East African Educational Publishers (EAEP) has unveiled The Abduction Squad, a new crime novel by Kenyan author John Kiriamiti that examines what happens when institutions entrusted with enforcing the law operate outside their boundaries.
The unveiling marks Kiriamiti’s return to fiction more than a decade after his last published book and more than 40 years after his debut, My Life in Crime, which established his reputation as one of Kenya’s notable crime writers.
Published under EAEP’s Spear Books imprint, The Abduction Squad is Kiriamiti’s sixth published book and is set in the fictional Republic of Magendo. It follows Tom Baraza, a newly appointed Police Commissioner who is drawn into an unconventional operation following the unexpected death of his predecessor.
Rather than relying on conventional law enforcement, Baraza proposes assembling a covert unit of convicted criminals, each selected for a particular skill. The group is given a dangerous assignment that requires them to operate on behalf of the very institution tasked with upholding the law.
The author raises a broader question; what happens when the pursuit of justice begins to blur the line between lawful authority and criminality?
“What happens when people who have lived outside the law are brought together and given a task in the name of the very institutions meant to uphold the law?” said Kiriamiti. “The Abduction Squad is a story about crime, power and the choices people make when they believe the usual rules no longer serve their purpose.”
By placing convicted criminals inside an operation sanctioned by those in authority, the novel examines questions of accountability, loyalty and the use of power. The fictional Republic of Magendo provides a setting to explore these questions without tying the narrative to a specific real-world institution or political system.
Kiriamiti’s earlier works include My Life with a Criminal, The Sinister Trophy, Son of Fate and My Life in Prison. His latest novel continues his exploration of crime while shifting attention towards the institutions that respond to it and the ethical questions that arise when they adopt unconventional methods.
The book also extends Kiriamiti’s more than four-decade relationship with EAEP, which published his debut, My Life in Crime.
“John Kiriamiti has been part of EAEP’s journey for more than four decades, and The Abduction Squad represents an important continuation of that relationship. The novel engages with questions of crime, power and institutional authority, while giving readers a fictional setting through which to consider the consequences of crossing the boundaries between lawful enforcement and criminality,” said EAEP Managing Director and CEO Kiarie Kamau.
The launch took place during the ongoing Nairobi International Book Fair at Sarit Expo Centre, Nairobi
By Joseph Ng’ang’a
