Devil's Peak

September 24, 2012
Meyer’s superbly crafted South African thriller follows the interconnected lives of three characters: Christine van Rooyen, a beautiful but luckless Capetown prostitute who gets on the bad side of the brother of a Colombian drug lord; Thobela Mpayipheli, a former mercenary whose retirement ends with the murder of his eight-year-old son; and veteran police inspector Benny Griessel, an alcoholic burnout struggling to regain sobriety and the respect of his family and co-workers. Narrator Simon Vance turns in a successful performance in this audio edition. When Benny’s mood swings from despair to hope, Vance’s hoarse croak reflects the changes. Similarly, the narrator’s rendition of Thobela changes from an initial paternal cheeriness when speaking with his son to despair at the boy’s death and stoic flatness as he sets out on his quest for vengeance. Emotions run high throughout, and Vance successfully conveys every moment of despair and elation. But it’s near the novel’s end—when the plot strands connect in a suspenseful and violent confrontation—that Vance pulls out all the stops, adding a notable finishing touch to this compelling presentation.

Starred review from October 15, 2012

In contemporary South Africa the transgressions of a bereaved father and a prostitute collide with the caseload of alcoholic Cape Town policeman Benny Griessel. Originally published in 2004, this title is the first in a grueling, taut trilogy featuring Griessel, tarnished wunderkind of the Serious and Violent Crimes Unit. Internationally recognized for his suspense thrillers, South African novelist Meyer is doing well; his Griessel trilogy is slated for the big screen, with Devil's Peak the inaugural film release. VERDICT Audie and Earphone Award winner Simon Vance slides from vulnerable masculinity to cool sensuality, never upstaging the author's craftsmanship. The resultant amalgam eclipses the plot's violence to produce a literary jewel for fans of crime, mysteries, and knockout writing. ["Readers will need a measure of patience to handle the quick jumps between stories and the half-page or so that it takes to figure out whose story is now center stage. Still, Meyer's ability to probe the depths of his major characters makes this read well worth the effort. Recommended for public libraries," read the review of the Little, Brown hc, LJ 3/15/08.--Ed.]--Judith Robinson, Univ. at Buffalo Lib.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from January 28, 2008
Complex, finely wrought characters, keen psychological insight and a compelling plot lift this crime novel from South African author Meyer (Dead Before Dying
). Former mercenary Thobela Mpayipheli is trying to live a peaceful life, but these plans are shattered when his eight-year-old son, Pakamile, is shot dead. The two gunmen responsible escape before sentencing, and the grieving father decides to take matters into his own hands. As he pursues his son's killers, Mpayipheli begins to target pedophiles and other perpetrators of violence against children, meting out justice with a Xhosa tribal sword called an assegai.
Dubbed “Artemis†by the papers as the killings increase, Mpayipheli becomes a kind of folk hero to the people of Capetown. Insp. Benny Griessel, an aging alcoholic whose struggles with the bottle have all but cost him his family and his life, works the case with a desperate intensity. Griessel finds an unlikely ally in Christine van Rooyen, a young prostitute, who lures the detective into a very dangerous plan of her own when her young daughter goes missing. This book is easily Meyer's finest effort to date.