CASUALTIES OF TRUTH

An unexpected reunion leads a successful Black lawyer to recall the time she spent in South Africa.

As Prudence Wright and her husband, Davis Gooden, drive to a Washington restaurant for dinner with his new work colleague, they have an unsettling encounter—an apparently homeless man throws himself on the hood of their car, then runs away. It sets the tone for what will be a disturbing evening. Davis’ colleague, Matshediso Samuelsson, turns out to be someone Prudence once knew but never expected to see again. She has worked mightily to leave behind both her childhood—marred by poverty, violence and mental illness—and her experiences as a young Harvard-trained lawyer sent as an observer to the Truth and Reconciliation trials in South Africa in 1996. The testimony she heard from enforcers of apartheid was deeply shocking, and she also carries the trauma of a brutal attack by a white police officer that happened to her during that time. Matshediso helped her then, and both of them have been carrying the terrible weight of their revenge against the man ever since. She has no desire to revisit that time and bring its chaos into her carefully constructed present life. But Matshediso has other ideas. The first part of the novel, set during a single strange evening with backstories told through flashbacks, is tautly suspenseful and emotionally wrenching, and it explores the lifelong consequences of violence with insight. But the last portion of the book shifts into a thriller format as Matshediso’s plan unfolds, and unfortunately, it’s more confusing than thrilling.

An engrossing story of the complex impacts of trauma stumbles when it pivots to present-day vengeance.