Ayura Ayira is a melting pot author who, with a masterful blend of genres, effortlessly spins captivating tales that empower, uplift, and celebrate the enduring power of strength, love, and diversity. Her books delve into dark content and feature characters from diverse social, economic, and racial backgrounds, often set in international locations. “Root of All Evil” is set in an intricate world of politics, spies, and assassinations where nothing is ever as it appears. It is available on Amazon and Goodreads. (Amazon, 2023)

“Root of All Evil” – What do you do when your true existence is cloaked in darkness? Set in fictional Togulisho, West Africa, First Lady Zayani Ada, formerly known as Chinasa, resides in a realm of duality, fueled by a clandestine operation orchestrated by her dictator husband Changa Ada and the powerful foreign forces that sustain tyranny. Balancing a facade of humanitarianism with internal turmoil, she keeps her identity concealed, haunted by the heinous acts she once played a part in during her country’s harrowing genocide. The story begins as a flashback in the Prologue, when, as a young girl, Zayani witnesses the total slaughter of her village and is taken as a child bride. In the first chapter, she is hosting a charity gala to benefit the Ijun people when she meets Stefan, who will ultimately challenge everything she has ever believed. In that moment, she tumbles into an overwhelming infatuation. With him, she can finally shed the layers of pretense and confront the consequences of her past actions—the damage she inflicted upon the world as a child soldier and the devastation she furthered by marrying the man responsible for spearheading the ethnic cleansing campaign that shattered her life. The weight of her secrets has placed her life, as well as the lives of her people, in constant jeopardy. Before she can embrace her own rendition of a blissful ending, she knows she must confront her past and seek redemption. As love beckons to her soul, the urge for revenge is stronger. She must reconcile her past misdeeds, charting a course that paves the way for her ultimate happily ever after.

In novels, politics, civil war, and humanitarian issues can sometimes be one sided and feature mostly male characters. What makes “The Root of All Evil” unique is that the protagonist is a strong female character who has been through hell and back, yet wants to help her people but still needs to look out for herself. Zayani can never let her guard down as she is under constant threat of violence. To make matters worse, she has to pretend to like her husband as a survival mechanism but in reality she cannot stomach him. She is complex and multidimensional; vulnerable but strong and smart enough to know when to push an issue and when to let it go: “Zayani wondered if she was boundary-defying or just a bitch with a long memory.” Due to her circumstances, she was a child soldier so as an adult, she has no qualms about killing when necessary. Even though she experiences love, she does not let it cloud her judgement because she learns that “Love, the soul’s highest aspiration, was remarkably unreliable. Hate is the most reliable emotion in the world.” With complex and well developed characters, this well written political thriller goes deep into the mind of a woman who has been through enough trauma and pain to last her a lifetime. The language is down to earth yet hauntingly poetic and descriptive: “The cut sounded like a foot sliding into a slipper, but the red of his insides splattered her face.” Overall, “The Root of All Evil” is a must read page turner with a riveting story that shines a light on how far people are willing to go due to greed and an unquenchable thirst for power. It is recommended for fans of Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum, and Vince Flynn who appreciate political thrillers with an added human element component.

*Disclaimer: due to violence and sexual content, this book is intended for mature readers, but in this reviewer’s opinion, the violence is not graphic.

“Sometimes the only response to unspeakable cruelty is cruelty. There is no speech, no prison, no meeting of the minds, that reaches these people. There is only blood for blood.”

*The author was contacted for an honest review of this book. The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to her.