Thirteen Hours

July 5, 2010
In South African author Meyer's impressive second thriller to feature Cape Town Det. Insp. Benny Griessel (after Devil's Peak), which spans just 13 hours in a single day, Benny lands a pair of explosive cases: the gang slaying of an American tourist and the murder of the husband of a washed-up, alcoholic popular singer. After teenager Erin Russel turns up on the street with her throat cut, her traveling companion, Rachel Anderson, goes on the run. Rachel, who fears the police are connected to her friend's slaying, is trying to stay ahead of her pursuers without the help of the authorities. A few hours later, Benny interviews Alexandra Barnard about the death of her husband, Adam, a record company owner. Alexandra was found next to Adam's body and to the firearm used to kill him. While the windup doesn't match the pulse-pounding opening scenes, this crime novel does further enhance Meyer's reputation as a deft storyteller.

February 7, 2011
Afrikaner Meyer's study of an action-filled half-day in the lives of several members of a Cape Town homicide squad ranks among the best of police procedurals. The investigators, led by Capt. Benny Griessel (last seen in Devil's Peak), are trying to discover who cut the throat of a visiting American teenager, what happened to her missing friend, and whether the wife of a womanizing music exec was framed for the crime. Though the thriller pauses to reflect on the political and social changes in postapartheid South Africa, it moves at a clip that Simon Vance easily maintains while adding his own touches to Meyer's well-developed leading players. Griessel may be struggling with a full caseload and an inexperienced staff, but he's a knowledgeable lawman, and Vance provides him with a forceful, no nonsense voice while on the job. And the young girl on the run from killers, Rachel Anderson, alternates between despair and fierce determination to stay alive. The characters speak with assorted accents, including Zulu, Shona and Afrikaans, all of which Vance simulates with convincing authenticity. An Atlantic Monthly hardcover.

June 15, 2010

With five crime novels, from Dead Before Dying in 1999 to last year's Blood Safari, Meyer has firmly established an international reputation. His latest again describes the new South Africa, postapartheid, where everything is changing, including the police. Detective Inspector Benny Griessel, self-described dinosaur cop and alcoholic in sobriety day 157, is mentoring colored and black officers while dealing with two murders in one long day. Alexa Barnard, a former pop singer, wakes from an alcoholic stupor to find her famous husband shot dead on the floor beside her and the nearby gun. Rachel Anderson, an American teen touring Africa, frantically flees five pursuers chasing her through the streets of Cape Town after slashing her companion's throat. Griessel must juggle both cases, delegating most of the former to a colleague while trying to coordinate an increasingly desperate search for Rachel. VERDICT With lead characters developed through more than one book, a vividly drawn locale where political considerations affect everything, cliff-hanging suspense, and shocking plot twists, Meyer again has produced a winner. Highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/10; also previewed in "The New Noir," LJ 4/15/10.]--Roland Person, formerly with Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from July 1, 2010
College student Rachel Anderson is running in the mountains of Cape Town. Hours earlier, she witnessed the death of her traveling companion, Erin Russel, who had her throat slit from ear to ear, and Rachel is just steps ahead of the men who did the killing. Twice she has approached strangers asking for help, and twice she has been dismissed. Inspector Benny Griessel (last seen in Devils Peak, 2009) has been called to the scene of Russels murder, and when he finds out it is a white tourist who has been killed, he knows its going to be a very long day. He craves a drink, but he has been sober for six months, ever since his wife kicked him out of the house. Whats more, he is not really in charge of the murder scene; long considered to be a drunk and a dinosaur by the department, he is supposed to be mentoring the young black detective assigned to the case, and their delicate, overly polite dealings with each other are hampering the investigation. Best-selling South African novelist Meyer delivers another exciting if brutally violent crime novel. Expertly cutting away from the politicized police investigation to the plight of a terrified young girl literally running for her life, Meyer also steeps his novel in the day-to-day life of a country still reeling in the wake of radical transition.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)