This is great story about a "doctor-in training" against the background of the Nigerian Civil War. Being a medical student is difficult enough without having one's studies interrupted by war. John Anakwenze provides the reader with a fascinating account of his life in Lagos and thereafter, his "escape" to Eastern Nigeria. He went to the U.K. for postgraduate studies before returning to Nigeria in 1985. His narrative is crammed with stories about the diverse characters who he met, including the myriad girlfriends. He had a great fondness for nightclubs and was also a very talented storyteller. John survived squalor, constantly moving from place to place and finally succeeding as a locum consultant physician in geriatric medicine in the United Kingdom.

The storming and week-long occupation of the Embassy of Nigeria in the Philippines by students in 1986 had one purpose - to fight apathy and turn the Mission towards its true mandate of serving the interests of Nigeria. Treachery had betrayed this purpose, leaving successive Nigerian envoys ever more deadened to the care of their charges. By the early to late 1990s, four known and two probable Nigerian citizens had been assassinated in cold-blood in various cities across archipelagic Philippines, in circumstances that were questionable and suspect. The Embassy of Nigeria was headed by Charge d'Affaires a. i. Samuel I. Ajewole, a Deeper Life fundamentalist, who had abdicated his responsibilities to a criminally-inclined, skirt-chasing Head of Chancery named Femi Akenson Rotimi. Fear had gripped the Nigerian Community which started to clamor for official show of concern and interest by the Mission in these wanton violations of human rights. The embassy, hiding behind indefensible diplomatic clichés sat on its hands and did nothing. As the agitation for action mounted, the Mission resorted to intimidation and death threats against one of its citizens leading to unprecedented polarization in the small Nigerian Community. A Broken Mission is the story of Nigeria's failed diplomacy in the Philippines, based on the two-year crusade to reform the Embassy of Nigeria, Manila, following official indifference to these murders. The book chronicles the implacable advocacy for justice and clean embassy government that sought to force an inept, abusive and corrupt diplomatic Mission headed by a rogue, scandalous diplomat to reform and serve its community with respect and sensitivity.

The title Smiling Death Gang graphically illustrates the theme and the flavour of this book. A feast for those who thrive on reading about violence, crime, cruelty and totally weird characters; it features a gang of violent criminals who terrorise the citizens of local villages. Allergic to work, they subsist on hanging around the local motor park, touting for tips and looking for opportunities to cause havoc; even going so far as to gate-crash a wedding, steal the guest's handbags and then break up the wedding ceremony, just for the hell of it. Nwadibia, their leader, ugly as sin, shuffles along the street, constantly plotting ways of exacting revenge against his enemies or torturing the citizenry. Lovers of intrigue and violence grab this one!