Genre: Horror / African
Publisher: Canaan-Star Publishing
Publication Date: 28th June 2016
Pages: 314
REVIEWED BY NEV:
A copy of The
Sleepless, by Nuzo Onoh, was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the
publishers, Canaan-Star Publishing, in exchange for an honest review. This is
said review.
This one intrigued me when it landed in my inbox.
Firstly, I had never heard of Nuzo Onoh and secondly, it was blurbed as African
horror and this interested me. After asking around a few people, some came
forward and said they had read previous books by Ms Onoh and loved them so I
decided to give it a go.
This was certainly a horror book with a bit of a
difference. One that would affect me in some very deep ways.
Kene has gone missing. His sister Obele misses him
terribly and cannot wait for the day he returns. When she sees him in her
dreams she misses him even more, until she realises that she isn’t dreaming
when she sees him. She sees his ghost.
Once she realises he is dead, she sets out to try and
find out who is responsible. With guidance from a mysterious voice that talks
to her inside her head she tries to uncover the truth. Little does she know
that others are plotting her own death, and the war is coming.
This is certainly different from any horror story I have
read previously. Set in Nigeria during the Biafran war in the late 60’s, this
story is horrific in so many different ways that it will scare you and make you
feel totally helpless. I will explain that later.
We have a few characters of note in this one. Obele is
the main one the story focuses on. When it starts, she is only six years old
but with a mind and attitude that belies her young age. She is confident in
many things but quite obviously a young child in others. Her sister Ada is her
closest ally. She is older and definitely the kindest person in this story. I
wonder though sometimes if she was like this to protect herself.
Papa is Obele’s father. This man is despicable. He is
vile. He is horrible. He is a person I would like to meet in a dark alley for
five minutes. On the other hand, everything he does is in keeping with the
beliefs and ways of the people, in that place, at that time so can you really
blame him? Hmmm yes I can. Despicable.
There are a host of others involved in the story. Some
good. Some evil. Others in between. To go through them all would take a while
and give a lot of the story away. All you really need to know is that they all
fit together perfectly and even though you may not understand how some of them
can act and react in the things they do, Ms Onoh does an extremely good job of
making you realise it was just how things were.
The plot is as I said earlier. Kene has been killed and
Obele wants to find out by who, and try and help Kene’s soul to get some peace.
Others want to stop her in her tracks to protect their own selfish deeds and
she doesn’t realise just how much danger she is in. Then, there is the war
coming. A war that is so brutal in its execution that anyone who survives will
be scarred in a way that would stay with them for the rest of their life.
So what’s it written like? No frills. That’s the
immediate thought I have. This is dealing with a subject that a lot of you
probably know nothing about. I did because I studied a little bit of it in
school but that was a long time ago. The unfortunate thing is that the subject
matter is what I would best describe as harrowing. There are things that happen
in this book that are very unpleasant to read. The treatment of children in
those days was unbelievably horrific. Especially in the respect of the many
varying religious beliefs in the region and the old fashioned witch doctor
types that seemed to brain wash their people and practice more in the dark arts
than actually trying to help people.
That’s what this book deals with in abundance. It is very
supernatural. It’s almost like a tale of old voodoo as we westerners would
probably think of it. A lot of it you would imagine would be made up in this
story but to be honest I’m not so sure. This is written by a lady who lived
through this time and has reportedly lived through some of the situations
described in the story as well. That is always at the back of your mind when
you read this and it almost feels autobiographical at some points. This
definitely lends another macabre element to it and it will make your skin
crawl.
All in all, I did enjoy this. Being a father, it is a bit
hard to read at times due to the cruelty involved, but again you need to accept
that this was the way of life for the people during these times. Doesn’t make
it any easier to read though.
Nuzo Onoh paints a wonderful picture of the area and the sights
and smells of the times. To get the true feeling of the story across, these
sights and smells aren’t very pleasant a lot of the time but again that is
necessary. It certainly brings plenty of horror to the story and, if you
believe that some of the methods and demons and horrors are true, it certainly
makes it even more scary.
To summarise: a dark, dark tale of the supernatural and
witch craft set in the harrowing times of the Biafran war in Nigeria during the
late 60’s. Harrowing most of the way, you can expect plenty of creepiness and
plenty of horror and mind bending scenes. Be prepared though. Some of it is not
pleasant to read due the horrific cultural attitudes of the time.
General rating:
★★★★ enjoyable but difficult to read at times for me.
Horror rating:
★★★★ certainly creepy.
If you would like to help support Confessions of a
Reviewer, then please consider using the links below to buy The Sleepless or any other books from Nuzo.
This not only supports me but also lets me know how many people actually like
to buy books after reading my reviews.
Thanks.
Book Synopsis:
An innocent boy is lured to his death by the one person
that should have protected him. Someone knows the truth about his
disappearance; his little sister, Obele, a child that hears a secret voice
which tells her terrible things no child should know about. Obele knows too
much and must be killed. Her salvation lies in the hands of her new friends, a
group of giggling little girls she meets at an abandoned "cursed
house." Except their friendship comes with a terrible price. And suddenly,
Obele starts to ask herself who exactly...or rather, what exactly are her new
friends. Worse, how can she free the tormented ghost of her dead brother,
trapped by a witchdoctor's curse? Set amidst the Biafran War, "The
Sleepless" follows one child's struggles against both the natural and
supernatural forces that threaten to end her life before the deadly enemy bombs
can do so. And perhaps, death from the skies is a better option than the
terrifying alternative. "The Sleepless" - Another chilling tale about
the restless and vengeful dead by the Queen of African Horror, Nuzo Onoh."
Nuzo Cambridge Onoh is a British writer of African
heritage. Born in Enugu, in the Eastern part of Nigeria (formerly known as The
Republic of Biafra), Nuzo has been championing the horror subgenre, African
Horror. Nuzo holds a Law Degree and a Master’s Degree in Writing from Warwick
University, (England). A keen musician, she plays both the piano and guitar and
enjoys writing songs in her spare time. Her book, The Reluctant Dead (2014),
introduced modern African Horror into mainstream Horror genre. Her other books
include Unhallowed Graves (2015) and The Sleepless (2016). Nuzo lives in
Coventry, England, from where she runs Canaan-Star Publishing.
And for more about Nuzo, visit her site or find her on
social media:
Website – Twitter – Goodreads – Amazon Page
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