Mohamed maintains a high level of tension as the tragedy slowly unfolds. Mohamed manages such tender detail even while zooming out on the British prison and court systems more broadly.” -Nicole R. After Mahmood’s arrest, the novel shifts its focus to the British criminal justice system, providing a visceral account of the protagonist’s carceral experience. Mohamed balances colonial history and violence with the evocative interior lives of Mahmood and Violet Volacki. “Brilliantly depicts the complexities of community within the Black diaspora. With The Fortune Men, Mohamed has given us a clear vision of so many victims caught in the maw of racist legal systems.”- Ron Charles, The Washington Post Readers will hear echoes of Dostoevsky and Kafka in her re-creation of this nightmare.

There’s a natural grandeur to her portrayal of this ordinary man caught in the city’s gears. The horrific finale of The Fortune Men is never in doubt, but for more than 200 pages Mohamed still creates a sharp sense of suspense by pulling us right into Mahmood’s world as his life tilts and then crashes. The immediate allure of the novel is the vibrancy of Mohamed’s prose, her ability to capture the complicated culture of Cardiff and the sound of tortured optimism. Mohamed is a big talent, and she’s only getting started.” -Dwight Garner, The New York Times ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: THE GUARDIAN AND THE NEW YORKER.A haunting tale of miscarried justice, this book offers a chilling look at the dark corners of our humanity. Under the shadow of the hangman's noose, Mahmood begins to realize that even the truth may not be enough to save him. Now, Mahmood must stage a terrifying fight for his life, with all the chips stacked against him: a shoddy investigation, an inhumane legal system, and, most evidently, pervasive and deep-rooted racism at every step. He is a father of three, secure in his innocence and his belief in British justice.īut as the trial draws closer, his prospect for freedom dwindles. At first, Mahmood believes he can ignore the fingers pointing his way he may be a gambler and a petty thief, but he is no murderer.

In Cardiff, Wales in 1952, Mahmood Mattan, a young Somali sailor, is accused of a crime he did not commit: the brutal killing of Violet Volacki, a shopkeeper from Tiger Bay. about the unjust death of an innocent Black man caught up in a corrupt system” (Walter Mosley, best-selling author of Devil in a Blue Dress).

Based on a true event, this novel is “a blues song cut straight from the heart.

The fortune men book review