Razor Sharp 3.0 begins by telling an African legend about gods and demons and the glory of Africa, then introduces a slew of characters, so many that from one short section to the next, at times I couldn’t keep track of who was relevant and who was doing what. The first character is named Brains Harley. Not John “Brains” Harley, just Brains, which was just peculiar. Then, one after another, you are rapidly introduced to a number of people, some that are related to the story in an ancillary way, and others that barely connect. One guy joins a cult and gets essentially demon-possessed, only to encounter Zeus and friends later on and be summarily written out of the story. Others are simply mentioned once or twice, then not again. Then there’s Agent Johnson, who seems to possess supernatural and maybe otherwordly strength and skill. Johnson, along with another agent named Fran, are on the hunt for Zeus and will stop at nothing to track him down, including randomly killing bystanders and those involved with the case, often for no reason. By the end of the story, a number of bodies have built up, but the tale comes to a rapid resolution.
Honestly, I just don’t think I connected with Ola Adigun and his story. Some of it probably has to do with the fact that I am not Nigerian, so the numerous references to the Nigerian culture and way of life either didn’t really interest me or I didn’t understand them. While Adigun does paint a vivid picture of Nigerian life, often things are mentioned offhandedly, but never explained and I don’t want to have to Google something mundane like a food item, just to discover what it is. Some of it also comes under the heading of "lost in translation" since, at times, some of the colloquialisms weren’t quite clear. I can’t say that the author is a poor writer, because English is obviously not his native language, and despite this, there were times when his turn of a phrase was really quite clever. I just didn’t really find the story that engaging or believable. Unfortunately, I typically like stories involving intrigue and computer programming, so I would think that I am one of the author’s target audience, but with random supernatural occurrences being thrown in and characters jumping in and out of the story, I just didn’t feel riveted by it. That being said, I am guessing that folks who are more familiar with Nigerian culture would enjoy this book more than the average American, simply because of cultural differences, but if you are curious and the concept appeals to you, you can pick up an e-reader version of the book pretty cheaply.
