"A car tumbles through darkness down a snowy ravine. A woman without a name walks out of a dust storm in sub-Saharan Africa. And in the seething heat of Lagos City, a criminal cartel scours the Internet, looking for victims. Lives intersect. Worlds collide. And it all begins with a single email: "Dear Sir, I am the daughter of a Nigerian diplomat, and I need your help..."
Most of us have received those scam emails, and hopefully promptly deleted them, but Ferguson's novel tells the tale of one elderly man who got caught up in a Nigerian email swindle scheme. In Canada, it is determined that Laura Curtis’ father has committed suicide after he's lost his home and life savings to a scammer. Ferguson ties together the story of Laura's quest for revenge with the Lagos scammer who snared Laura’s father and is in the clutches of a local crime syndicate, as well as a young pregnant woman who has fled her desert home looking for safety and a young storyteller's son from Nigeria who is trying to survive the political and social troubles of Nigeria's oil-soaked delta. The title, “419,″ is the article of the Nigerian Criminal Code dealing with fraud, and especially known for e-mails asking for assistance involving the theft of a large sum of money out of Nigeria. Winner of the 2012 Giller Prize, and a good read. ~ Katherine
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