Battersea Island is the follow up to Robert H. Nieder's first, book Sense of a Hummingbird. Nieder masterfully integrates the issue of racism in his suspense-filled second novel. The story follows protagonist Mathias Kamau-Barrett as he tries to help the Gullah families in Battersea Island. Gifted with the "sense", an ability he inherited from his mother, Matthias uncovers that greed and perhaps racism are the motives behind the County's move to get rid of the indigenous inhabitants of the island.Matthias, a brilliant college student, decides to take a break from school and leaves for Battersea Island to assist the Gullah from losing their homes due to a suspiciously excessive tax assessment of their properties. Before leaving, he discovers that he has psychic abilities which can detect possible events and reads people with perfect precision. As he searches for answers, the "sense" guides Matthias in unmasking the racist agenda of the group behind the plot to force the Gullah off Battersea Island."Although Nieder's characters and plot are a work of fiction, he adeptly incorporates a real issue that once plagued the Gullah and the sophistication of racist groups of this day and age. Nieder keeps his story moving by alternating between various situations involving Mathias and the notorious inner workings of racists," Red City Review.