Samuel Tyne is a novel with multiple themes, from the cultural conflicts of an African couple settling in an Alberta town, to the blight of dealing with psychotic children. Esi seems to delight in making situations just a little bleaker than they might be in real life: thus Samuel, while working for the Canadian government, has a father-son set of bosses who are bizarre without being in any way humorous. Sometimes the novel is very alive and engrossing, mostly it is bleak and unrewarding. The two most interesting and well drawn characters are secondary characters: the Tyne's white "friends" in their small town. Incidentally, there is nothing mysterious about the ending, as a reviewer wrote, it is quite clear who committed the crime.