"The Secret History of Las Vegas" by Chris Abani - review

Conjoined twins, serial killing, secret psychological testing, Las Vegas's outcasts ("the Downwinders" - those affected by decades of atomic testing in and under the Nevada desert), the life of an exotic prostitute (Asia), life in 1980's Soweto, the torturing and death carried out by secret police in Apartheid South Africa and an ongoing murder investigation - this novel covers a lot of ground in its 317 pages.

The characters are complicated and contradictory: Dr Sunil Singh, a South African psychologist with a dark past (no pun intended), now working in Las Vegas on a secret and highly unethical project for the military and world-weary but dogged detective Salazar who is investigating the murders of Las Vegas's homeless. All these elements are intricately linked in this strange, haunting book.
The chapters describing the sideshow in the middle of the desert (The Carnival of Lost Souls) could have been expanded. The chapters containing Sunil's back story in South Africa were harrowing but essential to understand why he is being hunted by the mysterious, Eskia.
If you are looking for the usual serial killer thriller, this is not it.