Devil's Peak

De: Deon Meyer

Narrado por: Simon Vance

A young woman makes a terrible confession to a priest. An honorable man takes his own revenge for an unspeakable tragedy. An aging inspector tries to get himself sober while taking on the most difficult case of his career. From this beginning, Deon Meyer weaves a story of astonishing complexity and suspense, as Inspector Benny Griessel faces off against a dangerous vigilante who has everything on his side, including public sympathy.

A gruesome abuse case has hit the newsstands, and one man has taken it upon himself to stand up for the children of Cape Town. When the accused is found stabbed through the heart by spear, it's only the beginning of a string of bloody murders - and of a dangerous dilemma for detective Griessel. The detective is always just one step behind as someone slays the city's killers.

But the paths of Griessel and the avenger collide when a young prostitute lures them both into a dangerous plan - and the two find themselves with a heart-stopping problem that no system of justice could ever make right.

©2008 Deon Meyer (P)2012 HighBridge Company

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Complex, finely wrought characters, keen psychological insight, and a compelling plot.... Easily Meyer’s finest effort to date.” ( Publishers Weekly)

Excellent

This was my first Deon Meyer, downloaded based on the review of a reader I follow. At first, I thought this was going to be just another police procedural. It turned out to be much more than I expected. The characters are great and the plot really takes off. With twists I never saw coming but which made total sense once revealed. Immediately downloaded the second book in the series. (Simon Vance, as always, is excellent.)

Another Capetown police procedural, very good.

Another book about modern Capetown, South Africa. The primary officer in this story is Inspector Denny Griesel. He has spent much of the past decade in his police work drunk. He can’t stand the pain of things he is forced to encounter in his job, post traumatic stress, and he drinks to stop the pain. But he has finally reached a point where he wants to stop. He’s tried before, and manages, after getting dried out, to be sober for a brief period of time but then falls off the wagon. His wife has finally had enough and kicks him out and says she won’t consider staying married to him unless he can stay sober for at least six months. He is in the process of trying to get through that period, and trying to establish for the first time a relationship with his children. The main case he is dealing with here is again something that initially looks like a serial killer at work, but the police soon realize that the killer focuses on killing men or women who have harmed or murdered children. Benny thinks that this man, whoever he is, must have had the tragic loss of a child, and he sets out to track him down. We have drug lords, sex workers, and one man avenging children, and Benny’s painful task of staying sober. Very good.

Best book I've read since "Dragon Tatoo"

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. Interesting and believable characters, exciting and believable plot.

Who was your favorite character and why?

x

Which character – as performed by Simon Vance – was your favorite?

Vance does great with all characters

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The whole book

Any additional comments?

No

Complex and GOOD

I was hesitant about this title because I'm in SC and the book is set in South Africa - I wasn't sure it would be relatable. Honestly other than the characters' names I had no difficulty relating at all. It was interesting learning some history, politics, legal procedures and societal norms of South Africa and I loved the main character Bennie who struggles with alcoholism, marital problems, and lack of respect in his department but still gets the job done like a reguar Sherlock.
The story is from the perspectives of both a vigilante killer and the cop who is looking for him, so I kept thinking there would be a bad ending for one or both. That added a lot of tension to the story but I still enjoyed it very much and plan to read the series.

Weak interpretation of the piece

Struggled to finish this book due to the poor narrator - he struggles and stumbles through the pronunciation and accents needed to bring this book alive. The nuances of the work gets lost in his ineptitude. Will definitely not recommend.