The Missing American is about a police officer named Emma Djan who lives in Accra Ghana and is 26 years old. Emma works at the Criminal Investigation Department, CID, and finds that she hates her current job. She wanted to work at the Homicide Division. Emma does the best she can to have the job she wants. She eventually goes to the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP). DCOP Cleophus Laryea was among the top ranks in the Ghana Police Services (GPS). Laryea approves her transfer to the Homicide Department. But the final decision lies with Commissioner Alex Andoh who is in an even higher position in the GPS. Emma went to talk to Commissioner Andoh. He asked her why she left and he tested her with some cases in the department. Then, he led her to a room and tries to rape her. Emma ran away and went home. When she returned to work the following day she was fired because Andoh had told her boss, Inspector Kuma, that she spoke badly about him.
Emma meets with Laryea. Laryea asks her what happens but Emma refuses to tell him. Laryea was suspicious about the story he was told by Andoh and Kuma. Regardless, he fires her but he also offers her a position as a private investigator. His friend Yemo Sowah happens to own a private detective agency. In the meantime, she finds a part-time job at an Apple store. Months later Yemo Sowah calls her and tells her to meet with him. When she is there he tells her about the rules and conditions of the job. The next day, Emma would become a detective at Yemo Sowah’s agency.
Emma’s first official case was about an American man named Gordon Tilson, who was robbed of $4,000 because he believed he was giving his money to a poor Ghanaian woman named “Helena” whose sister got into a severe car crash. They have been meeting with each other online for months. Gordon thought this lady was real so he fell in love with her. His son Derek looked at the conversation between him and Helena on Gordon’s social media and warned his father that this could be a scam. Gordon didn’t want to believe his son, so he went to Ghana to visit her on Valentine's Day. He eventually found that he got scammed when he felt miserable. He told his son Derek about what happened and Derek told him to go back to Washington DC. His friend Casper Guttenberg told him that he had a good opportunity to expose whoever did this to him. Gordon went with Casper’s advice. He went to Ghana to investigate the situation. But on April 3, he went missing. Then, Derek went from DC to Accra. He went to the police and found out they weren’t helpful so he went to Yemo Sowah’s private agency. Throughout the book, Emma along with Yemo Sowah will try to find the missing American man, Gordon. They will reach out to many people like Sana Sana who is a mysterious figure who keeps his face hidden throughout the book. Sana Sana is a journalist who breaks many stories of corruption and hires people to work for him.
The story does a good job of exposing the worldwide issue when it comes to social justice. In this book, we can see this when justice isn’t served for Emma with the assault Andoh tried to play on her. When we look at society, it seems like the people around her won’t support her if she tells what happened. Emma was scared to tell what happened since she believed she would be bullied or she could even be an outcast from society.
Another societal problem mentioned in the book that I believe is a huge issue nowadays worldwide is cybersecurity. The cybersecurity field is growing to protect internet users from getting their internet information stolen by hackers. Unfortunately in the book, these kinds of scams aren’t unheard of in Ghana. Romance scams usually have some indicators. If you never met the person face to face you may be a potential victim of a scam. Other indicators could be that there is a medical emergency, any event that requires you for a loan, or the person can’t leave Ghana to come to your country even if you’ve sent large amounts of money.
Romance scams aren’t the only types of scams. There are many other types of scams. There are lottery scams, credit card frauds, inheritance scams, business venture scams, and more. According to the author “the gold scam was the king.” Gold scams usually bring thousands of dollars. This scam starts with the pursuit of a suitable overseas scam target, known as the mugu which means “fool.” Let’s say this mugu is a gold investor. The scammer will say they are selling money for the investor. The investor’s independent testing shows that the ore has gold. But then later in the process, the scammer switches the container. Later when the investor returns to his country, he finds that he paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for worthless metal.
Currently, the police aren't doing much to stop the scams. A lot of the police are even in the game themselves. They protect these scamming industries in exchange for money. People who do try to take action like Gordon, are putting themselves at risk. All in all, the lack of social justice, cybersecurity, and corruption are causing many problems in Africa and the world.
Source: Quartey, Kwei. The Missing American. (Emma Djan Mystery, #1.). Soho Crime, 2020.
“Romance Scams.” U.S. Embassy in Ghana, 27 Aug. 2019https://gh.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/romance-scams/.
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