- Brief Summary
Season of Vipers is a fictional book that uses imaginary characters to bring out the state of governments in Africa immediately and many years after independence. Seeking answers in a system that is corrupt, full of impunity and under dictatorship of President Moumou, the narrator of the story takes us through all the accounts of his life. These dates back to the time when things were going well in their village, it brings us to the general elections that toppled the stability of everything in Tenu and then goes ahead and narrates on how oil-discovery in Tenu was a nightmare that nobody ought to have dreamed of. With the analogy of the viper being borrowed, the author of the book has used well-chosen characters to maximumly explore the state of things in a poor-governed nation like Tenu.
When Nick, the narrator of the story, thinks that things are getting better for him when he meets Boss and his crew on the dirty streets of the capital city, he is surprised to find out that his best friends and guardian angels were running a drug peddling network that was being funded by powerful people in the government. He witnesses how the crew that civilized him into drugs business are brought down one by one by the same people that funds them. On attempting to reform, Nick meets a new set of challenges including the adulterous wife to his new boss, Dr. Alexander. Things gets more interesting when it is found out that Dr. Alexander works for President Moumou as a secret adviser who helps the dementated president to make sensitive decisions.
Now Dr. Alexander has been tasked by the president to “take care” of Nick’s father because he knows too much that could destroy him. Things takes a new route when Alexander does the opposite; he is deported together with his family and a manhunt of Nick and his friends has been initiated nationwide. The nation is on fire, things are ugly and all Tenuans are chanting loudly that, “Moumou must go!”
