加拿大西部某座城市,一辆汽车在风雪交加的夜晚冲下路基,驾驶者当场死亡。是一场意外,还是蓄意谋杀?死者家属向保险公司索赔时遭到拒付,他们发现不仅家庭账户上的存款所剩无几,还欠下银行一笔巨额债务。当警察把死者生前所用电脑硬盘里的信息恢复之后,答案昭然若揭。原来,遇难者卷入了一场源自西非的跨国网络诈骗案。在尼日利亚法典中,诈骗行径的代号为419。然而,纵然弄清了事实真相,警方却无力追查地球另一端的罪犯。身为文字编辑的劳拉凭着职业敏感性,通过分析父亲所收邮件的语言特征,发现了蛛丝马迹。为了挽回失去的财产,为父亲报仇,劳拉冒着生命危险只身来到尼日利亚的拉各斯城。对于一个来自异国他乡的陌生人来说,这是一座凶险四伏的城市。同样是在尼日利亚,三个年龄相仿、出身各异的年轻人正沿着各自的人生轨迹踽踽独行。善良朴实的纳姆迪来自尼日尔三角洲外围的一个渔村,丰富的石油资源给这里带来了灾难。人们赖以生存的河流被污染,空气中弥漫着有毒气体,环境遭到严重破坏后又引发了一系列社会问题。在赤热炎炎的旷野中走着一个怀有身孕的女孩,她一无所有,如一粒尘埃淹没在尘世中,没有人知道她来自哪里,又将去何方。靛蓝色袍子和脸上的疤痕成为她身世的标志。在拉各斯费斯塔克镇的一家网吧,温斯顿正通过网络编织着美梦。这是一个有知识、有教养、有抱负的年轻人,可惜误入歧途。他的美梦是什么?他和地球另一端的遇难者又有着怎样的关联?2012年加拿大丰业银行吉勒文学奖2013年加拿大书商协会藏书票奖之年度小说奖这部小说会让你废寝忘食……引人入胜,充满刺激。——加拿大《环球邮报》令人心痛、着迷、胆战心惊。一部结局出乎意料的惊悚小说。——加拿大《多伦多明星报》 In a city in western Canada, a car washed down the embankment at a blizzard night and the driver died on the spot. Was an accident or deliberate murder? Family members of the deceased were protesting against insurance companies and found that not only were there few deposits left in their household accounts, they also owed the bank a huge sum of debt. When the police recovered the information on the hard drive of the computer used by the dead, the answer was clear. It turned out that the victims were involved in a cross-border network of fraud from West Africa. In the Nigerian code, fraudulent codes are numbered 419. However, the police are unable to trace the criminals on the other side of the globe, even though they find out the truth. Laura, a literary editor, found traces of clues by analyzing the linguistic features of the mail the father received. To save his lost property and take revenge on his father, Laura risked his life to come to Lagos, Nigeria alone. For a stranger from a strange land, this is a dangerous city. Also in Nigeria, three young people of similar ages and of different origins are walking along their own trajectory of life. Kind and plain Nnamdi comes from a fishing village on the outskirts of the Niger Delta, and the rich oil resources have brought disasters here. The rivers on which people depend for survival are polluted, the air is filled with toxic gases, and the environment is severely damaged after it has triggered a series of social problems. In a hot and fiery wilderness walk a pregnant girl, she has nothing, such as a dust submerged in the earth, no one knows where she came from, where to go. Indigo gowns and scars on the face became a sign of her life. In an Internet cafe in Faustar, Lagos, Winston is weaving a sweet dream through the internet. This is a knowledgeable, educated and aspiring young man who unfortunately goes astray. What is his dream? How does he relate to the victims on the other side of the globe? 2012 Canadian Scotia Bank Giller Literature Award 2013 Canadian Booksellers Association Bookstore Award of the Year Fiction Award The novel will make you sleepless nights ... ... attractive, full of excitement. - Canada “Globe and Mail” is sad, fascinating, frightened. An unexpected thriller novel Canada “Toronto Star”