Overview

The Last King of Scotland follows Nicholas Garrigan, a young Scottish doctor who travels to Uganda in the early years of Idi Amin’s rule. After a chance meeting, Garrigan becomes Amin’s personal physician. What begins as adventure turns into moral entrapment as the regime grows more violent.

Writing & Voice

We found the voice confident and unsettling. The first person narration pulls us into Garrigan’s limited understanding and self deception. The prose is energetic and clear, allowing charm and menace to exist side by side as events slide beyond control.

Content & Perspective

The story is told entirely through Garrigan’s viewpoint, which shapes how we witness Amin’s brutality. We experience the regime indirectly at first, through privilege and proximity, before the consequences of denial and cowardice become impossible to escape.

Themes

The novel explores power, responsibility and the danger of political innocence. It examines how charisma can mask violence and how ordinary people become complicit through inaction. Colonial legacy and Western arrogance sit beneath the personal narrative.

What Worked

• Gripping moral tension sustained throughout.
• Complex portrayal of attraction to power.
• Strong historical grounding without didacticism.

Minor Quibbles

• The narrow viewpoint limits Ugandan voices.
• The narrator’s blindness may frustrate some readers.

Final Thoughts

The Last King of Scotland is a gripping, unsettling novel we found impossible to shake, exposing how moral blindness and comfort slide dangerously into complicity.

Rating: ★★★★★ / 5