“There are rules. Use them. In any case, you can do what you want, it won’t change. I have been a policeman for over twenty-five years, Fransman, and I’m telling you now, they will always treat you like a dog, the people, the press, the bosses, politicians, regardless of whether you are black, white or brown. Unless they’re phoning you in the middle of the night saying “there’s someone at the window” – then you’re the fucking hero. But tomorrow when the sun shines, you’re nothing again. The question is: can you take it? Ask yourself that. If you can’t, drop it, get another job. Or put up with it, Fransman, because it’s never going to stop.”

Book Review:

Review by Bonnie Brody (SEP 10, 2010)

Deon Meyer’s books just keep getting better and better. His newest thriller, Thirteen Hours, had me on the edge of my seat from the first chapter. For those readers not familiar with Meyer’s previous books, his novels take place in his homeland of South Africa with this novel taking place in Capetown. The book is a roller coaster of a read with several different plot lines vying for precedence at the same time and each of them as compelling as the other. The book takes place in a time period of thirteen hours, hence the title.

We first encounter a young American named Rachel who is running for her life. Her friend Erin has been murdered with Rachel as a witness. Rachel was able to escape and the murderers are chasing Rachel through the outskirts and city of Capetown by car and by foot. So far, she has managed to evade them. At the same time, the police are dealing with the murder of a music studio executive, Adam Barnard, who is found murdered in his home with a gun near the hand of his passed out alcoholic wife, Alexa Barnard. Both of these murders are being investigated simultaneously with alternating chapters dealing with each.

The protagonists of this book are strikingly characterized. This is one of Meyer’s gifts. Along with all the action, we are privy to perspicacious and uncommonly careful characterizations that are rarely encountered in thrillers. The head detective is Benny Griessel, an Afrikaans inspector who is hoping to be promoted to captain. Currently his job description is vague, but he is supposed to mentor new inspectors. Benny is a recovering alcoholic with 156 days of sobriety. He is separated from his wife because of his alcoholism. One of the requirements for their reconciliation is that Benny remain sober for six months. He and his wife are supposed to meet this very evening to discuss the future of their relationship.

The novel talks about the different races of the inspectors – Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, or coloured. Benny, an Afrikaans, is mentoring Vusi Ndabeni, a Xhosa man who is responsible for overseeing Rachel’s case. Vusi needs to learn how to be more aggressive in his interrogations. He has a gentle but strong spirit. Benny is also mentoring inspector Fransman Dekkker, a coloured man of mixed ethnicity who is sexually addicted and is in charge of the case of Adam Barnard, the murdered music executive. Then there is Zulu inspector Mbali Kaleni, a female detective who is not accepted among her peers because of her gender but she is also very fat. She is described as smelling of Kentucky Fried Chicken all the time though no one sees her eating it. “She looked like an overstuffed pigeon – short, with a big bulge in front and a big bulge behind in her tight black trouser suit. Large handbag over her shoulder, service pistol in a thick black belt around her hips and her SAPS ID card hanging from a cord around her neck, probably because no one would believe she was a policewoman.” Mbali is working on both cases and has a very good detective’s instinct. Benny is her mentor as well.

This book deals excellently with several sub-topics that are very important, especially racism and addiction. Benny’s alcoholism is dealt with realistically and he is involved in AA and has a sponsor. He feels a certain sensitivity towards Alexa Barnard because of her alcoholism. She was once a famous singer but her husband, a sex addict, has ruined her sense of self-worth with his non-stop escapades and she has turned to alcohol. Fransman Dekker is getting a lot of insight about his own sexual addiction by working this case. His personal insights, once there, are stunning. Along with addiction, the book deals with the changing quota system that the police department is constantly dealing with. Quotas change depending on who is in power. Right now there is a push for more Zulus and Xhosas, and less coloureds. This makes Fransman Dekker very angry. His anger often gets in the way of his investigations and as Benny mentors Franzman he reveals how his own anger kept him from being promoted several times. He is trying to help Fransman to keep more of an even keel so that he can succeed in the department. There are several languages spoken by the investigators depending on what race or ethnicity they are. Some of the ones I noted while reading this novel are Xhosa, Zulu, English, Afrikaans, and Shona. This can create cultural misunderstandings and linguistic difficulties between colleagues.

This is a remarkable novel in so many ways. It is literary fiction at the same time that it is a thriller. It deals with deep issues without sermonizing. Most importantly, as a reader, it is hard to put down. It keeps up the interest from the very first to the very last page with no rabbit trails or deus ex machina. The plot is complicated but very easily followed because of the quality of Meyer’s writing. It is a novel for just about anyone who wants a wild ride through a fantastic book.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 29 readers
PUBLISHER:	Atlantic Monthly Press; (September 7, 2010)
REVIEWER:	Bonnie Brody
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK?	YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	Deon Meyer
EXTRAS:	Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	Read our review of: Blood Safari Dead at Daybreak Heart of a Hunter

Bibliography:

• Dead Before Dying (1999;May 2006 in US)
• Dead at Daybreak (2000; August 2005 in US)
• Heart of the Hunter (2003; July 2004 in US)
• Blood Safari (August 2009 in US)

Inspector Benny Griessel:

• Devil’s Peak (March 2008 in US)
• Thirteen Hours (September 2010 in US)

“Humanity. The greatest plague the planet has ever known…too many people…If a man must choose between wealth and conservation, wealth will always win. We will always overexploit, we will never be cured.”

Book Review:

Review by Mary Whipple (OCT 3, 2009)

Setting his novels in contemporary South Africa, Deon Meyer raises the bar for thrillers by infusing each of his novels with the national political tensions—historical, racial, and economic—and the urban and rural disparities which make the country so complex and so difficult to govern. His “heroes” have traditionally been far from “heroic” in the traditional sense, always people at odds with society, especially in the case of Lemmer, main character (and hired bodyguard) in Blood Safari, a man who has allowed his passions to dominate him to the extent that he served time for his assault on four men and gained pleasure in killing the ringleader—“I felt at one with the world, whole and complete, good and right. It’s a terrible thing. It intoxicates. It’s addictive. And so terribly sweet.”

Lemmer, working for Body Armor, the premier bodyguard service in the country, has been hired to watch over Emma le Roux, a wealthy young woman who, after seeing a news story on TV, believes that her brother Jacobus le Roux, thought dead for twenty years, is, in fact alive after being a suspect in a mass murder in Kruger National Park—the death of a sangoma (a traditional healer) and three elephant poachers. Emma herself has recently been targeted by unknown assassins and has barely escaped from her house after a violent attempt on her life. She has no idea whether her suspicions about her brother are correct, nor does she have any idea what motive might inspire evil-doers to attack her so viciously.

Her brother Jacobus, four years older, was always interested in conservation, especially the conservation of the animal life in South Africa, and he worked at the Kruger Park, where he disappeared twenty years ago. A man calling himself Jacobus de Villiers has worked at the Moholololo Rehabilitation Center, which nurses ill and wounded vultures, and at a private reserve, run by a multimillionaire, which tries to keep large areas of the veld free of development for a natural animal habitat.

As Lemmer and his client, Emma le Roux, try to find out if the Jacobus de Villiers whom she saw on TV is, in fact, her brother, they are exposed the life-or-death infighting among the various conservation groups, their relationships with conservation police and local law enforcement, and the relationships and conflicts of these groups with developers and local tribes who want a piece of the tourist game-park action. Violence is a way of life for these people, and Lemmer is often in the cross-hairs of his and Emma’s unknown enemies.

Meyer is careful to include all the players in the game here, allowing him to present all the facets of the big picture regarding the wildlife bounty of the country and the lures of development, the commitment to a lawful country under unified rule and the every-man-for-himself attitudes which have undermined every aspect of the country over the years. No one knows whom to trust, if anyone, and no one knows what secret arrangements any of the players may have made with sleazy operators or money-mad groups which exist outside the mainstream. As the characters develop more fully, and as the author reveals more and more information about their backgrounds, the reader’s stake in the outcome becomes more and more powerful. The action comes fast and furious, and the suspense builds.

Meyer creates vibrant scenes, describing the environment, the local settings, the animals, and the racial interactions of South Africa’s citizens in vivid detail. The people who oppose Lemmer’s investigation are understandable in their reluctance to go along with him, and their points of view are broad and not tritely black or white. Irony abounds, and the political and social repercussions of the action become understandable even if they do not always draw the reader’s sympathy. This is a terrific and unusual thriller, the fifth of Meyer’s novels, all of which are written in Afrikaans and translated, and each of which has been better than the last.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 37 readers
PUBLISHER:	Atlantic Monthly Press (August 25, 2009)
REVIEWER:	Mary Whipple
AMAZON PAGE:	Blood Safari
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	Deon Meyer
EXTRAS:	Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	Read our reviews of: Dead at Daybreak Heart of a Hunter

Bibliography:

• Dead Before Dying (1999;May 2006 in US)
• Dead at Daybreak (2000; August 2005 in US)
• Heart of the Hunter (2003; July 2004 in US)
• Devil’s Peak (March 2008 in US)
• Blood Safari (August 2009 in US)
• Thirteen Hours (September 2010 in US)