Description:

Zimbabwe, 2194 The three children of the wealthy and powerful General Matsika steal out of the house on a forbidden adventure -- and promptly disappear. Their parents call in the best detectives in Africa, or at least the most unusual: the Ear, the Eye and the Arm, whose exposure to nuclear waste has given them powers far beyond those of other human beings. Their mission takes them to the underbelly of the city, where truth and lies are often the same; to the toxic and dangerous Dead Man's Vlei, ruled by the tyrannical She-Elephant; to the swaying top of the luxurious Mile-High MacIlwaine Hotel. Yet the children stay just out of their reach. The evils of the past, the technology of the future, criminals with plans far beyond what anyone can imagine -- can the Ear, the Eye and the Arm snatch the Matsika children from the heart of it all? The year is 2174. The place is Zimbabwe, Africa. Three adventurous children escape their parents’ heavily guarded mansion to explore the dangerous world outside. They soon learn how dangerous it really is. Tendai, the oldest boy, is their leader, although he worries about being brave enough. Rita, his sister, is an expert at starting fights. Kuda, his little brother, is willing to try anything. They are quickly enslaved in a plastic mine ruled by the terrifying She Elephant and her army of vlei people. Vlei people have been living in the dump so long they look like piles of trash. The children flee them to find new perils. They are pursued by the Ear, the Eye and the Arm, detectives hired by the children’s parents, who always seem to arrive too late. The worst danger of all lies at the top of the Mile High MacIlwaine, a hotel so tall that it sways like a tree in the wind. For up there are not merely humans, but spirits whose aim is to devour the souls of Zimbabwe.