Official Review: Return to the Garden City by John Powell

[stoppoppingtheP]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Return to the Garden City" by John Powell.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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It all begins when Kwame leaves Ghana for England, looking to start afresh somewhere new. However, it seems that the past has not let go of him yet. It wants to cling on and destroy his future too.

Return to the Garden City is a novel by John Powell, and is a follow up to his first book, The Colonial Gentleman’s Son. This book is categorized as Historical Fiction, however, I would beg to differ on this opinion. It takes place during the 90s which is not too far back in history. I would rather categorize this book as CTMH, as the book can be considered a crime based novel. The story spans over three years and between the two countries, Ghana and England.

Kwame and his family move to England. He gets himself an academic position at Warwick University, and gets his family settled down in their new country. However, the problems already begin at the airport where he discovers that his daughter is carrying live snails in her bag. Although these are usually a delicacy in Ghana they have also been recently known to be used to transport drugs from one country to another. So he decides to declare the snails, and they find that they do indeed have drugs. Thereafter, he is dragged into the search for leaders of the drug cartels and helps the authorities to try and stop the export of these substances.

On the other hand, his work seems to be going successfully, with Kwame setting up programs between the University he is currently at , and its partner University in Ghana. He is an engineer and tries to develop programs that will help the grassroots industrial development in Ghana.

The character of Kwame is a well rounded and interesting one. He is an engineer who is dragged into assisting the authorities to catch and stop drug trafficking from his country. At the same time, he is caught between his first wife, whom he still has feelings for, and his current wife who has always been there for him. As he spends more time around his first wife, due to the investigations into the drugs, so those dying embers begin to spark once again.

The story jumps between Kwame, trying to implement these great plans that he has, at work, and between the undercover work that he is trying to accomplish at the same time. The book is around 600 pages long and it takes a bit of time to get into the story, since I did not read the first novel . It can also become a bit tedious to read at times, especially the parts about the engineering and the putting together of the overseas exchange programs.

Overall I must say that the book was well written, with no grammatical or language faults. In between are a few words written in Twi, the language of Ghana, but the reader is able to assume what it means, through its context.

The one thing that I found problematic about this book is the lack of real dialogue. The characters always seem to be agreeing with each other and there is no disagreement, anger or dissent. If somebody suggests something the other person readily agrees without any opposition. I do not think that this is reflective of real life situations where there is a lot of opinions and emotions thrown around. For this reason I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. However, I think that those who are interested in crime novels should give this book a try.

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Return to the Garden City
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Like stoppoppingtheP's review? Post a comment saying so!

[John Powell]

I am happy with this review which I think is fair. Some issues raised would be answered if my earlier novel 'The Colonial Gentleman's Son' was read first, but the reviewer did not have this opportunity.

[stoppoppingtheP]

I am glad that you are happy with my review.

[Shelle]

What a well-written review! This story sounds interesting as it bounces from Ghana to England. Thanks for letting us know that it is the second book in the series. I always like to read serial books in order.

[chytach18-]

The book seems to be an interesting one, and so does the review. I get it that Kwame must be a complex character - that decision he had to make at the airport would be a pain to any parent. Congratulation to John Powel on writing the book.

[kimmyschemy06]

Sounds like an interesting book and Kwame seems like an interesting character. However, I think it is better to read the book 1 first. Great job on the review.

[stoppoppingtheP]

Yes, Kwame is definitely an interesting character. His relationships with the women in his life are particularly interesting. I'm glad that you liked my review.

[bookowlie]

Great review! The book sounds interesting, although I don't usually like reading 600-page books. You brought up some good, constructive points about the dialogue. Well done.

[Heidi M Simone]

I enjoyed reading your review! Even though it being a CTMH genre, I see some romance conflict here, which I will not lie always interests me . Great work and congratulations to the author for getting a positive review!

[alicia_fountain]

Congratulations to stoppoppingtheP for writing a good review! And congratulations to John Powell for writing a book, period!! haha

I think the book sounds fairly interesting. As a United States citizen who has never traveled outside of the country, I think that other countries are really interesting to read about. Other than the fact that the book takes place in foreign countries, I also believe that some parts of the story related in the review sound a little off to me. Of course, that might just be a misplaced assumption, and I am still interested in reading the book (especially if I run across the first in the series). I appreciate the last paragraph about what you found wrong with the book, however I'm afraid that the lack of things you liked most makes me feel less compelled to read the novel. I was hoping, after you have read my comment, you might elaborate a little on what you did like in the book. Thanks!

And again, I enjoyed reading your review of the book. I feel like you did a good job in summing up what the book was about for the potential reader.

[stoppoppingtheP]

Thanks!

[Insightsintobooks]

Good review. I think that the going back and forth between the two countries as well as the crime aspect would make for an interesting read.