First published 2015
Harrison Opoku lives on the ninth floor of a London housing estate after moving from Ghana with his mother and sister. The second fastest runner in Year 7, he races through his new world in trainers decorated with hand-drawn Adidas stripes. When someone stabs a boy to death on the high street and witnesses stay silent, Harrison starts his own murder investigation. His detective work threatens the protective barriers his mother built around their family and puts him directly in harm's way. John Lock travels to Mumbai to escape his stagnant English life. He seeks out Bibhuti Nayak, a world record holder who specializes in extreme endurance stunts. Nayak plans his next attempt: letting fifty baseball bats break over his body. This feat will crown a career that lifted him from poverty to minor fame in India's city of dreams. As Lock and Nayak prepare for the record attempt together, Lock discovers truths about existence and mortality he never expected.
Genres: fiction, mystery, crime, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, fish-out-of-water
Setting: Ghana, London, Mumbai
Period: 21st-century
608 pages · Kindle Edition · Bloomsbury Publishing
Content warnings: violence