[Ritual Killing] A murder committed according to a specific ritual to harvest parts of the human body.
The author, Unity Dow, was the first female High Court judge in Botswana. It’s hard to believe that someone with such a seemingly rigid, elite background could write such a gripping, heart-pounding suspense novel!
Although it takes the form of fiction, I was completely overwhelmed by the reality of it all—a reality that feels so distant to us in Japan. There are still young girls being murdered today just for their body parts to be used in witchcraft medicine; the hideous nature of men in a rigid, upper-class society; and the actual environment where lions and elephants roam just outside.
"Culture is not something static. If you truly want to make sure your culture survives and thrives—and I think people in every culture do—then you have to challenge those cultural practices that hurt people and kill people, like the ritual killings that I discuss in the book." (From an interview with the author)
