The Lazarus Effect

The Lazarus Effect: A Powerful Vee Johnson Mystery

A missing teenager has been haunting Vee Johnson’s mind. Then Vee discovers that the girl in her visions is real.

In The Lazarus Effect by H. J. Golakai, Voinjama Johnson is an investigative journalist working for a Cape Town magazine.

Known as Vee, she is intelligent, determined and capable of fighting for a story long after other people would have walked away.

Her personal life is complicated, and disturbing episodes she refuses to call panic attacks are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.

During these episodes, Vee repeatedly sees a teenage girl wearing a red hat.

When she recognises the girl in a photograph at a hospital, the visions suddenly become the beginning of a real investigation.

Who Is the Girl in the Red Hat?

The teenager is Jacqueline Paulsen, known as Jacqui.

Jacqui disappeared from her Cape Town home two years earlier and has not been seen since.

Her family has been left with unanswered questions, conflicting memories and painful secrets.

Vee cannot explain why Jacqui appears in her visions.

She also cannot ignore the possibility that the missing girl is somehow asking her to uncover the truth.

Under the pretence of writing an article about missing children, Vee begins investigating Jacqui’s disappearance.

A Reporter Who Refuses to Accept the Obvious

Vee is not a police officer or a trained private detective.

She is a journalist whose strongest tools are instinct, observation and an unwillingness to be intimidated.

She notices the details other people dismiss.

She also recognises when a carefully prepared explanation hides something more complicated.

Her methods can be impulsive and dangerous, but they allow her to enter places and conversations that may be closed to the police.

In The Lazarus Effect, every question Vee asks moves her closer to people who have worked hard to keep Jacqui’s story buried.

Meet Chlöe Bishop

Vee is joined by Chlöe Bishop, her unconventional and determined assistant.

Chlöe has her own opinions about the investigation and is not afraid to challenge Vee.

Their personalities frequently clash.

Vee relies on instinct and emotional intensity, while Chlöe often brings a different perspective to the evidence.

Their disagreements produce humour, tension and a memorable investigative partnership.

As the case becomes more dangerous, their loyalty to one another is tested by fear, secrecy and the consequences of Vee’s decisions.

Two Families with Too Many Secrets

The investigation leads Vee and Chlöe into the lives of the fractured Paulsen and Fourie families.

Both families carry private wounds and conflicting versions of the past.

Parents, children, friends and neighbours remember Jacqui differently.

Some appear eager to help. Others become defensive when Vee asks the wrong question.

Each new account changes the shape of the mystery.

Vee must decide who is grieving, who is lying and who may know exactly what happened to the missing teenager.

A Mystery Where Everyone Becomes a Suspect

The Lazarus Effect steadily creates suspicion around one character after another.

A seemingly trustworthy person may be protecting a devastating secret.

Someone who appears guilty may be concealing something unrelated to Jacqui’s disappearance.

Vee cannot rely on appearances or social respectability.

She must examine personal relationships, family tensions and the motives hidden beneath ordinary behaviour.

The result is a layered African murder mystery that keeps changing direction as new evidence emerges.

Trauma, Panic and the Return of the Past

Vee’s investigation is connected to her own history of displacement and survival.

She carries memories of Liberia’s civil war into her life in South Africa.

The past appears through anxiety, panic and the visions she struggles to explain.

These experiences do not make Vee weak.

However, they affect her judgement, relationships and willingness to place herself in danger.

Her search for Jacqui becomes entangled with her attempt to understand what her own mind is trying to tell her.

Cape Town Beyond the Tourist Image

The novel reveals a Cape Town far removed from polished travel advertisements.

Beauty, wealth and desirable neighbourhoods exist beside inequality, homelessness and violence.

The city’s racial and social divisions influence how people are treated and whose suffering receives attention.

Vee’s identity as a Liberian woman also affects how others respond to her.

She encounters prejudice, assumptions and questions about belonging.

Through the investigation, The Lazarus Effect presents Cape Town as beautiful, divided and filled with lives that remain invisible until someone chooses to look.

Strong Women at the Centre of African Crime Fiction

This mystery places complex women at the centre of the action.

Vee is brave without being perfect.

She can be impulsive, secretive, humorous, angry and deeply compassionate.

Chlöe is more than a convenient assistant. She has her own voice, limits and understanding of the case.

The missing girl is also treated as more than a plot device.

Finding out what happened to Jacqui requires Vee to understand who she was, what she wanted and why the people around her failed to protect her.

Crime, Madness and the Unexplained

The Lazarus Effect combines a grounded criminal investigation with an unsettling supernatural possibility.

Vee’s visions may be symptoms of trauma or panic.

They may also represent a connection to Jacqui that cannot be explained through ordinary evidence.

The novel allows both possibilities to exist while the investigation continues.

This uncertainty gives the mystery a distinctive atmosphere.

Readers must decide how much they believe and whether every truth can be proven through facts alone.

Why You Should Read The Lazarus Effect

• A fearless Liberian investigative journalist
• A teenage girl missing for two years
• A memorable mystery set in Cape Town
• A strong partnership between Vee and Chlöe
• Fractured families and buried secrets
• A long list of believable suspects
• Questions about trauma, panic and memory
• Sharp observations about race and inequality
• A compelling blend of crime and the unexplained
• The beginning of the Vee Johnson mystery series

Who Will Enjoy This Novel?

The Lazarus Effect is ideal for readers of African crime fiction, psychological mysteries and novels led by complicated female investigators.

It will appeal to anyone looking for books set in Cape Town or mysteries involving journalists rather than conventional police detectives.

Readers interested in strong Black female characters, family secrets and unresolved disappearances will find plenty to discuss.

The novel is also an excellent choice for book clubs exploring trauma, mental health, race, migration and social inequality.

The First Vee Johnson Mystery

This novel introduces Vee Johnson and Chlöe Bishop’s investigative partnership.

Readers who enjoy their first case can continue the series with The Score by H. J. Golakai.

In the second mystery, a routine assignment in Oudtshoorn becomes a dangerous investigation after a body is found hanging with Vee’s scarf around its neck.

You can also discover more titles in Cassava Republic Press’s African crime fiction and thrillers collection.

About H. J. Golakai

Hawa Jande Golakai is a Liberian author, scientist and health consultant.

Her scientific background and interest in forensic investigation contribute to the convincing medical and investigative details in her fiction.

She was selected for Africa39, a project recognising thirty nine promising writers from sub Saharan Africa under the age of forty.

In an interview with Crime Fiction Lover, Golakai discusses Vee Johnson, African crime writing and the development of the series.

Order The Lazarus Effect Today

The Lazarus Effect is a gripping and original mystery about a journalist who refuses to let a missing girl remain forgotten.

As Vee searches for answers, she enters a world of family conflict, hidden motives and dangers that reach far beyond an ordinary missing person investigation.

Order your copy today and follow Vee Johnson into a Cape Town mystery where every secret creates a new suspect.