Juba Good

By Vicki Delany

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raven Books
• Release date: Apr 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781459804913

Vicki Delany

"It's a crime not to read Delany". London Free Press. Vicki Delany is one of Canada's most prolific crime writers. She writes everything from standalone novels of psychological suspense such as Scare the Light Away and Burden of Memory, to the Constable Molly Smith books, a traditional village/police procedural series set in the British Columbia Interior, including In the Shadow of the Glacier and Among the Departed, to a light-hearted historical series, Gold Digger and Gold Fever, set in the raucous heyday of the Klondike Gold Rush. In a starred review of Winter of Secrets, Publisher's Weekly said: She uses a bare-bones style, without literary flash, to achieve artistry as sturdy and restrained as a Shaker chair. And Library Journal gave Among the Departed a started review saying: "Her exceptional ability to create characters, both realistic and sometimes creepy, makes this another terrific addition to her outstanding body of work. Having taken early retirement from her job as a systems analyst in the high-pressure financial world, Vicki is settling down to the rural life in bucolic, Prince Edward County, Ontario where she rarely wears a watch.

Reviews for Juba Good

[bayleaf_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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.

[toades_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[mariecg · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[tarmina_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[pmarshall_82 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[19anne44 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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.

[gypsysmom_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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!

[kcaroth1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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.

[lostinalibrary · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[tatoosh-3 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Delany’s first rapid reads novel featuring RCMP sergeant Ray Robertson takes place as he is nearing the end of a one-year tour in South Sudan with the UN. He has been working as a mentor and trainer in a program designed to help the country develop a modern police force. The story focuses on Robertson’s efforts to identify and arrest a serial murderer who is preying on prostitutes.Many of the local police officers are former members of the South Sudan People’s Liberation Army. Hardened by their years of struggle and cynical about Robertson’s efforts to encourage a stronger sense of purpose, they display a passive indifference to the struggling masses they are supposed to serve. Robertson is handicapped by a complete lack of the modern technology and the absence of procedural techniques that underlie effective police practice, His UN colleagues all seem to be equally passive, and they view Robertson as somewhat of a naïve trouble-maker. Delany’s depiction of the poverty-stricken nation and the hopeless situation of its people is compelling. Unfortunately, that makes for rather grim reading. Robertson’s effort to identify the serial killer is mildly interesting, but disappointment lies ahead as Delany opt for a cynical ending. I didn’t enjoy this book very much.

[boobalack · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

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.