This terrific, action-packed thriller has superbly drawn characters and an enthralling setting. Deon Meyer is one of the best crime writers on the planet. (
Mail on Sunday)
Deon Meyer is the undisputed king of South African crime fiction, and THIRTEEN HOURS demonstrates why. (
The Times)
South African thrillers arrive with racial baggage, and it's a mark of Meyer's talent to see just how well the issues are balanced with a smashing story. Imposing a strict time limit and a tight location on his plot, he ramps up the suspense to an unbearable degree. Best of all, his sharply drawn characters really feel part of the new South Africa, where loyalties and beliefs must always be questioned. (
Financial Times)
What makes this novel so outstanding is its setting... and Meyer's superlative talent for suspense... This is a vigorous, exciting novel that combines memorable characters and plot with edge-of-the-seat suspense. (
The Sunday Times)
Far and away South Africa's best crime writer (
The Times)
gripping and suspenseful crime novel set in a violent, post-apartheid South Africa (
Culture Magazine (
The Sunday Times))
A cracking read from one of Africa's finest (
Shots ezine)
One of the sharpest and most perceptive thriller writers around (Peter Millar,
The Times, on DEVIL'S PEAK)
Far and away the best crime writer in South Africa (Matthew Lewin,
Guardian, on BLOOD SAFARI)
One of the most exciting thrillers I've read for a long time. (Lady Antonia Fraser)
Blood Safari is my first exposure to the man billed by his publishers as the "king of South African crime thrillers". For once the publicity spinners are not guilty of hyperbole -- Meyer is simply excellent. (
Business Day on BLOOD SAFARI)
Pulsating and gripping (
The Sunday Times on BLOOD SAFARI)
I rushed through it like one of Meyer's beloved BMW motorbikes in overdrive. A fantastic read. I know Cape Town well and he did glorious justice to the city's mosaic (Tim Butcher, author of Richard and Judy bestseller BLOOD RIVER, on DEVIL'S PEAK)
'A moving, expertly constructed story of a broken man's redemption' (
The Sunday Times on DEVIL'S PEAK)
Out of post-apartheid South Africa comes a thriller good enough to nip at the heels of le Carr? (
Kirkus Reviews (starred review) on HEART OF THE HUNTER)
A Christmas Choice for best thrillers in 2007 (
The Times on DEVIL'S PEAK)
A glimpse of the soul of the new South Africa in all its glory, and with all the gory details of its problems and corruption...I marvelled at the intricacy of the plotting, I smiled at Christine's cheeky ingenuity, I felt Thobela's pain and Benny's desperation, and I was stunned by a denouement of awesome power and accomplishment (
Guardian on DEVIL'S PEAK)
My favourite South African thriller writer (James Mitchell,
Tonight, South Africa, on DEVIL'S PEAK)
'Meyer is a gifted writer...believable and disturbing' (
Tangled Web on DEVIL'S PEAK)
'Deon Meyer, who writes in Afrikaans, portrays a world of terrifying uncertainty, in which those who fought for liberation from apartheid are having to come to terms with the knowledge that freedom is not enough to wipe out cruelty. A thoughtful and exciting novel' (
Times Literary Supplement on DEVIL'S PEAK)
This guy is really good. Deon Meyer hooked me with this one right from the start. HEART OF THE HUNTER is a thriller with some weight attached and that is a rare find. (Michael Connelly on HEART OF THE HUNTER)
HEART OF THE HUNTER is a brilliant book. Deon Meyer does an excellent job of developing a whole range of characters who are affected by the changes in South Africa in different ways. And Thobela, a giant of a man in search of redemption, is a wonderful hero. (Michael Ridpath, author of THE PREDATOR, on HEART)
Meyer weaves an impressively tangled web and taut narrative keeps the reader guessing until the last couple of pages (
Heat***, on DEAD AT DAYBREAK)
Like post-war Germany, post-apartheid South Africa offers fertile ground for reflective fiction ... Senior editor at Little, Brown, Judy Clain, a fellow South African, says, "Meyer has an extraordinary landscape - a changed world where the ghosts of the past play a huge role." (
Publishers Weekly, on HEART OF THE HUNTER)
With simmering racial tensions, a bounty of natural resources, and a government whose members worked both sides of the cold-war fence, South Africa should prove fertile ground for many fine spy thrillers to come. Don't be surprised if quite a few of them are written by Meyer. (
Booklist (starred review) on HEART OF THE HUNTER)
A fascinating portrayal...a black, assegai-wielding former freedom fighter who turns into a vigilante and goes on a killing spree; a high-class tart; and a policeman who drinks to drown the screaming that's waiting inside his head: "One day it will come out and I am scared that I am the one who will hear it." It does come out and he is the one who hears it, winding up the tension to a gripping, shocking climax. Highly recommended. (Jessica Mann,
Literary Review, on DEVIL'S PEAK)
A sombre but terrifying thriller, and some parts will ignite even those readers with the iciest of hearts...Meyer plays the best of mind games with his readers (
Mail & Guardian, South Africa, on DEVIL'S PEAK)
Tough in-your-face crime writing that spares nothing in language, visceral scenes of blood and mayhem (for Meyer is adroit at choreographing descriptions of slaughter), and never wavers from the compelling pace of the story. It also has a mean line in humour that comes through in the snappy dialogue. (
Sunday Independent, South Africa, on DEVIL'S PEAK)
an explosive mixture (Peterborough Evening Telegraph)
the staccato story slips back and forth between the various strands at a breathless clip, doling out huggest of plot in just the right amounts to have us salivating to know more (Metro Scotland)
[Benny Griessel is] 'a gem of a protagonist... This is my favourite novel of the year so far.' (Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine)
