7 Surprising Things a Mysterious Neighbour Can Teach You About Everyday Crime
Most of us have had a neighbour we couldn't quite read — the one who keeps odd hours, speaks in monosyllables, and always seems to be tinkering with something under the hood of his car. But what if that neighbour was hiding something far darker than antisocial habits? In The Splintered Door, Emmanuel Kariuki's young protagonist Kahiu notices something strange about his new neighbour one cold morning: the man is filing away at his car's engine with a metal tool; not a spanner, not a wrench, but a file. It's an innocuous observation, but it unravels a web of crime that nearly costs Kahiu his life. Here's what that story teaches us about crime hiding in plain sight. 1. Strange Behaviour Is Often a First Clue We are wired to rationalise what we see. When Kahiu spots his neighbour, a man he has nicknamed "Mr New Neighbour" bent over his car with a metal file in his hands and a cigarette in his mouth, his first instinct is to help. Crime disguises itself as no...