Anunobi writes an enjoyable, fast-paced, roller-coaster of a story of a boy, Bona, growing to middle-age man in Nigeria. He watches his father give up an opportunity for influence and prestige, vowing that would never happen to him. While learning who has the right connections to propel him to the upper levels of power and prosperity, his early trajectory is always up. This clouds his vision and he misses the clues that lead to a few excursions through the “valley of death.” He rebounds and rebounds again. The reader is constantly wondering if Bona’s going to live up to his father’s values.

The book’s backdrop is the power culture, history and tribal identities in Nigeria. The author effectively explains their importance, the pros and cons of various positions and philosophies, and the struggle to bring wholeness to a country with so much “identity politics” in a sense Americans sometimes don’t understand. (Once in East Africa, I was asked if African Americans knew their home tribes. I replied with the common enemy of slaveholders they banded together for survival.) Anunobi describes subjective rationale for corruption, and almost makes you believe it’s a victimless crime. However, his protagonist struggles with the wrong he’s doing and tries to balance it with the good he’s doing or acknowledging his rewards are only because of his expertise. Bona never really seems to struggle with the question of when is enough enough as he accumulates his wealth.

The political and philosophical prescription at the end is interesting in light of another forthcoming book “Left Behind” by Paul Collier and how Singapore and Tanzania were able to overcome tribal differences for the better good of their new nations.

Thanks University Press Llc and NetGalley for this ARC. I was so excited to read this book and to be honest it didn't disappoint. The premise of the story is about a man Bona Agila who comes into a situation where he is on the precipice of achieving great power. And ultimately ( story setting aside ) it shows us how yet again- with great power comes great responsibility. And the human cost of ambition, greed and the systemic fallout of endemic corruption. Chikodi Anubi as a writer is new to me and I can see him join his great compatriots Chimamanda Ngoni and Chinua Achebe.

The Thief and the Patriot by Chikodi Anunobi is a novel about a young prince of a tribe in Nigeria named Bona Angila. Bona was at one time in line for power as a king because his grandfather held that position. However, when his grandfather passes away, Bona’s uncle assumes the throne, which means Bona is now far away from assuming the position. The author posits that perhaps that is why Bona aspires to other powerful positions.

First, Bona attends a private school where his excels, even becoming the position of power at his school as the Senior Prefect. That set him up for college, then law school. After he graduated from law school, he became sought after by powerful men to help them achieve wealth and ever more power. Bona was as excellent at his jobs as he was in school. He became quite wealthy and when he had enough and wanted to move on to other positions to be more helpful. Nigeria wanted to become a place where all tribes are equal, but some tribes wanted to maintain their powerful positions. Bona was approached to continue helping generals to find more wealth and power. He had little choice.

Bona knew what he was doing was not the most honest way to make a living and the author cautions readers to understand that all people in Nigeria are not corrupt, and that sometimes there are consequences for making poor decisions.

Thank you to Netgalley for the prepublication copy of this novel to read and review.

Thanks to University Press PLC and NetGalley for providing me with his free arc in return for my honest review.

What a unique and fascinating novel set in Nigeria, which to me has definite words of wisdom for those of us here in the United States. Chikodi Anunobi has written a wonderful book that takes an inside look at corruption that has plagued the country of Nigeria for decades. He takes pain to tell us that not all Nigerians are corrupt or dishonest, and he's correct but unfortunately the power elite rely on this corruption, greed and power to rule this country, and to keep it from becoming a truly unified nation. This is the story as told by Bonaventure Angila who was from the Kwenzu tribe of Nigeria, and about his rise to power until his eventual downfall years later. Bona tells us how he initially fell into the easy way of getting ahead: by bribing a school official so he could become a student mentor. Things snowballed from that initial realization that it was easier to get ahead by bribery than by hard work. Not that he does not work hard, Bona is a fine student, and eventually gets his degree and becomes an integral part of helping the political powers that be remain in power as well as collecting untold wealth. These people have their fingers in every Nigerian business, and in particular the Off-OPEC oil that they personally sold in order to reap billions of dollars for their personal gain. It's a cautionary tale of someone who gets caught up in each and every revolution in the country and always lands on his feet, because of his knowledge and what he can do with the money and the hidden assets. But eventually Bona is arrested as those people who were supposedly his friends and protectors turned upon him, because they were afraid that Bona would turn on them. In prison has ag enuine change of heart and mind, and eventually writes a story about his life. By the end this turns out to be not just a story of Bona, but a discourse on culture, cultural diversity and cultural assimilation. Is a thought-provoking book because even though the United States is not tribal in nature we are a country of multiple cultures and how these cultures must blend in order to become one cohesive unit. This is a wonderful novel, that is a short simple read, and grabs your attention from page 1. It is a book that most of us should read, and not just as cautionary tale of what has happened in Nigeria, but what could happen right here in the United States. A strong 4.5**** that I rounded up to a 5*****

While I found this book very interesting, it felt almost as if I was reading someone's private journal of the accounts that took place. I will say that I learned a lot more about corruption and political systems in Nigeria which I found to be very interesting.

I enjoyed this book. It’s historical fiction meets self actualization. The main character walks us through his life while touching on cultural and tribal aspects of Nigeria and its long history of political corruption. It intertwines religion, moral authority and cultural and anthropological theories. I love learning about other cultures!

In the thief and the patriot, we learn about a fictitious character who’s nickname is Boone he is the son of the cheap in Nigeria he grew up having more privileges then the other kids at his school they had a vehicle something only middle-class families and his dad worked for the government and although he was supposed to become chief it wasn’t something is dad wanted to do. So Boone who started out lying at a young age went to college got an education and became a hustler he started with oil grants in Nigeria and moved to international real estate holdings and it seemed every time one of the companies he was working for scamming others would go bust it wouldn’t be long before another came right behind it wanting his expertise. He would run scams for people so high up in the government that whatever warrants he had from the previous job would go away in his passport and law license would be back in good stead. One time one fling the country he even got scammed by the person he thought was the love of his life but soon the gig would be up and he would have no place to run he would finally find himself in the prison he’s so Aply deserved right before Boone gets his come up and he was working for one of the top guys in Nigeria and although a busy man he also was a very rich one. Will he be saved by his friends in low places again oh will this time he have to pay the piper? I have really been enjoying these books out of Nigeria Waymore than I could’ve imagined in this political thriller was an awesome one unlike a lot of books that come out of Nigeria there wasn’t much dialogue or dialect it was mainly post by the plant and although I love books with the native dialect in it I didn’t find that distracted from the feeling or my outright enjoyment of the book at all this is definitely a five star read and for those who love thrillers especially political thrillers although this is mainly the scammers that work for the government you still love this book I certainly did! I’d like to think University press LLC, the author and NetGalley for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

I liked this book it and the writing was very well crafted. The characters were intriguing and I think the story was paced in a way that was entertaining but also allowed the reader time to think about what had happened and want was said .

This has a strong historical fiction element to it, I was engaged with the story and the character presented. I thought it worked well to show corruption. The characters felt like they belonged in this world and time period. It worked well in this universe and the story and had characters that I enjoyed a lot. It was written well and left me wanting to read more from the author.

I quite enjoyed this book. Going into it, I wasn’t exactly sure what I was getting myself into or if I would like it. However, as I read the story, I began to get really attached to our main character. It was very interesting to watch his perspective of a now adult as he grew up and made mistakes. I was really able to see the growth and maturity coming alive in the character which was a great quality of the book.
Thank you Zenith Publishers LLC for sending me this arc for an honest review.