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    Juba Good
    Juba Good
    Juba Good
    Ebook74 pages1 hour

    Juba Good

    By Vicki Delany

    3.5/5

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Juba, South Sudan.

    RCMP Sergeant Ray Robertson has spent eleven and a half months serving with the United Nations in the world’s newest country. He’s tired of the chaotic traffic and jostling crowds that fill the narrow streets. Tired of the choking red dust that blows into the capital from the desert. He can’t wait to get back to his wife and kids—and back to policing a world he understands.

    But when a young woman—the fourth in three weeks—is found dead at the side of a dusty road with a thin white ribbon wrapped tightly around her neck, Robertson fears that a serial killer is on the loose. In a country plagued by years of extreme poverty, civil war and the struggle to establish a functioning government, the policeman realizes that it’s up to him and his Dinka partner, John Deng, to find the killer before they can strike again.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOrca Book Publishers
    Release dateApr 1, 2014
    ISBN9781459804920
    Juba Good
    Author

    Vicki Delany

    Vicki Delany is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers and a national bestseller in the United States. She has written more than 30 books: from clever cozies to Gothic thrillers, gritty police procedurals to historical fiction and seven novellas in the Rapid Reads line. She writes the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series, the Year Round Christmas mysteries and under the pen name of Eva Gates, the Lighthouse Library series. Vicki is the past president of Crime Writers of Canada. Her work has been nominated for the Derringer, Bony Blithe, Golden Oak, and Arthur Ellis Awards. She lives in Prince Edward County, Ontario.

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    Reviews for Juba Good

    3.5/5

    24 ratings10 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Although I'm not the target for these Rapid Read books I enjoy them just the same.In this story RCMP officer Ray Robertson is serving with the United Nations in South Sudan helping the new country learn how to police effectively. He is close to the end of his one year engagement and he is really looking forward to leaving this chaotic, dusty place. Then he and his partner are called in to the homicide of a young woman. The place and manner of death are the same as three other homicides. There is a serial killer loose in Juba.It is amazing how a good writer can convey a sense of place in very few words. I felt like I had been plopped down in the centre of Juba. Well done!
    • 3/5
      This is the 2nd in a series of "Rapid Read" books, which are apparently geared toward an ESL or not-typically-a-reader audience. Essentially it is a longer short story. It works well in that capacity since there is a lot of quick action in an interesting setting. The mystery is very straight forward without much in the way of twists or turns. The main character, a Canadian police officer, is in Juba, South Sudan to train the police force in the newly independent nation. He is relatively well developed given the length of the story but none of the other characters are. As long as the reader's expectations are for a snapshot of a couple of high-energy days in the life of a foreign national learning to live in another culture, this novelette should lead to an enjoyable hour of reading.
    • 4/5
      Ray is a RCMP officer sent to South Sudan by the UN to train local police. While on his second to last week of a year-long stay, Ray stumble upon what looks like a serial killer. This is the second book written by Vicki Delany for the Rapid Reads series. Having read both, I feel that with this one she has found the right rhythm and pace for that kind of books, since even though the book is short and easy to read, it packs a lot of action and information. All along I felt what it was like to be there, to breath the dust, feel the heat, and feel ill-prepared and ill-equipped to deal with the investigation. The racism, distrust, and covert violence of the residents and US personnel are presented in a way that the reader feel them, without getting in the way of the story, only adding to it.I warmly recommend this book and think this is one of of the best, if not the best, book of that series I have read.
    • 4/5
      This was a small book,119 pages of fairly big font. However, I found it most interesting. It took me to South Sudan, Africa, a place I will probably never visit and placed me in the lives of the local residents and a Canadian Mounted Police UN peace trainer t trying to convince everyone that a serial killer is doing damage.. Though I would consider this a short story, I found it quite interesting and I really liked the ending. Would recommend it to anyone who wants a quick but very good read.
    • 5/5
      This was my second Early Reviewer book. It is the second novel the Canadian author Vicki Delaney has written for the Rapid Reads Series. The key features of the series according to the web page are: short high interest novels, compelling characters, ideal for E.S.L and Literacy programs. Ray Robertson is an RCMP officer working in the South Sudan with the UN helping to train a modern police force. His partner and trainee is John Deng from the Dinka tribe. Delaney's descriptions of Ray's experiences and details about his daily life are vivid. Although he has none of the modern support available in Canada, he is determined to find the serial killer who has killed 4 young women in 3 weeks before he finds another victim. I would highly recommend this book to anyone working with reluctant readers or ESL students. It is definitely an excellent addition to. The Rapid Reads Series.
    • 3/5
      I read this book in one sitting and I liked it. I read a lot of international crime and suspense fiction and this one could hold its own with some of them with more work. Robertson and Deng were good characters, but needed more development; I wasn't able to place much investment in them or in the setting. Part of the reason I read international crime fiction is to learn more about other countries and I believe if the book is well written, you will do just that. There's so much to Sudan and its history; more could have been woven into the story. Of course, I'm not familiar with Rapid Reads and perhaps its purpose is to provide short fiction to readers who have little time. If so, I've seen much more depth in fewer pages in short stories. Let's see Vicki Delany write a longer, more involved book with the same protagonists. I'll read it.
    • 4/5
      RCMP Sargent Ray Robertson is dreaming of breathing air not filled with dust, of flowers, hot and cold running water and green grass as he comes to the last couple of weeks of serving with the United Nations in South Sudan. His job is training and mentoring the local police force.As the number of bodies of Sudanese women found strangled with a white ribbon left around their neck Robertson realizes they are dealing with a serial killer. With no resources or staff trained to collect forensic and other evidence at the crime site it is near impossible to get leads on the killer. Robertson is however determined to solve this crime before he leaves Juba.Delany gives the reader a feel for the conditions the UN staff live and work under in the sweltering heat and the extremely dry conditions of Juba. Home is a container box in a fenced off area surrounded by the shanties of the city. Privacy is hard to come by with the locals outside the gates and the expats within. It is a life hard to imagine from Canada.A good read.
    • 4/5
      Const Ray Robertson is an RCMP officer on the last weeks of his UN training posting in South Sudan. He and his Sudanese officer in training are investigating a series of murders in Juba. This is a Rapid Read book and it took me just over an hour to read. The story moves quickly but has all the elements of a whodunit and the case is solved quite satisfactorily. A good read for a commute to work.
    • 4/5
      For such a short story (119 p), Juba Good packs quite a wallop. Author Vicki Delany proves with this novelette that a thriller can be a real page turner without all the extraneous stuff like long passages devoted to the sex life of the protaganist. Here we learn just enough about him to make us like him while being given enough clues and red herrings to make us care about the mystery – in this case, the killing of prostitutes in Sudan. A very enjoyable read.
    • 1/5
      This little book is to a fully-developed and interesting novel as a skeleton is to a full-grown, robust animal. Perhaps it would have been better served to have been presented in a collection of short stories or as an outline for further use.I didn’t have enough time to learn anything much about the characters, and the plot evolved with no twists that weren’t already expected – 1-2-3 and done. The ending left room for the possibility of a sequel, but based on my opinion of this book, I wouldn’t be interested in it.The hour I spent reading it wasn’t a complete waste; however, because there was a small snapshot of life in South Sudan, the location of Juba. Life there is not pleasant to say the least.

    Book preview

    Juba Good - Vicki Delany

    JUBA

         GOOD

    VICKI DELANY

    Copyright © 2014 Vicki Delany

    All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher.

    Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

    Delany, Vicki, 1951-, author

    Juba good / Vicki Delany.

    (Rapid reads)

    Issued in print and electronic formats.

    ISBN 978-1-4598-0490-6 (pbk.).--ISBN 978-1-4598-0491-3 (pdf ).-

    ISBN 978-1-4598-0492-0 (epub)

    I. Title. II. Series: Rapid reads

    PS8557.E4239J82 2014            C813’.6            C2013-907626-3

    C2013-907627-1

    First published in the United States, 2014

    Library of Congress Control Number: 2013956420

    Summary: RCMP Sergeant Ray Robertson, nearing the end of his year-long UN mission in Juba, South Sudan, struggles to find a serial killer. (RL 3.0)

    Orca Book Publishers gratefully acknowledges the support for its publishing programs provided by the following agencies: the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Province of British Columbia through the BC Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.

    Design by Jenn Playford

    Cover photography by plainpicture

    In Canada:

    Orca Book Publishers

    PO Box 5626, Station B

    Victoria, BC Canada

    V8R 6S4

    In the United States:

    Orca Book Publishers

    PO Box 468

    Custer, WA USA

    98240-0468

    www.orcabook.com

    17 16 15 14 • 4 3 2 1

    For Caroline

    Contents

    Chapter One

    Chapter Two

    Chapter Three

    Chapter Four

    Chapter Five

    Chapter Six

    Chapter Seven

    Chapter Eight

    Chapter Nine

    Chapter Ten

    Chapter Eleven

    Chapter Twelve

    Chapter Thirteen

    Chapter Fourteen

    Chapter Fifteen

    Chapter One

    I jumped out of the way of a speeding boda boda and tripped over a pregnant goat. The driver of the scooter yelled at me. I gave him a hand gesture in return. Not a good idea, in this town, at this time of night. But I’d had a rotten day and was in a matching mood.

    The goat I ignored. It was not a good idea to interfere with her. She was worth money.

    Juba, South Sudan. April. The dry season. The air red with dust blowing down from the desert to the north. Choking dust. Getting into everything. Me, coughing up my lungs half the night.

    At six foot three, I’m considered a big guy back home in Canada. Here, in a group of locals, I’m about average. Some of these guys—heck, some of the women—must be close to seven feet. Damn good-looking women though.

    My name’s Ray Robertson. In Canada, I’m an RCMP officer. In South Sudan, I’m with the UN. Our role is to be trainers, mentors and advisers. Help the new country of South Sudan build a modern police force.

    Yeah, right.

    I’ve been in the country eleven and a half months. Just over two weeks to go. First thing I’m going to do when I check into my hotel in Nairobi is have a bath. A long hot bath. Get all that red dirt out of my lily-white skin. Jenny gets in the next morning. We’re going to Mombasa. A fancy hotel. A week on the beach. Sex and warm water and clean sand. More sex. Heaven.

    I climbed into the police truck. I’d recently begun working with John Deng. He was a good guy, Deng. From the Dinka tribe, so about as tall and thin as a lamppost. He didn’t say much, but what he did say was worth listening to.

    His phone rang. Deng spoke into it, a couple of short words I didn’t catch. He hung up and turned to me. His eyes and teeth were very white in the dark.

    Another dead woman, he said.

    Damn.

    Deng put the truck into gear and we pulled into the traffic. Think you’ve seen traffic chaos? Come to Juba. The city’s mostly dirt roads. Uncovered manholes, open drainage ditches and piles of rubble. Potholes you could lose a family in. Trucks, 4x4s, cars, boda bodas, pedestrians, goats, chickens and the occasional small child. Every one of them fighting for space, jostling to push another inch through the crowds. The roads have no street signs and few traffic signs. Which no one pays attention to anyway.

    We drove toward the river. The White Nile. The goal of Burton, Speke, Baker, the great Victorian explorers. The river’s wide here, moving fast. It’s not white for sure. More the color of warm American beer. Full of twigs and branches and whole trees trapped in the current. Plus a lot of other things that I don’t want to think much about.

    The old settlement’s called Juba

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