A Glimpse of Amanda’s Crime
Amanda is a hero in the police department. But she has an emotional underbelly and can’t solve her heartaches. But she possesses a social and professional veneer that is difficult to fault. The novelist, Anthony Onugba, offers a professional treatment of Amanda’s Crime, such that fictional elements begin to linger on the edge of reality. But Anthony’s expert handling of this riveting story of multiple crimes is only a blend of research, literary talents, and writing craftsmanship.
Set chiefly in the city of Abuja, Nigeria, from start to finish, Amanda’s Crime is a gripping novel. It starts deceptively with a birthday celebration for police officer Amanda of the Special Crime Investigation Unit (SCIU) of the Abuja Police division. But this convivial atmosphere of sweet-smelling cake and smiling and singing police officers is soon punctuated by a criminal emergency when Amanda learns that a murder has been committed somewhere. The accomplished officer begins a knotty investigation that is as revealing as it is shocking. Everyone must know the truth about the “lifeless body of a woman on the floor of the ladies’ restroom.” A suspect is fetched to the interrogation room at SCIU, but there is more to Catherine’s death than meets the eye.
Amanda’s Crime has a timeline that makes the story’s progression easy to follow. Additionally, the author offers locations and dates for significant story events at the head of each chapter. Aphorisms abound in this novel such that one begins to wonder if this was also conceived as a book of wise sayings that should incite introspection in readers. Encounter this: “On a daily basis, we are faced with several choices. The path we decide could either lead us to momentary happiness and prolonged suffering or momentary suffering and prolonged happiness. The choice is always yours.” Or this: “Forgiveness is something we beg of those we offend. We also ask the same of our creator on a daily basis. We ask for forgiveness because we recognize our imperfections. But what happens when someone blames another for being imperfect? Does the one who is without fault apologize?”
But these wisecracks are only essential ingredients in the story the author had in mind. Amanda’s Crime entertains just as it stirs the intellect, leaving the reader altered in more ways than one. The novel triumphs through its moral bent offered in its fictional world while pointing us toward social values. Amanda’s Crime speaks to a gaping hole in our shared humanity. In conclusion, one must ask: what precisely is Amanda’s Crime? Isn’t she just a sophisticated, hardworking, and crime-bursting police officer? It only takes 468 pages to figure that out. Amanda’s Crime is available online and in hard copies. There’s more at www.anthonyonugba.com.
About The Author
