The Centre

"At first, The Centre seems like so many other thrillers – a young woman finds herself in a secluded environment with a shocking secret at its core. In this case, the young woman is Anisa, a frustrated translator, and the secluded environment is an elite training program that can make anyone fluent in any language in just 10 days. Where this book starts to turn things on its head is when Anisa discovers the Centre’s shocking secret – and fails to be all that shocked (in fact, she kind of vibes with it). To that trope subversion add smart critiques on the intersections of race, class and gender – as well as a few laugh-out-loud moments – and what you have is either a thriller with a literary theory degree or literary fiction wrapped in a thriller’s (skull-and-flower-encrusted) cover."