Thirteen Hours

Listening to this thriller, listeners will find themselves cast into a strange world in which politics, law, and race relations are very different from what they're accustomed to. When a young American woman is murdered and another is kidnapped in the mountains of Cape Town, the competent police investigators have to deal with incompetence, tribal racism, and outright greed to solve the murder and rescue the kidnap victim. Narrator Simon Vance walks listeners through an unfamiliar land and a story that takes place in 13 hours. Detective Benny Griessel is determined that no more innocent blood will be spilled, and Vance lets listeners share in his determination and frustration. Vance does ample justice to an edgy crime drama that spans two continents and two worlds. M.S. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine


Detective Benny Griessel must ward off the demons of alcohol to solve a case that threatens to destroy all that is good in the troubled city of Capetown, South Africa. With the assistance of two younger, greener investigators, Benny finds that his past is not as easy to escape but his future cannot be denied. Simon Vance's spirited narration will transport the listener to another time and place. His classical tone perfectly matches Meyer's descriptive prose. Moving effortlessly from scene to scene, Vance provides expert pacing and delineates characters perfectly. L.B. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

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.