Hunting the Devil (ePub)

In response to the worldwide epidemic of genocides and to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide, Suanne Schafer has issued a second edition of Hunting the Devil, revised and with a new Author's Note. The electronic edition will be free from April 7 through July 15, 2024, the hundred days the 1994 genocide lasted.

When biracial physician Jessica Hemings volunteers for a medical mission in Rwanda, she becomes entrapped in the maelstrom of Rwandan politics and the enmity between Hutu and Tutsi. Her US passport doesn't afford the security she'd hoped for as her Tutsi-like features plunge her into the horrors of the Rwandan Genocide. Dr. Cyprien Gatera, Jess's superior and a Hutu militant, commandeers her clinic, forces her to treat his wounded, and then slaughters her patients and her adopted sons. She escapes and finds refuge at the Benaco refugee camp in Tanzania.

There, beset by grief, hatred, and PTSD, Jess vows revenge. With the help of Michel Fournier, a French lawyer-turned-war-correspondent, and Dr. Tom Powell, her ex-lover, she searches for Gatera, who has fled Rwanda to escape post-genocide reprisals. When an unknown informant passes information to Jess about her nemesis, she returns to Rwanda despite warnings from the Belgian Secret Service that Gatera plans to assassinate her. In their final showdown, Jess must decide if revenge is best served cold or not at all.

Part medical procedural, part global political thriller, part vigilante novel, and part fractured romance, Hunting the Devil moves from the dusty washboard roads of Rwanda to an inner-city hospital in America to the Natural History Museum of Belgium to the halls of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania as it deftly traces one woman's journey toward justice.

AWARDS:

Finalist, Chanticleer International Book Awards Thriller and Suspense Fiction, 2020

Finalist, the Eric Hoffer Book Awards, the Da Vinci Eye, 2020

Finalist, the International Review of Books

Finalist, the Story Circle Network Women's Book Awards

Finalist, Top Shelf Book Awards, 2020

EDITORIAL REVIEWS:

There's plenty of sharp, suspenseful action to savor here in this impressively poignant, hauntingly realistic, and searingly moving tale. -Kirkus Reviews

It took my love of history, my love of romance, adventure and action and rolled it into one. It was an emotional read which proves how skilled the author really is. -International Review of Books

Thriller readers looking for more insights about African history and culture will find no better choice than Hunting the Devil, which weaves a story of friendship, justice, violence, and racial discrimination into its personal story of faith, loyalty, and challenges to romance during the quest for revenge. -Midwest Book Reviews

On a scale of 1-5, Hunting the Devil deserves an 8. -Kat Henry Doran, Wild Women Reviews

The book can pass as an eyewitness account of the Rwanda genocide. Everything about the escalating hatred and tension that degenerated into unimaginable torture and massacre is in line with many Rwanda genocide accounts I have come across. -Online Book Club

Readers seeking a fast-paced story of confrontation, capture, freedom and revenge will find the action swift and the background realistically compelling in Hunting the Devil, but its main attraction lies in an ability to educate readers about African politics, social struggle, and perceptions. -Donovan's Literary Services