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The Orientation of Dylan Woodger
by Chiuba E. Obele

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Solving mysteries is never easy. Dealing with an infuriated mob boss and acute amnesia only makes it worse.

“The Orientation of Dylan Woodger” is the story of a young man who is torn between his capacity to do evil and his desire to do what’s right. This book explores racism and feminism, and addresses controversial topics such as male rape, hate crimes, and misogyny toward women. Readers may be disturbed by the characters, but the book aspires to be hopeful, as these characters ultimately succeed in finding some measure of humanity.

Dylan Woodger is a college student who is captured and tortured by the mafia. After amnesia obscures the last three years of his life, Dylan learns that he has stolen three million dollars from a ruthless mafia boss. When, how, and why – he doesn’t remember. But someone betrayed him and gave him a drug that erased his memory. He was then given over to be tortured.

Determined to recover his memory, Dylan begins delving into the events of the past. But as each new piece of the puzzle falls into place, Dylan realizes that no one is who they seem . . . especially himself. People who claim to be his friends are hiding secrets from him. And his girlfriend is beautiful, but that’s all he knows about her. Who are these people? And who is Dylan? Even he doesn’t know! But he has links to rapists, white supremacists, and murderers. And his quest for the truth is made even more complicated by the presence of assassins, gangsters, and detectives.

There are so many unanswered questions . . . But first, Dylan must survive the torture.

3.5 out of 5 (rounded to 4)

I’m a little torn on this one, so let’s start with what I really liked about this book. Obele doesn’t shy away from hard topics, and handles them really well. The characters are well-developed, and they’ll absolutely elicit a real reaction from readers. The pacing was very slow in the beginning, and made it difficult to really get into the story. The book opens with a pretty big information dump that doesn’t really add much to the story for me, and definitely slowed down that first chapter quite a bit. That said, Obele does a great job describing the setting around the characters, (like the diner in the opening chapter), and you can see and almost smell where they are at the time. Overall, an interesting read.

WHO WAS I? Dylan J. Woodger

Where was I? I wasn’t sure.

What time was it? I had no clue.

Why was I here? I didn’t know

What I did know, was that it was fucking cold. I could feel undergrowth beneath me. My eyes darted around. There were trees as far as the eye could see. I had a raging headache. I couldn’t move my hands or feet. I looked down at my prone body and saw rope wrapped tightly around my ankles. I couldn’t move my hands — they were tied behind my back. My wrists hurt, and whatever bound them also cut into my arms. I had a pain in my shoulder. It hurt bad. But it was nothing compared to the pain that I would suffer once I fell into the hands of the Utica Mafia.

But we’re not there yet.

In my mind, it was yesterday that my mother dropped me off at Hamilton College. I went to sleep, then woke up in the woods. It was warm and sunny when Mom left me. But now, I woke up in the freezing cold. I thought it was August and I couldn’t figure out how it could get so cold. And why was I tied up? And could the pain in my shoulder be…a bullet wound? But how could it be a bullet wound? I’d never been shot at!

I knew I had to get outta there, or else I’d freeze to death. Most people aren’t experts in rope tying. Usually, the average person without formal training doesn’t know how to do a good job. And this rope tying definitely wasn’t the work of a professional. So I felt confident I could escape. I managed to free my arms with some wriggling though it took more skin off my wrists. Then I focused on freeing my legs. I kicked off my shoes and pulled my feet out of the rope. Once my feet were free, I used my hands to pull the leg bonds down. I was now free, but still clueless. Who had done this to me? One thing I knew for sure: this was the work of an amateur who didn’t know how to properly tie someone up.

Oh, and I noticed something strange about myself. I grew facial hair and had put on some muscle. But when did that happen? I hadn’t looked in a mirror, but I doubted I was the same baby-faced boy my mom had dropped off that morning.

Just then, I heard a group of men shouting out of sync. “Hello, is anybody here? Hello?”

I felt relieved. Did the police send out a search party for me?

I was eager to get out of the cold, and my first instinct was to shout, “Over here!”

That was my first mistake.

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CHIUBA EUGENE OBELE is a poet, writer, and author of The Orientation of Dylan Woodger: A Central New York Crime Story. He can usually be found reading a book, and that book will more likely than not be a crime fiction novel. Chiuba lives and works out of his home in Boston, Massachusetts. When not absorbed in the latest page-turner, Chiuba enjoys spending his summers vacationing with his parents, siblings, and nieces and nephews.

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