Shadow Work
"I watched him die. I watched him fall into the black heart of the Lagoon. So why is he leaving me gifts made of human skin?"
​Five years ago, Tope was the "Golden Boy" of the Lagos Major Crimes Unit, a profiler who could think like a monster until he became one. But when he failed to stop The Tailor, a surgical serial killer who sews his victims into grotesque masterpieces, Tope didn't just lose the case. He lost his partner, his badge, and his mind.
​Now, Tope is a "Yesterday Man," a ghost haunting the city, working a dead-end security job and drowning his PTSD in bitter kola nuts and cheap gin. He thought the nightmares were over. He thought the Tailor was dead.
​
He was wrong.
​When a body is found suspended in a Lagos skyscraper, displayed with the Tailor’s signature golden thread, the message is clear. But this time, it’s personal. Carved into the victim’s chest is one word: TOPE.
Forced back into a world that despises him, Tope must navigate a city fueled by corruption and ancient superstitions. With a skeptical forensic psychologist and detective as his only ally and a younger sister who has just become the killer’s next obsession, Tope must decide:
How much of his soul is he willing to sew into the darkness to catch the man who owns his past?
Glory Afolayan
