Customer Reviews

Devil's Peak: A Novel

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This took me a little while to get into, but once I did I was hooked. The reason it took me a while to get into is that it isn't structured like a typical thriller. It is much more intrusive than most thrillers -- it really tries to get inside the heads of its character, most of whom are pathological in some way (reforming alcoholic, cutter, vengeful ex-ANC hitman and so on), and does a pretty good job. I certainly found the characters credible. It also gives a good, unsentinental account of life in contemporary, post-apartheid South Africa. I haven't read anything else by Meyer, but on the strength of this I certainly intend to do so in the future. It is a couple of points below my favourites, Peter Temple, Ian Rankin and Michael Connelly, but it is still very, very good.

First book I've read by this author and I will be reading them all. Action is fast paced and you have to put the book down and take a respite. Not for the faint of heart. When's the movie coming out will automatically be the question once you have finished this book. Principal character, Griesell, rivals Ian Rankin's Rebus. An alcoholic detective, an avenging former Stasi trained African freedom fighter taking out his wrath on pedophiles, a beautiful call girl, and a Colombian drug lord all come together in a very well crafted suspense yarn. Through the book you are aware or suspect that things are not as they seem and the author jumbles the present with the past and the future but there is no confusion, only clarity. Meyer keeps you guessing until the very end.

Having recently read several Scandinavian authors, I was thrilled to add another country/culture to my collection of well-written novels. A great plot line is essential, and this book has that. I also look for excellent character development and I was not disappointed. Deon Meyer, whose story is set in South Africa, creates characters who are conflicted yet compelled to act, whose actions the reader understands, even when the character you are rooting for is not the traditional "good guy". I worked my way backward from Devil's Peak and have now read every book by Deon Meyer that I could get my hands on. I highly recommend him, especially if you like Stieg Larsson or Jo Nesbo.

Deon Meyer's novel, Devil's Peak, is a complex, yet exciting tale of African espionage. The author has created a cast of characters so diverse, you will have quite a time keeping up with each of them. Yet, I wanted to know more about them as my fingers turned page by page.

There is the prostitute who visits a clergyman with a secret carton. Then a man, a modern-day vigilante, is seeking justice for the death of his adopted son. On his trail is an alcoholic detective inspector who risks his wife and children for the love of the bottle. That is just a few of the people who make the novel so compelling.

Out of all of their stories, Thobela Mpayipheli's is the one that kept me reading the book from start to finish. Here was a man who married the woman he loved and adopted her son as his. When she dies, he is left to raise the child, which he does with joy and determination. Then a fateful stop at a filing station changes Thobela's life forever. It sends him on a mission to send every criminal he encounters to a brutal and traumatic end. He is on a search for two men in particular who he has to exact a revenge that only their deaths can satisfy. Yet, he then realizes that his journey entails more than that.

There are AIDS-infected men who are raping children in an ill attempt to rid themselves of the disease. When the court refuses to condemn them to prison, Thobela decides to take matters into his own hands.

The author designs his characters in a way that their lives are all somehow entwined. This means that you must stay on your toes in order to follow the storyline. Yet, I found Devil's Peak to be an interesting and exciting read. I realize that Thobela Mpayipheli is my new hero and the man of my dreams.

Armchair Interviews says: Most interesting storyline.

This was the first book I read this year (I got an advance copy with a nice quote from Michael Connelly) and it just knocked me out. I immediately went looking for his three previous novels, The Heart of the Hunter, Dead Before Dying, and Dead at Daybreak. All are superb, with a few recurring characters (however, you can read them in any order, I read books 4, 3, 1 and 2 in that order).

Besides being a compelling writer, Meyer uses the South African setting to excellent effect, enlightening the reader as to the culture and society of SA (but never in a pedantic way, just as background and other elements of the narrative). Fascinating stuff it is, too.

His new novel Blood Safari is only available overseas, I don't think it will be published here in the USA; according to the author, his next book in the USA will be 13 Hours (already out in SA) and will be published by Grove/Atlantic (he is no longer under contract to Little, Brown here). He will also have a short story collection published in SA next year, not sure if it will be translated. Check out his website for more info.

Blood Safari has on the cover "King of South African Crime Fiction" or words to that effect - I haven't really read any of the competition (availability is a problem) but I can say for sure that he is one of the best writers I have read, from any nation.

I would give more than 5 Stars if I could. Wow!

This is one of those thrillers that you cannot put down. The novel contains three stories, the story of a white prostitute, the story of an ex freedom fighter with a mission and the story of a detective and his battles with alcohol, all intwined.

It is superbly written and by switching from story to story, keeps you totally enthralled. Although seperate pieces, each is worthy of their own novel, and the finale is really astounding.

I have now read all of Deon Meyer's novels, some in the original Afrikaans and like this one, the translation, and would like to recommend to new readers to start reading them in sequence, because some characters appear throuhout his novels.

Meyer has a superb grasp of the problems and challenges facing the new South Africa and this novel is his best to date. Certainly one of the top 5 thrillers i have ever read.

This powerful drama taking place in South African continues. The author is particularly good at crafting his characters so that you really care about them; they are definitely three-dimensional.

This is the first time I read anything by Deon Meyer, a South African writer. The book had been recommended to me by a friend. I enjoyed his writing so much so that I purchased the book for several of my book reading friends. I intend to purchase his other books and I now look forward to his next book. The story line takes place in South Africa, and his construction of the mystery thriller, is wonderfully done. It was difficult for me to put the book down and I read it in record time. Go, Deon Meyer, keep those books coming!

I've read all this author's works published in this country, and found them to be consistently top notch. In this book, he carries three plot lines through it dealing with complicated people that you find sympathetic. The author uses them to deal with major issues such as prostitution, alcoholism, and unsympathetic bureaucracy, as well as looking at some social issues mentioned in previous reviews. When the plot lines are meshed, it's done in an understandable and logical fashion leading to a satisfactory ending. The book is an exciting read. The protagonists are imperfect people with their own demons with whom they struggle. It is recommended highly and especially to those who wish to explore this South African's very original novels.

Deon Meyer is a great writer and once you start exploring his work there is not turning back. I can recommend him wholeheartedly. He delivers: crime fiction, satire, comedy and an insight into the South African psyche all in one.