The main story concerns the rape of a teenage Down syndrome girl, Kuyeya, in Lusaka, Zambia, and the efforts to find her attacker.
Human Rights lawyer Zoe Fleming, who is working in Africa, takes up the case with several of her fellow workers and an African policeman, Joseph.
Initially, their investigation is hampered by the inability of Kuyeya to speak due to shock and her lack of identification; nor has she been reported missing.
They meet indifference from many in the community and obstruction from corrupt officials, and Zoe begins to understand the desperate plight of disabled people in many states, where superstition decrees that the disabled are cursed and must stay out of sight.
Many subplots led to a loss of tension, as we follow Zoe and Joseph in their hunt for Kuyeya's relatives and learn of the devastation caused by Aids, poverty and desperation leading to prostitution, and the overwhelming evidence of corruption everywhere.
Zoe, too, has private problems.
She is the daughter of a wealthy American senator who is running for the US presidency and one of whose platforms is the need to limit aid to developing countries.
This enrages Zoe, leading to a falling out, although she will inherit a generous trust fund when she turns 30.
Subplots pad out the main story before the rapist is eventually charged and Kuyeya is acknowledged by her relatives.
The author obviously has a passion not only for Africa but also for the plight of Aids sufferers, disabled children, women forced into prostitution and hospitals needing up-to-date equipment. He makes the case for more, not less, aid for developing countries.
It's a powerful plea made by a work of fiction that is almost certainly based on fact.
• Helen Adams is a retired nurse and keen reader.
