Heart of the Hunter by
Deon Meyer
pbk out April 04
(NEL)
at £6.99
Thobela Mpayipheli has created a new life for himself: he's found a family, a good
woman and her precious son, and they mean the world to him. He has dreams of
setting up as a farmer, escaping with them to a peaceful and modest future. Nothing
could be further from Thobela's violent and murderous past. But when the daughter
of an old friend comes to him for help he cannot refuse: he owes Johnny Kleintjes a
debt of honour. Thobela agrees to deliver a computer disk containing sensitive
information to Lusaka, the other side of South Africa. He 'borrows' a huge motorbike
from his boss and sets off cross country. Before long Thobela hits the headlines (as
the big, bad Xhosa biker) and a hunt ensues as the intelligence services try and
intercept him, dead or alive. For Janina Mentz, the white Afrikaner woman who leads
the special operation to recover the disk, this is a test of her power and authority. For
her men a test of their cunning and strength. The stakes don't get any higher.
Translated from the Afrikaans, Meyer's third title gives us a travelling action thriller
which is laden with the bitter history of South Africa and riddled with the
manoeuvrings of spooks, informers, warriors and double-agents. There are moments
of breezy humour too as the biker communities adopt Thobela as a hero. The
innocent suffer as well as the combatants - no fairytale ending here.
Manchester Evening News 6.12.03
(
Cath Staincliffe
author of the popular Sal Kilkenny mysteries set on the mean streets of Manchester)
Heart of the Hunter by
Deon Meyer
