5 Books to Keep You Turning Pages This April

April is supposed to be all flowers, fresh starts, and softly filtered light. But if your idea of a good time is less blooming and more betrayals, breakdowns, and big reveals, this list is for you. These books will grip you by the throat, whisper secrets in your ear, and leave you side-eyeing everyone you know.

From thrillers that pull the rug out from under you to emotionally intense novels that unravel slowly and painfully, these are the reads that will keep you up at night, and not just because you’re avoiding work. Here are 5 books to keep you turning pages this month. 

Gaslight – Femi Kayode 

Femi Kayode’s Gaslight is the second in a series of suspense books, the first is Lightseekers. In Gaslight, Folasade Dawodu is married to a man of God and is the First Lady of one of Nigeria’s biggest megachurches. When her husband, the revered Bishop Jeremiah Dawodu, is arrested mid-sermon for her murder, Lagos is stunned. The congregation refuses to believe it. And the First Lady? Still nowhere to be found.

Enter Philip Taiwo, an investigative psychologist roped into the case by his sister, who’s a member of the church. But as he peels back layers of worship, wealth, and tightly held secrets, the real mystery might be how close this case cuts to home. 

Mechanics of Yenagoa – Michael Afenfia

Ebinimi is not your average mechanic. He’s the beating heart of Kalakala Street, part grease-stained genius, part chaos magnet. One moment he’s fixing cars, the next he’s joyriding in a customer’s ride, and accidentally setting off a chain reaction involving drugs, dodgy politicians, and actual assassins. As if that’s not enough, he’s also juggling a messy love life, a preacher who’s turned his home into a pulpit, and a cast of characters straight out of a working-class fever dream.

Set in the bustling streets of Yenagoa, Mechanics of Yenagoa is a wild, fast-paced ride through Nigeria’s under-celebrated south. It’s funny, gritty, and surprisingly tender. For fans of streetwise storytelling, this one delivers heart, hustle, and a few twists that will blindside you like a danfo in traffic.

Men Don’t Die – Ever Obi

With stolen money and a shattered heart, Brume Lauva flees the only life he’s known, a decade of failures and broken dreams. Lagos beckons with the promise of reinvention, a clean slate where he might finally start anew. But fate has other plans. When a catastrophic bus crash leaves Brume the sole survivor, he abandons the accident scene and continues his journey, carrying both his questionable fortune and an unsettling mystery.

In Lagos, everything falls suspiciously into place: a reunion with a university friend who once shared his ambitions, successful investments that multiply his stolen funds, and an unexpected romance that begins to heal his wounded heart. Until he discovers a monumental text that shatters everything he thought he knew about life.

The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives – Lola Shoneyin

In The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, Lola Shoneyin crafts a vivid narrative set in modern-day Ibadan, Nigeria. The story delves into the life of Baba Segi, a man who prides himself on his polygamous household comprising four wives and seven children. His world is upended with the arrival of Bolanle, his youngest wife and a university graduate, whose presence ignites tensions and unearths buried secrets within the family. 

Shoneyin masterfully explores themes of tradition versus modernity, the complexities of polygamous relationships, and the resilience of women navigating a patriarchal society. Each wife’s perspective is intricately woven into the narrative, revealing personal struggles, desires, and the lengths they will go to protect their positions. ​

The novel has garnered critical acclaim for its insightful portrayal of domestic life and female agency in Africa. It was nominated for the 2012 Nigeria Prize for Literature and longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2011.

The Nigerwife – Vanessa Walters 

Nicole Oruwari seemed to be living the Lagos dream: wealth, beauty, and a spot among the elite Nigerwives, a circle of foreign women married into Nigerian affluence. But when she vanishes during a boat trip, that shiny exterior begins to crack, revealing a world more complex than anyone imagined.

With the case growing colder by the day, Nicole’s Aunt boards a flight from London to Lagos, determined to uncover the truth. What she finds is a maze of secrets, silence, and a life her niece kept carefully hidden. And as Claudine digs deeper, she’s forced to confront ghosts of her own.

The Nigerwife is an exploration of diaspora, identity, and the high cost of secrets. Dark, tense, and emotionally layered, it’s the kind of book that lingers long after the final page.