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Title: The Devil’s Heart
Author: Akinmolade Tirenioluwa Durojaye
Pages: 69
Reviewer: Henry Akubuiro
When two devilish characters fall in love with an innocent girl, what happens? Akinmolade Durojaye’s debut novella, The Devil’s Heart dwells on love and its shenanigans.
In this work of fiction, heartbreak and fatality complement the theme of love. Central to the love triangle is Sandra and her admirers, Collins and Adex. The two men, unknown to her, are two of the most dreaded cultists on campus whose hearts, surprisingly, mellow when they come across Sandra.
The author constantly deploys the element of surprise in her novella, with twists and turns when you least expect them. As the plot opens, we follow the trajectory of the protagonist to the University of Benin, a new world that, strangely, breeds villains. She comes across as a naive campus girl who doesn’t know what she is up against until the clog in her eyes is removed.
A flashback takes us to her first day on campus when she, walking alone at night, runs into an ambush by cultists, who drag her to an uncompleted building, ready to rape her. They instruct her: “If you really don’t want to die, start removing your clothes off your body.”
The author introduces the element of surprise here, as a saviour comes from nowhere – in Ann, her childhood friend, who, noticing her travail, runs back to look for assistance, which she gets from two passers-by. Sandra has been saved by Adex and Bullet, two hard men belonging to the Wolf confraternity!
From that moment, the author delineates beauty and beast characterisation. Everybody on campus knows Adex as the Wolf Lord, and his rival is Collins, who leads another dreaded cult group. Incidentally, both men fall in love with Sandra at the same time. Sandra is, however, unaware of their dark side. But then, when she realises the lions around her, she gradually withdraws from them, and finds solace in the library. Nevertheless, the news that Adex is stepping on his toes makes Collins to murder him when he least expect. Sandra isn’t convinced that Collins is the man for her. She soon finds genuine love in Segun, a bookworm that is untainted by blood.
The author doesn’t allow Collins’ bloody hands to go scot-free. Cindy, a former stripper and greedy character like him, whom Collins falls in love with after the Sandra flight, attempts to kill him after a successful paid assassination assignment carried out by both of them. He guns her down after she shot him.
The book teaches us that love goes beyond superficial attractions – do not fall into the trap! The novella is a good read but it’s strange that it has no publisher’s details to reference. And let’s hope the author will remedy some production errors in the next edition.
