
Member Reviews

I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect when I started reading Adam Oyebanji’s newest book, Esperance, but it grabbed my attention right from the start. And it starts with a most unusual crime scene. Three dead bodies on the floor of Chicago apartment on the 20th floor. A man, a baby, and a barracuda.The man and the baby seemingly drown in salt water. A seeming impossibility as there appears to be no source for the salt water, no fish tank or even bathtub in the apartment. So where and how where they drown and where is did the two foot fish come from? And what are the strange scratches on the ceiling? There was one other person in the apartment, the baby’s mother, but she can’t answer any questions. She was found unconscious in the bedroom and rushed to the hospital. And that is just the start of things. I had no idea where this sci-fi thriller would go, but it’s one heck of a tale. A wild blending of genres: part sci-fi, part detective tale, and with more than a touch of historical reference, it’s a story I won’t soon forget. Thanks so much to DAW and NetGalley for the ARC.
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/esperance-adam-oyebanji/1146201962?ean=9780756419912&bvnotificationId=23a69838-36bb-11f0-a1fb-12db8c52136f&bvmessageType=REVIEW_APPROVED&bvrecipientDomain=gmail.com#review/346785727

Adam Oyebanji writes excellent mystery&thriller novels. This one is amongst the best as it takes you on a labyrinthine ride that always makes you feel like there's something you don't know or understand.
Gripping, engrossing, and intriguing.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

“Esperance" by Adam Oyebanji is a masterfully crafted sci-fi murder mystery that kept me hooked. Obeyanji seamlessly blends the intrigue of a classic whodunit with the imaginative allure of futuristic world activity, creating a narrative that is both intellectually engaging and emotionally resonant.
Oyebanji characters are richly developed, each harboring secrets and motives that add layers of complexity to the plot. Their interactions feel authentic, driven by sharp dialogue and nuanced relationships.
The pacing is impeccable, with twists and turns that genuinely surprise without feeling forced. Oyebanji meticulous attention to detail paints a vivid picture of the settings.
In conclusion, "Esperance" is a must-read for fans of both science fiction and mystery genres. Adam Obeyanji has delivered a compelling story that resonates long after the final page. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a thrilling, thought-provoking read.

Real Rating: 4.5* of five
Why you're reading this story will largely color your response to it. SFF readers might not vibe with the very significant police-procedural elements narrated by noirish Ethan the cop. Mystery readers might not love the time-travel, in the many-worlds sense, done by Abi the morally grey alternating PoV.
I'm the reader with a foot and nine toes in each of those camps, plus another entire foot in the alternate-history camp. (There are so three feet! Where? In between worlds where the vibrational body exists and has access to all body parts. Quit quibbling, this has two guys who drowned in the ocean discovered dead in their Chicago apartment!)
I'm so glad to read a thriller inflected with quantum reality, which I am all about in my reading. It felt a bit like Author Oyebanji decided this would be his book, and spent his time plotting the story to the detriment of developing either Abi or Ethan more fully. I'm okay with that because the resolution to the crime we're here to read about was so exactly aimed at me and my personal hobbyhorses. I disliked the detective Ethan's racism being foregrounded. It didn't cause any stars to disappear, but it did make me squirm. As I think that was the point of including it, I mention the fact of it for reader guidance.
Abi's intriguing back/foreground was something I'd read a whole book about all by itself. Hollie, the sidekick, was so pathetically enamored of Abi that it got a little uncomfortable. I mean, I totally get it, and I was a little bit there, too. But really cringe, Author Oyebanji, in that last bit about gbese.
What the gestalt of the book did not have, as I mentioned above, feels as though it was designed out by the author to leave the fundamental rocks under the story...not revenge, not even forgiveness can leach sin clean...in brightest contrast. It worked for me, I think it might work for all y'all who like your stories sleek, clear, and propulsively paced.
Four and a half shiny, hap

The mystery of the impossible death had me hooked from the start. But then when Abi is introduced to the story and the mystery of who she is and where she is from is brought to the pages, I couldn’t put this down. Her knowledge and her high-tech gadgets were intriguing. Her lack of knowledge of current events was concerning.
Detective Ethan Krol was an interesting character, but certainly a bit of a caricature of old school detectives (yet unfortunately still a very real classification of detectives): very dedicated to the job and a bit racist. I certainly saw some growth in his character as he got thrown into some wildly impossible situations and he began to realize just how out of his depths he might be.
Abi and Hollie’s interactions were my favorites as Hollie always was helping Abi to understand basic things that someone with knowledge of the present day would already know. The mystery certainly drove this story and I loved every second of it.
Thank you to @dawbooks and @netgalley for the eARC. All thoughts are my own.

This story opens with an impossible murder and it really hooks you with thinking about how! Starting as this thrilling police drama kicks the story off with a bang as we get new clues to the mystery. Then we get hit with a new POV from a strange person across the world and talks like she has never seen Earth before. Both of these early pieces, had me hooked as I couldn’t understand how these worlds would collide.
But, midway through i was just a little bored as this suspenseful build up just lets all of the air out. Where we aren’t getting more mystery and we aren’t solving the mystery existing. Then the next moments were predictable and didn’t hold the same exciting momentum from the start.
I really enjoyed the undertones and themes of this book. The racism, justice and inter generational trauma are all heavy topics but done well in this. I found myself in many thought provoking moments.
I do think if you are a fan of Blake Crouch stories you would strongly enjoy this as it reminded me a lot of those stories. I found myself enjoying this in the beginning but losing interest, i did think the end was good and satisfied my need for resolution but I think this missed the mark for me.

Adam Oyebanji’s first science fiction book was the generation ship Braking Day. He followed that up with a couple of accidental detective meets spy thriller novels in his Quiet Teacher series. In Esperance, Oyebanji delivers mashes these genres again delivering a twisty science fiction thriller powered by a police procedural. And it is a combination that works. Esperance is also self-contained and stand alone which is something that is becoming rarer in the speculative fiction world.
Esperance opens with an impossible crime. A Nigerian man and his baby son are found dead in a tenth storey apartment in Chicago. The impossible bit is that they apparently drowned, in the sea. Detective Ethan Krol (who has plenty of his own personal issues) is called in to this puzzling case and soon finds himself on his way to Rhode Island where a similar death has been discovered. Meanwhile a woman called Abidemi Eniola arrives in Bristol with some futuristic tech and speaking like she just stepped out of a 1930s gangster movie. Abi get some help from a local called Holly as she investigates the history of a ship called the Esperance which was docked in Bristol in the 18th Century. Unsurprisingly, these two characters will eventually clash.
Esperance is a scifi/crime mash up that is driven by some interesting ideas. Oyebanji ties the action specifically to events in the 18th century (based on a tragically true story) but also explores a clash of two very different ways of considering the concept of justice. But all of this is fuel for what is ultimately a twisty, energetic, page-turning thriller.
In Esperance, Oyebanji once again shows his deep understanding of genre conventions in the way he is able to bend, stretch and combine them to unique and interesting ends. He also anchors his action around two strong, well developed and very different characters, so that readers relish their encounter when it finally happens.

Esperance is an interesting story and a good read. While there were some aspects that didn't land for me, on balance I enjoyed reading it.
The concept is great - I love a good contemporary sci-fi with a historical mystery involved! There is a lot of intrigue right away, so it's an engaging story from the start. And I found the plot's progression and conclusion to be satisfying and suitable - which isn't always the case when a story opens with a high level of intrigue/mystery.
Most of the things that didn't work for me were in the writing style, and none of them were wrong or bad - just choices that I didn't personally care for. I considered DNFing very early on, as the opening chapters (which follow Ethan, the Chicago detective) read like someone trying to write a television police procedural, which simply isn't a genre I enjoy. Once Abidemi's story and character are introduced, though, it becomes clear that this is a stylistic choice rather than just how Oyebanji's writer's voice sounds, so it was easier for me to settle into it. (And to be fair, the police procedural voice does fade a bit as the story progresses.) I also didn't love Abi's 1930s gangster movie style of speaking - I respect the choice, the in-story rationale behind it, and the commitment to the voice throughout the novel; I just didn't love it and found it a little tiring. To Oyebanji's credit, he does a great job developing and presenting different writing styles for the different characters and storylines - these styles just weren't always my favourite.
As I said, though, on balance I did enjoy this book - the concept is solid and interesting enough to make up for the aspects that I liked less.

A murder in Chicago is nothing unusual. But when a father and baby are found drowned in sea water many miles from the ocean, Detective Ethan Krol is confounded. As he starts to dig into what could have happened, his investigation uncovers a series of similar crimes as far away as Nigeria. He scrambles to figure out the connection between these crimes and pin down the killer before they strike again.
Abidemi is a long way from home. Freshly arrived on the shores of Bristol, U.K. she stands out quite a bit- identifying herself as Nigerian, dressed in a double breasted suit and talking like a 1920’s gangster. She quickly befriends a local to help her and goes about her business with supernatural efficiency. Abidemi is on a mission which seems to be propelling her right into the middle of Detective Krol’s investigation. This story is expertly crafted to heighten the intrigue of the mystery by blending it with an Afro Futuristic tale which takes readers from Chicago to Scotland and beyond. The action builds to a satisfying ending that unravels an underlying story immersed in science fiction and worthy of Octavia Butler. This book is fast paced with engaging characters and thrilling action while also touching on some serious themes.

An enjoyable, if not predictable, sci fi mystery/thriller. I wish that the characters had come to the "mystery" a bit sooner so we could have explored those themes in more detail. I also found the characters a little one note which made their character arcs fall flat for me.

A genre-blending tour de force, Esperance is a police procedural with a sci-fi twist.
The story begins with a murder, as all good detective stories do, and a very fascinating mystery. I will warn you that the story begins with the death of an infant. It’s not described in detail, as the baby has already passed when the story begins, but it does happen. If you’re sensitive to that, you might want to steer clear. As someone who does tend to avoid that sort of thing, I will say that it wasn’t too bad - it was sad, but it didn’t keep me up at night.
Anyway, it sounds very odd to say this right after that aside, but this book is excellent at straddling the line between serious and fun. The book has its serious moments, but it also allows itself space to breathe, to take a step back and drop some levity into the story, particularly regarding the character of Abi and her strange way of speaking and ‘fish-out-of-water’ elements. I loved those aspects, so I’m glad the book took the time to flesh them out a bit.
The characters are great, albeit not too deep. Ethan actually isn’t very likeable as he's the archetypal hard-boiled cop with a bad attitude, though how he’s a dick serves to make him realistic. Abi and Hollie, by contrast, are a delight. Abi is tough as nails but also naive in an entertaining way, and Hollie is just incredibly sweet. Their odd pair-up works; Hollie, as a counter-culture focused person, finds Abi, this enigmatic, charming woman who also is clearly not telling the truth about much, entirely fascinating, and Abi sees in Hollie someone she misses from back home (I won’t expand). It’s not a character-driven story, though; we don’t learn anything about Hollie’s backstory or much of Abi’s until the reveal, but this book is more about the mystery than a psychological profile of the characters. Likewise, the murderer, while 100% unforgivable in his actions, has motives that make sense if you’re just a little bit nuts.
The action scenes are top-notch, with great descriptions, excellent detail, and strong tension. Because of the, well, dead baby at the start of the book, you realize that no one is safe, so there’s always this thought of “no, that can’t happen! But then again…”
The sci-fi elements were well-described as well, with just enough to make sense but not enough for you to start to poke holes in it.
For a rather long book, I flew through it, as I was super engaged and really enjoyed it. When it comes to the story itself, I’m not sure if we were supposed to guess the main “twist” right off the bat, though I did, but there was a sort of sub-twist regarding a character’s motives that did catch me off-guard. As such, while one part wasn’t a surprise to me, the novel did have me doubting myself and threw in some red herrings along the way.
Without getting too deep into why, this is a book about a near-personification of generational and historical trauma, a theme I think the book pulled off very well and gave it a strong thematic weight.
Overall, a great police procedural for those who like them with emotional heft and a sci-fi bent.

This is one of my favorite reads of 2025 so far! If you liked Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, DO NOT SLEEP ON THIS BOOK! Grab a copy on pub day (May 20) and read it right away.
Adam Oyebanji crafted an amazing sci-fi / speculative fiction story which does an amazing job addressing generational trauma, racism and justice. There are a fair amount of characters in the novel, which is not often smoothly pulled off - but Oyenbanji nailed it. Most key characters were well developed and easy to track.
My favorite character, Abidemi Eniola (Abi,) becomes a suspect in a string of heinous crimes. These acts are nothing like anyone has seen before, especially the lead detective of the case, Ethan. It’s also quickly revealed that Abi is like no one else ever encountered. She can do advanced things with technologies, her body gives clues of augmentation and her use of language is all wrong. Abi claims to be Nigerian, but most can tell it just doesn’t seem to line up. Obebanji does just a great job with Abi’s dialogue, its juxtaposition with her strength and power truly entertaining. Early on, Abi teams up with an unassuming brit-goth named Hollie and they swiftly embark on a wild international escapade. Despite Abi holding info close to her vest, Hollie sticks around because the adventure beats her mundane regular life.
Filled with crime, impossible tech and mysterious characters, this book was a page turner that will hook you in FAST. I truly feel most people I “hang out” with on social media are going to love this one, too!

I received this book free from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Written by Adam Oyebanji and published by DAW Books in 2025, this is a Science Fiction Novel. It is set on Earth in the present day in places like Chicago, IL, Providence, RI, Bristol, U.K. and Edenborough, Scotland. It ends near the country of Jamaica. The story opens as one of the protagonists, Detective Lieutenant Ethan Krol of the Chicago Police Department, investigates two apparent murders in a high-rise apartment in that city. The victims are found in an apartment on the twentieth floor of the building. They are a father and son surnamed “Okoro,” Amadi and Benedict. Benedict is only about a year old, and Amadi is a twenty-five-year-old medical student at Northwestern University. Jennifer Freeman Okoro, wife and mother, has survived and is in the hospital.
The bodies of the two males are soaking wet with what turns out to be seawater. The cause of death is drowning. Also, there is a dead barracuda on the floor near the bodies. How did the fish, and the seawater, get to the twentieth floor of an apartment building in the heart of the Midwest, many miles from any ocean? It is a mystery. According to the doorman, the only visitor to the apartment was an African American appliance repairman who was installing a new washer and dryer for the family. His name was “A. Bello” from Super Eagles Plumbing. Upon inspection, though, the washer and dryer had not been replaced, and there were scratch marks on the ceiling and numerous holes drilled in the walls. The scratch marks turn out to be from the father who had scratched the ceiling as he was drowning. What?! The ceiling??
Krol’s ex-wife calls him to ask if he is going to attend his daughter’s wedding. She is engaged to an African American man, and Krol seems to be a racist. Besides, he has been told that he has an inoperable brain tumor that will cause his death before the wedding. During his investigation, Lieutenant Krol learns that “A. Bello” was the name of the first Prime Minister of Nigeria, and that The Super Eagles was the name of that country’s soccer team. Race plays a major part in this story.
The story now shifts to Bristol, U.K., where Abidemi Eniola, a tall black woman has arrived seeking to find a specific woman named Kirsty Forbes. Along the way, she runs into another woman (literally) named Hollie Rogers and knocks her sandwich from her hand. Hollie demands a replacement for her food, and Abi tells her she has no money, but only a diamond, which she shows her. Hollie takes Abi to a man named Dean Slim, who immediately tries to cheat Abi in an exchange of diamonds for cash. Eventually, Hollie and Abi are able to locate Kirsty Forbes, and Abi treats her with a device that implants nano-robots in her body to help protect her from the killer who is on his way to continue the evil work he began in Chicago.
The scene then shifts back to the United States where Lieutenant Ethan Krol receives a telephone call from a Providence, Rhode Island cop named Detective Lieutenant Nicole Gutierrez. Lieutenant Gueterriez has responded to a publication that Ethan had sent out telling of the strange circumstances of the murders. It seems that the same thing has happened in Providence. Ethan drives to Rhode Island and soon the two detectives team up and travel back to Chicago where more strange murders have taken place. It takes them a while to figure out that the killer is a black male, while Abi is a black female, and that while the black male is a killer, Abi is trying to prevent more deaths. By its ending, the story moves back to Bristol, and then to Scotland, before terminating near Jamaica.
This book is well written and fast paced. I found no major logical inconsistencies, and only one major loose end: Ethan leaves a home that has served as a headquarters for the killer while his entire SWAT team is lying unconscious on the floor of the garage, even though the whole house is probably going to be consumed by flames from the decaying machinery in its basement. Why doesn’t Ethan call for help for his team of officers? Would he really let them all burn to death?
I found this novel to be quite entertaining, and I would recommend it to those who enjoy good science fiction. I award all five of the five available stars.

When Nigerian medical student Amadi Okoro and his infant son, Ben, are found drowned outside their apartment, the scene raises more questions than answers. Alongside them is a dead barracuda, and Amadi’s wife, Jennifer, is unconscious nearby. When she wakes, she describes a strange man who told her that Ben needed to be punished before biting her neck, causing her to lose consciousness. Despite traces of a powerful neurotoxin in her system, the lack of a bite mark troubles detective Krol. The mystery deepens when Krol discovers that, just six months earlier, three other members of Amadi’s family died under eerily similar circumstances in Lagos. The investigation intertwines with the story of Abidemi Eniola, a mysterious Nigerian woman who arrives in Bristol, England, intent on uncovering the secrets of the Esperance, a ship that set sail in 1791. As the two storylines collide, they lead to a chilling, yet satisfying, conclusion. It’ll definitely leave you thinking long after you’ve finished the book

Eerie, tense little thriller that blends the past with the future as we start with an impossible murder scene in Chicago (a saltwater drowning death twenty stories up), shit to a woman and her weird new companion who's on a mission, and how it all comes together. The chapters are short and doable in small doses, which I appreciate. Would make a neat miniseries or movie, honestly, and a good popcorn read.

This story is fascinating, starting with a seemingly impossible murder and morphing into a science fiction resolution.
I gave it the following SCORE:
Setting: Present day, Chicago, Bristol, England, Providence, R.I. and Edinburgh, Scotland
Characters: Chicago Detective Ethan Krol, Hollie, a wayward girl in Bristol, England, more-than-human female Abidemi with extraordinary technical skills and heart, and a more-than-human male antagonist
Overview: Any book that opens with a murder involving salt water in a Chicago high-rise with a dead barracuda nearby must hold your attention. While Krol attempts to solve that mystery, Hollie forms an unlikely partnership with Abidemi in her quest to determine what happened centuries before.
Recommendation: I rate this book 4 stars
Extras: The cover is excellent, and the meaning of the book title is hinted but not revealed until near the end, keeping the reader wondering. There is just enough blend of mystery and high tech without going overboard in sci-fi details and allowing imaginations to soar. The satisfying resolution is thankfully not as moralizing as it could be.
Thanx to NetGalley and DAW for the opportunity to provide this candid review.

This suspenseful sci-fi mystery opens with a seemingly impossible crime: two victims have been found drowned in seawater in a Chicago high-rise, hundreds of miles from the ocean. Detective Ethan Krol is assigned the case, which only gets stranger the more he looks into the details. Meanwhile, a mysterious woman named Abidemi Eniola arrives in Bristol, England, determined to return a family heirloom. As their paths verge together, the consequences could be deadly.
This was an extremely excellent sci fi concept, perfect for fans of Blake Crouch (or anyone who enjoyed Rivers Solomon's The Deep). The chapters were fairly short and jumped back and forth between the two perspectives, keeping the reader invested in both storylines. Information/background about what was really going on was eked out at a slow but steady pace, allowing the reader to start to piece together what was going on. Very well paced and well written. Highly recommended.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A weird book that just kept getting weirder, and was ultimately super satisfying! It starts off with a drowning on dry land, and alternates between the detective trying to solve that case and a very interesting foreign woman who seems to know something about this case. How they intersect and interact is surprising and exciting. A really good read.

This book left me exhausted by the pace of the action. It's a sort of locked room sci-fi police procedural novel. From the first page it had me intrigued , but the tenth page it had me completely hooked. Deals with some big topics and is all the better for it.

From the very first page, this book draws you into its world with engaging prose, well-developed characters, and a compelling narrative. The author's storytelling is confident and immersive, weaving together themes that resonate long after the final chapter.