Books

GIRL NUMBER 8

My debut novel Girl Number 8 will be published in the spring of 2027 by Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Random House in the U.S., and Hemlock Press, an imprint of HarperCollins in the U.K.

The novel follows Sola Adeyemi, a detective at the woefully understaffed Department of Ritualistic Murders and Human Sacrifice, who is brought into the investigation of a four-year-old girl’s disappearance. The child’s name is Frieda, and she vanished under the care of her mother’s mistress, the wife of a wealthy politician. And while the higher-ups are determined to keep this case quiet, Sola is determined to root out the truth…

Praise for the Book

'I thought it was exceptional … really well-written, intricately plotted and strongly characterised with just the right amount of immersive description to add atmosphere without detracting from the tension of the action. I’m looking forward to meeting Sola again in what I hope will be a long-running series'
Harriet Tyce, Sunday Times bestselling author of Witch Trial

'I flew through the pages of Girl Number 8. Janice Okoh's incredibly atmospheric and big-hearted debut balanced dread and hope and a large cast of characters with elegance and urgency. A gem of a novel!'
Rachel Howzell Hall, NYT Bestselling Author of Mist and Malice and The Last One

With shades of TV’s TRUE DETECTIVE and strong-on-setting bestsellers CHILD 44 and THE DRY, GIRL NUMBER 8 is more than a crime novel. It explores the mother-child relationship in all its forms, unpacks the darkly fascinating reality of ritual killings in Nigeria, and is a love letter to my mother country.