419

From internationally bestselling travel writer Will Ferguson, author of Happiness™ and Spanish Fly, comes a novel both epic in its sweep and intimate in its portrayal of human endurance.

A car tumbles through darkness down a snowy ravine.

A woman without a name walks out of a dust storm in sub-Saharan Africa.

And in the seething heat of Lagos City, a criminal cartel scours the Internet, looking for victims.

Lives intersect. Worlds collide. And it all begins with a single email: “Dear Sir, I am the daughter of a Nigerian diplomat, and I need your help…”

Will Ferguson takes readers deep into the labyrinth of lies that is “419,” the world’s most insidious Internet scam.

When Laura Curtis, a lonely editor in a cold northern city, discovers that her father has died because of one such swindle, she sets out to track down—and corner—her father’s killer. It is a dangerous game she’s playing, however, and the stakes are higher than she can ever imagine.

Woven into Laura’s journey is a mysterious woman from the African Sahel with scars etched into her skin and a young man who finds himself caught up in a web of violence and deceit.

And running through it, a dying father’s final words: “You, I love.”A GLOBE AND MAIL BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

“419 points in the direction of something entirely new: the Global Novel. . . . Ferguson is a true travel writer, his eye attuned to the last horrible detail. He is also a master at dialogue and suspense. It is tempting to put 419 in some easy genre category, but that would only serve to deny its accomplishment and its genius.”
—2012 Scotiabank Giller Prize jury citation

“419 is more than a drugstore-rack police procedural: It’s a deeply ironic, thoroughly engaged politico-philosophical thriller from a comic writer best known for winning a trio of Leacock Awards. . . . You won’t sleep until you finish, and then rest won’t come easily. Riveting. Provocative.”
—The Globe and Mail

“A sweeping story with complex twists and turns that spans continents, breaks hearts and ruins lives.”
—The Chronicle-Herald (Halifax)

“The story [Ferguson] weaves is heart-wrenching, fascinating, and scary. A thriller with a raw nerve ending. . . . Ferguson . . . dazzles us in 419 with an intricately woven, urgent story. It is an unflinching, ambitious work, flinging us back and forth across the Atlantic, and taking us into danger. . . . It is a persuasive work of fiction based on a very original premise. Ferguson who swings so deftly from humour to thriller is a writer who can genuinely surprise.”
—Toronto Star

“Ferguson’s revenge novel will appeal to everyone. . . . A sprawling but beautiful third novel. It is a mixture of intrigue, storytelling, parenthood, sorrow, vengeance and fun. It reads a little bit like a Ludlum spy saga, a little bit like a Dickens character novel, a little bit like an Oscar-seeking movie. . . . [Ferguson] designed [419] as a page-turner. He succeeds fully.”
—Winnipeg Free Press

“419 marks Will Ferguson’s arrival as Canada’s undisputable master of the page-turning suspense novel, easily the equal of any international master one might care to name.”
—John Barber, The Globe and Mail

“This book shimmers. Tautly paced and vividly drawn, 419 captures the reader in a net of desire and deceit drawn tight by the interconnections of humanity in the twenty-first century.”
—Vincent Lam, Giller Prize–winning author of Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures

“419 is an ambitious, fast-paced global thriller which I found impossible to put down.”
—Camilla Gibb, author of Sweetness in the Belly and The Beauty of Humanity Movement

“Will Ferguson’s 419 unveils the brilliant layers of a Nigerian cyberspace sting that brings devastation to an entire family. Ferguson’s characters live by their wits, employing techno-wizardry and the cold ingenuity of the old-fashioned con. Intrigue, coercion, shame, and torqued suspense unfold with harrowing speed and the illuminating elegance of a cyber click.”
—Lisa Moore, author of Alligator and February

“Though there is a touch of humour in its pages, 419 is much more of a showcase for Ferguson’s travel-writing talents. . . . A truly enjoyable book. . . . Ferguson is a keen observer of landscapes and cityscapes, and has a brilliant ear for dialogue and accent. . . . You will never see those creative 419 emails in your inbox in quite the same way.”
—Montreal Gazette

“A powerful read. . . . Ferguson is a heavy-weight now.”
—NOW Magazine

"419 opens with a bang. . . . Ferguson delivers. . . . 419 is an ambitious and well-realized literary novel, a thriller with a conscience and a heart."
—Literary Review of Canada

"Gripping. . . . Fascinating. . . . A multi-faceted look at globalization."
—FastForwardAward-winning travel writer and novelist WILL FERGUSON is one of Canada’s bestselling writers. His first book, Why I Hate Canadians was a bestseller and established him as an iconoclastic writer; How to Be a Canadian, co-authored with his brother Ian, was a Globe and Mail bestseller for over eighty weeks. His other books of non-fiction include Bastards and Boneheads and Canadian History for Dummies. His first novel, Happiness™, won the 2002 Leacock Medal for Humour and the 2002 Canadian Authors Association Award for Fiction. He was also awarded the Scotiabank Giller Prize for his novel 419, and the Crime Writers of Canada Award for The Finder. Will lives in Calgary with his wife, Terumi, and their sons, Alex and Alister.

willferguson.ca