Smelling Mouth Problem,” which finds a man with severe halitosis on the bus ride from hell. The smart “Dream Chaser,” here reworked from a version published in Barrett’s first effort, provides a brief glimpse inside a cybercafe where teenagers safely hunt financial prey from behind computer screens. “Godspeed and Perpetua” contrasts the unsettled history of a young family to that of the Nigerian Civil War. And the collection’s title story—one of the best—delivers a strong look at corruption and power in the guise of a frustrated police officer lost among his peers. Agent: Jacqueline Ko, the Wylie Agency. (May)