A crime scene can often provide new insights years after the crime.
That's why it's such a central place for an investigator.
“But this is Okriki.
The crime scene is a small clearing off a gravel road just a 12-minute bumpy drive from the police station.
There are no houses nearby.
No street lights or cameras either.
Nothing at all.” This godforsaken spot went viral on social media as a brutal lynch mob chased down three students accused of theft, hung them with tires, poured gasoline on them, set them on fire and filmed everything.
The case is now officially closed, and a few accomplices are on trial.
But investigative psychologist Dr.
Philip Taiwo is less interested in who the perpetrators were than in the question of why.
Commissioned by one of the grieving fathers to finally apply years of theoretical knowledge about the collective psyche of lynch mobs in practice, it is no coincidence that it resembles its creator.
Femi Kayode is a clinical psychologist himself and wrote "Lightseekers" based on the disturbingly fully documented online case of the "Aluu Four", who fell victim to a lynch mob in 2012 in a suburb of the Nigerian port city of Port Harcourt as alleged thieves.
Much more than a quantum of local color
Kayode presents his debut as a broad analysis of the problems in his home country and brings up very different things: corruption and drug trafficking, rampant gang violence and cults, a sometimes miserable infrastructure and basic services, as well as conflicts between religions, but above all a lack of a sense of responsibility at all administrative and governmental levels.
For the latter in particular, the lynch mob is a powerful symbol: a crime in which the dynamic of the events and the sheer number of people involved not only dilutes responsibility for what happened, but also allows everyone to cover for one another afterwards.
Kayode provides insights into Nigerian culture that go far beyond a quantum of local color.
dr
Taiwo draws its insights from specific cultural nuances, such as the implications of common polite forms of address, the differences and tensions between different parts of the country.
As so-called Americana, he is the ideal protagonist for this: the term, made known to many by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's bestseller "Americanah", describes Nigerians who have spent a large part of their lives overseas.
The descent into your own personal hell
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Taiwo is a local, but his years at American universities have given him a certain distance, and the fact that he is threatening to reopen old wounds in Okriki makes him even more of an outsider.
He constantly works on comparing the two countries, his experiences with systematic racism and the police arbitrariness that goes with it.
There's a Nigerian anti-homosexuality law that incites citizens to spy on each other -- and you can't help but think of Texas' bounty clauses that encourage individuals with financial incentives to report abortion violations.
"Lightseekers" in its four acts - apart from a few short chapters that follow the descent of a mysterious first-person narrator into his very personal hell - in italics - the research of Dr.
Taiwo and his assistant Chika and is increasingly changing into a classic private investigator story full of twists and false leads.
At times, Kayode gives away potential: Considering that Taiwo's analytical skills are among his greatest strengths, he rarely uses them.
There may just be a few too many ideas in this thriller, even if the author's obvious love of writing translates into a pleasure to read.
For example, he introduces his four acts with two lines each about the physical properties of light.
Another appropriate symbolism, partly because Kayode knows how to use the notorious power outages in Nigeria as a stylistic device.
"Light emits in different directions when it hits a rough surface," it says right at the beginning, and that sets the mood: "Lightseekers" is an unpolished gem that reveals its impetuous glow as soon as you look at it closely .
Femi Kayode: "Lightseekers". Thriller.
Translated from the English by Andreas Jäger.
Btb Verlag, Munich 2022. 464 p., br., €16.