Ali Karim was a Board Member of Bouchercon [The World Crime & Mystery Convention] and co-chaired programming for Bouchercon Raleigh, North Carolina in 2015. He is Assistant Editor of Shots eZine, British correspondent for The Rap Sheet and writes and reviews for many US magazines & Ezines.
It has been a little while since we’ve been riding shotgun with Detective Benny Griessel in South Africa but the wait is finally over with the release of this explosive and violent thriller.
While preparing for his upcoming wedding, Griessel with partner Vince Cupido get involved investigating the death of a female student cyclist on a desolate mountain pass, as well as the principal suspect Basie Small found dead with all the trappings of a professional assassination. Their superiors seem keen to dismiss Basie Small’s murder as a robbery gone tragically wrong. What Basie Small was ‘doing’ may lead Benny and Vince into dangerous intrigue and a conspiracy of sorts that lies at the heart of the country – or does it?
Deon Meyer, an expert in narrative gear shifts, turns the investigation into a caper / heist thriller with a deadly political dimension in the new South Africa.
Written in a terse journalistic style, Meyer’s novel delves into the corruption inherent in political governance linking ex-military operators to a series of heists that may [or may not] be linked to Basie Small’s mysterious sister Emelia – and his past life in the State Security Apparatus, with the equally enigmatic Tau Berger.
Christina Jaeger and her team of professional criminals who appeared in Trackers has returned from Italy and is planning a sequence of multimillion dollar heists – the problem is that they are not the only group eyeing the prize - or are they?
With blistering set pieces, a keen eye for dialogue – Meyer weaves a dramatic and powerful narrative with a vivid [and colourfully ‘alien’] backdrop that is literary escapism at its absolute zenith.
To miss the return of our South African detectives would be a crime.
Highly recommended.
Editor’s Note: Translated from the Afrikaans by K.L. Seegers though there are epithets and phrases in Afrikaans [and South African trivial colloquialisms] sprinkled in the narrative – the novel has a very helpful glossary at the end of the book for reference and contextual authenticity.
