The Missing Corpse

De: Yasin Kakande

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

The president is dead. His son’s pretending he’s not. And the corpse? Well, that’s missing.

When the CIA sniffs out whispers that an African general—who also happens to be the president’s darling son—may have murdered dear old dad and stashed the body like last week’s leftovers, they send in their best bloodhound: Agent Shawn Wayles. He’s good at two things—digging up dirt and getting shot at in places the U.S. swears it’s not involved.

This time, Shawn’s not alone. He’s paired with an LGBTQ couple who have more secrets than the Vatican and fewer moral brakes.

Their mission? Retrieve the dead president’s body from the general’s paranoid, trigger-happy security team.

Because in this twisted power struggle, it’s not the living who rule—it’s the guy in the coffin. And whoever has the corpse... controls the country.

Yasin Kakande is an international journalist, TED Global Fellow, and author of several critically praised non-fiction books, including Why We Are Coming and Slave States, which offer fresh perspectives on immigration and geopolitics. His journalism career includes contributions to outlets such as The New York Times, Thomson Reuters, Al Jazeera, The National, and The Boston Globe. Yasin holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College and resides outside Boston.

Like watching a train wreck - spellbinding

THE MISSING CORPSE by the talented Yasin Kakande is the second book in The General’s Project series, but it works perfectly as a stand-alone. I had no problem jumping in, but holy cow, did I need to hold on tight. THE MISSING CORPSE is an intense and disturbing story that takes readers into the darkest pits of corruption and parts of humanity. It’s relentless in blanketing readers in the horrible realities of power-hungry, immoral people who have no boundaries – it's much like watching a train wreck; readers will be spellbound.

“Dictatorship, it turns out, runs on favors. And blood. Mostly blood.”

Kudos to Kakande for providing a graphic content warning at the beginning of THE MISSING CORPSE. He’s not kidding around in depicting the ugliness that exists in the world, particularly in Uganda, “where the old and new collided in vibrant symphony.” The author’s descriptions pop from the pages, forcing visceral reactions: noses will wrinkle at the smells; eyes will tear from the conditions; cheeks will burn from rage and shame. The juxtaposition of the modern world against a less-developed one is striking. The author deftly jabs at the systems that allow such extreme, brutal oppression “in places where democracy was just another word for the promises men made before loading their guns.”

I did a hybrid reading of this book, alternating between the paperback and the virtual-voice narration. When listening to virtual narration, I’ve learned that you can tell quite a bit about the writing – not just syntax but also punctuation. A virtual narrator will pause as the writing instructs it, and in THE MISSING CORPSE, it’s an easy listen because Kakande’s sentences are so well-written. In the paperback, I didn’t find a single typo or misplaced comma, and for that I am grateful. The author nails dialogue, internal thoughts, and exposition. Well-done!

“…as they climbed the narrow, chipped staircase – an artery of old concrete curling up toward Uhuru Restaurant like a forgotten vein of the building.”

I have only two editorial gripes, which is amazing given I’m *a tad* persnickety. The first is that much as I love figurative language, and even as near perfect are Kakande’s similes, metaphors, and personifications, there are just too many to really appreciate any one of them. To double-check my impression, I opened the book to a random page, and I re-read an opening paragraph: it is three sentences long and includes three similes and one metaphor. The next paragraph was five sentences, four containing figurative language. It's overkill. The second issue is regarding the length of one chapter that doesn’t really do much to move the story forward and barely gives more insight into the characters. It is nearly twice as long as the next longest chapter and more than double most others. While it does graphically illustrate the horrific sex-trafficking market, it could make the point in half the time, and truly, the entire chapter could have been cut without consequence to the story. A good copy editor would take a red pen to rectify both of these situations, which would take this very good book to truly outstanding.

“Even if they are our people, how can they speak if they are dead or too terrified to talk?”

THE MISSING CORPSE is timely and underscores that political corruption is not bound to any one government. One can’t help reading and thinking about our current situation in the United States and the unsavory influences our leaders are asserting (and attempting to assert) in other countries and within our own. There are more parallels than this citizen is comfortable with, and more than once I wondered if what I was reading was fact or fiction. Again, it’s a mark of great writing when the author can make his reader uncomfortable and contemplative.

For readers seeking raw, action-packed, international political thrillers, THE MISSING CORPSE proves to be time well spent between its uncomfortable pages. It leaves us with much to ponder and scenes we’ll never forget. The preview of book three, THE PRESIDENT’S FUNERAL, is intriguing and hopefully provides a spectacular comeuppance readers are left craving after book two.