Dead at Daybreak [Paperback]

Deon Meyer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2000

An antiques dealer is burned with a blow torch, then killed. The contents of the safe are missing and the only clues are a scrap of blank paper and the unusual weapon used.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. South African crime writer Meyer's expertly crafted second thriller (after 2004's Heart of the Hunter) confirms his place as one of the genre's finest new stylists. Afrikaner Zatopek "Zet" van Heerden, a former cop, is slipping fast into drunken dissolution when a colleague pulls him up and gives him an opportunity. An attorney, Hope Beneke, needs a private investigator fast to find a missing will. An antiques dealer, Johannes Jacobus Smit, was recently found burnt with a blowtorch and shot execution-style, the contents of his walk-in safe, including his will, gone. Beneke and van Heerden have only seven days to find the document before Smit's considerable assets revert to the state, leaving his common-law wife destitute. It doesn't take long for van Heerden to discover that "Smit" wasn't the person whose papers he carried, and that someone very important, quite possibly the state itself, wants to hide his true identity. Meyer keeps the suspense moving throughout the third-person narrative, alternating back and forth with van Heerden's own first-person account of his past. This is a remarkable achievement from a singular new talent.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Chronicling events that transpire before those in 2004's excellent Heart of the Hunter, Meyer shifts focus here from Xhosa ex-assassin Thobela Mpayipheli to Afrikaner ex-cop Zatopek van Heerden (although both men play key roles in each other's stories). Zet, as van Heerden's famed artist mother calls him, quit the Cape Town homicide squad after failing to prevent his partner's death. He's still wallowing in guilt when an attorney hires him to track the missing will of a mysterious antiques dealer who was murdered 15 years ago with a blowtorch and an M-16. Zet has a week to uncover the man's true identity, find the document, and discover what secrets his walk-in safe used to hold. Meanwhile, in exchange for help publicizing the case, he must write his life story for a sexy but twisted media maven. Alternating chapters between Zet's soulful confessional and the explosive investigation, Meyer manages to ratchet up the tension so effectively that readers will have a hard time deciding which mystery they wish to pierce first. The author once again mines South Africa's fertile history of racial conflict and cold war gamesmanship for a narrative gem. Frank Sennett
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd (June 1, 2000)
• ISBN-10: 0340769998
• ISBN-13: 978-0340769997
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,580,536 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Deon Meyer was born in the South African town of Paarl in the winelands of the Western Cape in 1958, and grew up in Klerksdorp, in the gold mining region of Northwest Province.

After military duty and studying at the Potchefstroom University, he joined Die Volksblad, a daily newspaper in Bloemfontein as a reporter. Since then, he has worked as press liaison, advertising copywriter, creative director, web manager, Internet strategist, and brand consultant.

Deon wrote his first book when he was 14 years old, and bribed and blackmailed his two brothers into reading it. They were not impressed (hey, everybody is a critic ...)


Heeding their wisdom, he did not write fiction again until he was in his early thirties, when he started publishing short stories in South African magazines.

"I still believe that is the best way to learn the craft of writing. Short stories teach you a lot about story structure - and you have limited space to develop character and plot," says Deon.

In 1994 he published his first Afrikaans novel, which has not been translated, "simply because it was not good enough to compete on the international market. However, it was a wonderful learning experience".

All later novels have been translated into 25 languages, including English, French, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Russian, Finnish, Czech, Romanian, Slovakian and Bulgarian.

Deon lives in Melkbosstrand on the South African West Coast with his wife, Anita, and they have four children to keep them busy: Lida, Liam, Johan and Konstanz.

Other than his family, his big passions are motorcycling, music (he is a Mozart fanatic, but loves rock 'n roll too), reading, cooking and rugby (he unconditionally supports the national Springbok team and the Free State Cheetahs provincial team).

The Hodder interview

How did you come to write your first novel?
I sort of worked my way up to a novel by writing short stories for magazines first, to learn the basics of writing fiction. It took about 15 short stories before I attempted the longer form - and it was a steep learning curve.

How do you do your research?
I do as much hands-on research as possible, like spending a week or so with the police detectives in Cape Town, or riding the motorcycle routes (for Heart of the Hunter). Interviews with clever people, like police forensics experts, forensic psychologists and even a sex workers (for Devil's Peak) is next on the list, after which I read as much as possible about the subjects I'm writing about.

Do you still consult on brand strategy?
No, I started writing full time in January 2008, and had to resign from the wonderful privilege of working for BMW Motorcycles as a brand strategist and special projects manager.

Are you married/single?
I am happily married to Anita, without whom not much would have been possible.

What are your thoughts about the state of S.A. today?
I'm not sure that a short answer will do justice to such an intriguing and complicated country, but let me try: I am extremely positive about South Africa. Despite huge challenges, such as poverty, aids, and crime, we've come a long way since 1994.

The economy is growing at a rapid rate, Black Economic Empowerment is paying big dividends through the creation of an emerging black middle class, the new government, although sometimes struggling at local level, is learning and improving every day, and crime rates are going down.

Having said that, we still have a long way to go.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A brutal murder, an empty safe and a missing will, January 14, 2006

By 

Amanda Richards (Georgetown, Guyana) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dead at Daybreak (Hardcover)

A brutal murder, an empty safe and a missing will - this is the central theme around which this thrilling who-dun-it from South African Deon Meyer evolves. The unlikely hero takes the form of Zatopek "Zet" van Heerden, a former policeman who once excelled in Police Science, but now is a lonely, aggressive alcoholic, bent on self destruction. It is also well known that the safest place to be when Zet fires a gun is directly in front of the target.

Zet was on the scene when an accused serial killer fatally shot his partner and mentor, but this is not the only skeleton in his closet. The author skillfully ties in his past and present, so we soon get a picture of what makes Zet tick.

At the beginning of the story, a drunken tussle with a group of five men lands Zet some jail time, but a former colleague links him up with attorney Hope Beneke, who has a job for him. Hope's client is Wilhelmina Johanna "Wilna" van As, significant other of Johannes Jacobus "Jan" Smit, the unfortunate target of the aforementioned murder and robbery. Zet has seven days to recover the missing will before Wilna loses her inheritance, and the investigation takes every ounce of his considerable skill.

It immediately becomes obvious that nothing can be taken at face value, and that the case goes back nearly two dozen years to 1976. Time is running out, the situation is getting desperate and the players are bringing out the big guns.

A richly embellished tale, laced with murder, mayhem, intrigue, a little romance and a lot of cooking.


Amanda Richards, January 14, 2006

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantabulous Triller, October 12, 2009

By 

Bonnie Brody "Book Lover and Knitter" (Port St. Lucie, FL) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dead at Daybreak (Hardcover)

The country of South Africa is the exotic and fascinating background to Deon Meyer's thrillers. His books are filled with names and places in the Afrikaans and traditional languages: Mzimkhulu, Mpayipheli, Van Heerden, de Jager, Groote Schur, Gerhardus Basson. I loved trying to pronounce these words. They sound so beautiful and rare in my attempts at verbalization. The book also deals with contemporary issues in South Africa, especially racism. Mr. Meyer has again created a top level thriller with Dead at Daybreak. After reading Blood Safari, which I loved, I decided to read all of Mr. Meyer's thrillers.

This novel is about several things - - a lost will, a lost man and an event that occurred thirty years ago that is leaving dead men in its wake today. Zet Van Heerden is a former police officer who has spent the last several years in a drunken haze, fighting and brawling as he tries to escape his personal demons. After a night in jail, a friend rescues him and sets him up with a job as a private investigator for a female attorney who is trying to find a missing will. Zet lives a lonely life. His main interests, when he's not drinking, are cooking and listening to classical music -- especially Mozart and Beethoven., Zet is very close to his mother who is a famous South African artist. As Zet chases down the will, a conspiracy unfolds, leaving many dead men in its wake and putting those close to Zet at risk.

Concurrent with the thriller's narrative, the story of Zet's personal history unfolds. Every other chapter in the book is a chapter in Zet's memoirs. We watch Zet grow from his childhood into the man he is today. We understand how he came to believe that all of us are evil, that we carry badness within us. We watch as Zet searches for the perfect woman only to be foiled over and over again. We come to really know him and his demons.

Thrillers are ubiquitous. How does a reader find the truly exceptional ones - - those worth reading. Once way is to pay attention to reviews. This is a fantabulous book, one that came up to my every expectation. I plan to read the rest of Meyer's books and hope they're all as good as the first two I've read.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars (4.5) One man's heart of darkness, September 6, 2005

By 

Luan Gaines "luansos" (Dana Point, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dead at Daybreak (Hardcover)

Meyer's second work of fiction, Dead at Daybreak, is set in South Africa, as was his impressive first novel, Heart of the Hunter, once more proving that greed and murder are universal, humanity equally flawed anywhere in the world. Zet van Heerden is disenchanted with life since his partner's death, having quit the force, spending his days in alcoholic oblivion. His old cronies in the department think it is Nagel's death at the hands of a serial killer that has pushed van Heerden over the edge, but it is more than that, an unbearable guilt that the disillusioned detective carries in his heart.

When van Heerden, now a private investigator, receives a call from attorney Hope Beneke, he begrudgingly accepts an assignment to recover a handwritten will, stolen from Johannes Smit, an antiques dealer who was tortured with a blowtorch before being shot, execution-style, in the back of the head. Smit's specially built safe is empty, but nothing else in the house has been touched. The antique dealer's live-in partner, Wilna van As, has only seven days to find the will and claim the estate. Zet's job is made more difficult by the time restriction, his frustration mounting with each dead end. But when he discovers there is no paper trail for Smit prior to starting his business, the PI turns his attentions to Smit's activities pre-1983, opening a Pandora's box of killers, intelligence agents, mercenaries and assorted desperadoes, all of whom will do anything to keep certain information quiet, threatening van Heerden's life and those around him. Suddenly, Zet is pursued by faceless assassins and determined intelligence officers in an accelerating cat-and-mouse game that quickly degenerates into violence.

The chapters counting backward from day seven, the prose moves back and forth between present and past, the investigation of Smit's murder reopening old wounds, bringing to the surface what the protagonist so desperately wants to suppress. Within the plot of Dead at Daybreak, Meyer creates a parallel universe, the police procedural translated into a struggle to contain the despair that has crippled van Heerden's spirit. Forced to look into his darkest motivations, Zet sees only the evil, unforgiving and without compassion for himself, his concentrated self-denial usurps his waking life, poisoning the present and the future; only the jailer can unlock the cell. Ironically, van Heerden's mother and Hope Beneke have the patience that may foster his resurfacing, as both women allow him the freedom to escape from a moral quagmire of his own making.

Constructing a picture of a man in conflict, Meyer ties art to life in a subtle marriage of music, passion and imagination, giving a sense of purpose to suffering: "I didn't realize how finally, how dramatically the morning of my life would spill me over the edge like so much flotsam". In this fascinating drama, personal morality overlaps professionalism in a moral quagmire, the characters sharply drawn with complicated motives. Even Tiny Mpayipheli, the hero of Heart of the Hunter, makes an appearance, lending his critical support to van Heerden on the final bloody leg of their journey. Insightful and psychologically taut, this South African thriller is compelling, a thoughtful examination of denial and personal responsibility and the acceptance of human limitations. Once again, Meyers displays his impressive skills as an observer of human nature, with all its misplaced passions and yearning for compatibility with the interior landscape of the heart. Luan Gaines/2005.