Seven Days - Hardcover

Meyer, Deon

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0802120350 ISBN 13: 9780802120359

Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Pr, 2012

Synopsis

A police officer is shot dead. The next day, one of his colleagues is as well. Then the South African police receive an email threatening an additional cop killed each day until a cold case is solved. Inspector Benny Griessel is charged with reopening the file on the murder of Hanneke Sloet, an ambitious lawyer stabbed to death in her luxury apartment. There's no apparent motive and no leads, just a set of nude photographs and a burly ex-boyfriend a rock-solid alibi. Then more policemen are shot and the pressure mounts. Can Bennie solve the case and stay sober? Featuring the fantastic characters from Deon Meyer's "Thirteen Hours," which won the Barry Award for Best Thriller in 2011, "Seven Days" is another gripping adventure from a masterful writer at the top of his game.

About this title

Product Description

When two South African police officers are murdered by a culprit who threatens to kill an officer every day until a certain cold case is solved, Inspector Benny Griessel races against time to find answers about the death of an ambitious lawyer in spite of no apparent motive or leads. By the Barry Award-winning author of Thirteen Hours.

Review

Deon Meyer's gritty crime novels [are] part police procedural, part political thriller and have, in Benny Griessel, one of the most appealing and humane of detectives . . . It's an insight into how much of South African business works, a tale of shady foreigners, super-rich enablers and politicians translating their party connections into private wealth. But in the same way that he creates Griessel as much more than your cliched drunk detective with a good heart, Meyer paints the corrupt with a delicate brush . . . What makes Meyer such a national treasure - and as good as anyone in the world - is that even if you have no knowledge or interest in South Africa's history or present, his books are compelling page-turners. Politics and race are just part of the intricately crafted superstructure bolted onto the rock-solid chassis of a top-quality crime thriller, driven by a writer with deceptive skill. (Books Live (South Africa))

The reader is plunged into a maelstrom of murder investigation, political corruption, racial tension and the clock is ticking for that all-too-human cop Benny Griessel who is also fighting his battle with alcohol on an emotional second front this time . . . Deon Meyer is a top notch plotter and has created one of the best ensemble (and multi-racial) casts of any modern police procedural series. (Shots)

Sleekly done crime fiction layered with the cultural complexities of the new South Africa. (Booklist)

Superior prose and characterization . . . Meyer balances the personal and professional adroitly, with a solution reminiscent of Peter Lovesey at his twistiest. (Publishers Weekly)

How fulfilling the rewards are for those seeking crime fiction with real texture and intelligence . . . The author presents an unsparing picture of social divisions in post-apartheid South Africa . . . TRACKERS is a sprawling, invigorating and socially committed crime novel. (Independent)

An ambitious, multi-threaded tale . . . comprehensively pulling the reader into the melee of modern South Africa . . . this is a book that tells a cracking story and captures the criminal kaleidoscope of a nation. (Times Literary Supplement)

Meyer is the leading chronicler of South Africa, and his latest novel shows off his technical skill . . . a dazzling performance. (Sunday Times Books of the Year 2011)

This year's great discovery: classy, edgy writing, subtly plotted and beautifully balanced between fast-paced action, pungent social comment and the process of investigation. (Weekend Australian)

The Thriller Shot of the Year title goes to South African Deon Meyer for his superb tour-de-force TRACKERS which combines a spy plot worthy of Le Carre ("spy the beloved country") with several tense and violent criminal sub-plots and a complex and stunningly impressive narrative structure. All in all, a masterpiece of South African crime writing; which is rapidly proving to be the bench-mark of international crime fiction.' (Shots)

This South African kind of crime is going global fast. TRACKERS shows why: three deftly-braided plot strands join political sophistication, strongly-drawn characters and a passionate concern with the Rainbow Nation's fate. (i)

About this edition

• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Pr
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0802120350
• ISBN 13: 9780802120359
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 343