Things are not as they seem to be. Re-united with the only true friends he has ever known, he goes on an adventure of discoveries that lead him to shocking revelations that will change his life as he knows it.
In a thrilling twist of events, his family’s past unravels. Lies are exposed, secrets that lay buried for years are brought to light and Kim is at spiraling center of it all.
Wanjiku Gitagia is a HR Professional living in Nairobi, Kenya.
This is her debut novel and she aspires to write many more before her pen asks to be retired. She is a huge people enthusiast, dog lover (although she does not own any), a lover of life, hearty laughter and cute nicknames.
Wanjiku is a mother of two wonderful girls. She enjoys nice, long walks and sunny days in garden restaurants, sipping on tasty cocktails (sometimes not so tasty).
Not sure how true this is, but she believes that all books are good books and that once you start reading one, you will always get to the good part (only if you keep going).
Being a girl who goes to late to the party but goes anyway, she is currently pursuing her first degree in Communication.
Her mantra in life? Que Sera, Sera. Whatever will be, will be!
- Format available: (paperback, hardcover, ebook)
- ISBN: 978-9914-35-602-1
- Publisher: Self Published
- Publication date: Feb 6th 2026
- Number of pages: 236
- List of bookstores it’s available in: Nuria, Hekaya, Kibanga Books and Nairobi Books
1 review for DEPORTEE (Fiction, Thriller/Drama)
Doreen –
I just finished reading Deportee for our Authors and Writers book club, and I need to talk about it.
The story follows Kim, a man who moves back to Kenya after things fall apart for him in America. He moves into his mother Sandra’s huge house in Runda. She is rich, cold, and clearly ashamed of him. From the very first page, you feel how low Kim has sunk. He is hungry, ashamed, and stuck in his own head. It is a heavy way to start a book, but it works. You feel his pain right away.
What I liked most is how the house is not what it looks like. There is a quiet house help named Wangui who watches everything and knows more than she lets on. There is old family money with a hidden history. And there is a wrongful imprisonment from the past that ties everyone in that house together. Nothing in this book is simple. Every person is hiding something.
The last part of the book is where everything comes together. Almost every character turns out to be someone other than who you thought. A house help, an uncle, a mother, none of them are simply who they first appear to be. And a hidden inheritance changes the whole picture. It is a lot to take in at once, but Gitagia builds toward it slowly, dropping small hints along the way, so it never feels cheap or unearned.
At its heart, this book is about shame, family secrets, and what it means to come home changed. It also looks closely at class and wealth in Nairobi, and at what it really means to be a “deportee,” someone who left with big dreams and came back with none of them.
This is Gitagia’s debut novel, and honestly, it does not read like one.
My rating: 4.5 out of 5. A tense, emotional family drama with a slow-burn mystery underneath it. If you like books where nobody in the house is quite who they seem, pick this one up.