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quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Seven years ago, in Cape Town, South Africa, three schoolboys were abducted in broad daylight on consecutive days.
They were never seen again.
Now, a new case for the unpredictable Senior Superintendent Vaughn DeVries casts a light on the original enquiry; for him, a personal failure which has haunted and changed him. Struggling in a mire of departmental and racial rivalry, DeVries seeks the whole truth, and unravels a complex history of abuse, deception and murder. Encountering friends, colleagues and friends, DeVries realises he doesn’t know who he can trust.
In 2007 Colonel Vaughn DeVries was the lead investigator in the kidnapping of 3 boys in Capetown, South Africa. The boys were kidnapped in broad daylight on consecutive days and despite a high profile investigation, no trace of them was ever found.
No trace, that is, until 2014.
DeVries and Warrant Officer Don February are called to a farmer’s market where the bodies of two of the missing boys, each wrapped in plastic, have been found in skip. This is the break DeVries has been waiting for and with the possibility of finding the third victim alive, he’s keen to chase down every lead to discover who was responsible. But the Capetown police department is riddled with politics and racial rivalry and there are those in authority keen to see him fail. Unsure who to trust, DeVries finds himself increasingly confiding in John Marantz, an ex-British intelligence officer with sources of his own and a willingness to use means that even DeVries finds distasteful ...
Paul Mendelson’s debut crime novel (the first in a series) is a promising look at the racial and political tensions at play in modern South Africa told in a dark “Saffer Noir” style but it’s held back by an unsatisfying plot and antagonists whose motivations are thinly explained at best. The use of the South African landscape (which is evocative and rich and helps set the tone for the novel) is great as is the depiction of inter-police rivalries and corruption as the department succumbs to individual ambition and grievances rooted in the apartheid past. Unfortunately it’s difficult to empathise with DeVries – racist and driven by his gut – he’s an old school policeman unwilling to engage or even sympathise with the political and media forces buffeting his boss and protector Brigadier Du Toit and as such, I had difficulty buying into him. Equally difficult to believe in is DeVries self-appointed nemesis, David Werner (head of internal affairs) and Julius Mngomezulu (sidekick to General Sempiwe Thulani, Du Toit’s boss) who are thinly characterised to the point of being two-dimensional while Marantz is little more than a plot get-out-of-jail card there to provide some answers when needed and Don February has some enigmatic secret that I wasn’t too interested in discovering. There’s enough here to ensure I’ll check out the sequel but I really need more rounded characters if I’m to stick the series out.
The Verdict:
Paul Mendelson’s debut crime novel (the first in a series) is a promising look at the racial and political tensions at play in modern South Africa told in a dark “Saffer Noir” style but it’s held back by an unsatisfying plot and antagonists whose motivations are thinly explained at best. The use of the South African landscape (which is evocative and rich and helps set the tone for the novel) is great as is the depiction of inter-police rivalries and corruption as the department succumbs to individual ambition and grievances rooted in the apartheid past. Unfortunately it’s difficult to empathise with DeVries – racist and driven by his gut – he’s an old school policeman unwilling to engage or even sympathise with the political and media forces buffeting his boss and protector Brigadier Du Toit and as such, I had difficulty buying into him. Equally difficult to believe in is DeVries self-appointed nemesis, David Werner (head of internal affairs) and Julius Mngomezulu (sidekick to General Sempiwe Thulani, Du Toit’s boss) who are thinly characterised to the point of being two-dimensional while Marantz is little more than a plot get-out-of-jail card there to provide some answers when needed and Don February has some enigmatic secret that I wasn’t too interested in discovering. There’s enough here to ensure I’ll check out the sequel but I really need more rounded characters if I’m to stick the series out.
Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
They were never seen again.
Now, a new case for the unpredictable Senior Superintendent Vaughn DeVries casts a light on the original enquiry; for him, a personal failure which has haunted and changed him. Struggling in a mire of departmental and racial rivalry, DeVries seeks the whole truth, and unravels a complex history of abuse, deception and murder. Encountering friends, colleagues and friends, DeVries realises he doesn’t know who he can trust.
In 2007 Colonel Vaughn DeVries was the lead investigator in the kidnapping of 3 boys in Capetown, South Africa. The boys were kidnapped in broad daylight on consecutive days and despite a high profile investigation, no trace of them was ever found.
No trace, that is, until 2014.
DeVries and Warrant Officer Don February are called to a farmer’s market where the bodies of two of the missing boys, each wrapped in plastic, have been found in skip. This is the break DeVries has been waiting for and with the possibility of finding the third victim alive, he’s keen to chase down every lead to discover who was responsible. But the Capetown police department is riddled with politics and racial rivalry and there are those in authority keen to see him fail. Unsure who to trust, DeVries finds himself increasingly confiding in John Marantz, an ex-British intelligence officer with sources of his own and a willingness to use means that even DeVries finds distasteful ...
Paul Mendelson’s debut crime novel (the first in a series) is a promising look at the racial and political tensions at play in modern South Africa told in a dark “Saffer Noir” style but it’s held back by an unsatisfying plot and antagonists whose motivations are thinly explained at best. The use of the South African landscape (which is evocative and rich and helps set the tone for the novel) is great as is the depiction of inter-police rivalries and corruption as the department succumbs to individual ambition and grievances rooted in the apartheid past. Unfortunately it’s difficult to empathise with DeVries – racist and driven by his gut – he’s an old school policeman unwilling to engage or even sympathise with the political and media forces buffeting his boss and protector Brigadier Du Toit and as such, I had difficulty buying into him. Equally difficult to believe in is DeVries self-appointed nemesis, David Werner (head of internal affairs) and Julius Mngomezulu (sidekick to General Sempiwe Thulani, Du Toit’s boss) who are thinly characterised to the point of being two-dimensional while Marantz is little more than a plot get-out-of-jail card there to provide some answers when needed and Don February has some enigmatic secret that I wasn’t too interested in discovering. There’s enough here to ensure I’ll check out the sequel but I really need more rounded characters if I’m to stick the series out.
The Verdict:
Paul Mendelson’s debut crime novel (the first in a series) is a promising look at the racial and political tensions at play in modern South Africa told in a dark “Saffer Noir” style but it’s held back by an unsatisfying plot and antagonists whose motivations are thinly explained at best. The use of the South African landscape (which is evocative and rich and helps set the tone for the novel) is great as is the depiction of inter-police rivalries and corruption as the department succumbs to individual ambition and grievances rooted in the apartheid past. Unfortunately it’s difficult to empathise with DeVries – racist and driven by his gut – he’s an old school policeman unwilling to engage or even sympathise with the political and media forces buffeting his boss and protector Brigadier Du Toit and as such, I had difficulty buying into him. Equally difficult to believe in is DeVries self-appointed nemesis, David Werner (head of internal affairs) and Julius Mngomezulu (sidekick to General Sempiwe Thulani, Du Toit’s boss) who are thinly characterised to the point of being two-dimensional while Marantz is little more than a plot get-out-of-jail card there to provide some answers when needed and Don February has some enigmatic secret that I wasn’t too interested in discovering. There’s enough here to ensure I’ll check out the sequel but I really need more rounded characters if I’m to stick the series out.
Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
