Trackers

Now a major TV series from Sky Atlantic

De: Deon Meyer

Narrado por: Rupert Degas, Sandra Duncan, Saul Reichlin

A housewife running from years of domestic abuse. A bodyguard hired to escort a smuggled rhinoceros. A group of Islamic terrorists based in a quiet residential street. A secret government agency threatened with amalgamation within a bigger department. A retired policeman trying to get used to his new career in the private sector.

Each of these strands of a brilliant narrative is populated with superbly-drawn characters, and woven into a stunningly exciting drama by the undisputed king of South African suspense fiction. Not only a heart-pounding thriller, but also a love story and a fabulous kaleidoscopic picture of South African society, this is the finest novel yet from an author whose reputation is growing all around the world.

(P)2011 Hodder & Stoughton©2011 Deon Meyer

Reseñas de la Crítica

Smuggling, missing persons and an edgy post-apartheid South Africa interlace in a riveting crime novel . . . This is the author's most accomplished novel to date. Following the thrilling plot of his best­selling Thirteen Hours was always going to be a challenge but he's visibly gained confidence, showing his technical skill and handling the different sections of the new book with effortless ease. It's a mesmerising read, and a ­startling revelation at the very end suggests that we haven't heard the last of these engaging characters.

How fulfilling the rewards are for those seeking crime fiction with real texture and intelligence . . . The author presents an unsparing picture of social divisions in post-apartheid South Africa . . . But perhaps his key achievement is the astutely drawn trio: the conflicted bodyguard, streetwise but falling for a major deception; the young woman fleeing a desperately unhappy marriage and discovering something that changes her perception of herself; and the ex-cop, finding that the incendiary reserves of violence in his personality are nearer to the surface than he thought. TRACKERS is a sprawling, invigorating and socially committed crime novel.

The Thriller Shot of the Year title goes to South African Deon Meyer for his superb tour-de-force TRACKERS which combines a spy plot worthy of Le Carre ("spy the beloved country") with several tense and violent criminal sub-plots and a complex and stunningly impressive narrative structure. All in all, a masterpiece of South African crime writing; which is rapidly proving to be the bench-mark of international crime fiction.'

This South African kind of crime is going global fast. TRACKERS shows why: three deftly-braided plot strands join political sophistication, strongly-drawn characters and a passionate concern with the Rainbow Nation's fate.

An unusually intriguing story about modern South Africa.

The book that stayed with me most from this year is Deon Meyer's TRACKERS . . . a dazzling performance.

Critics were struggling to come up with new adjectives to praise the South African writer Deon Meyer's TRACKERS, a menacing tale of smuggling and disappearances on a sprawling canvas of post-apartheid South Africa.

The author is proclaimed to be "South Africa's answer to Stieg Larsson" in a banner headline on the cover. I wouldn't disagree with that. He is certainly as powerful a writer, although his style is slightly different, and considerably more complex . . . this is one of the most absorbing crime stories you are ever likely to read.

Meyer's ambition matches his execution in this brilliantly complex standalone thriller set in his native South Africa . . . Few readers will anticipate exactly how the separate plot strands will be resolved. This powerhouse read, which captures the many facets of modern South Africa, should be the American breakthrough book this talented author deserves.

Disjointed

I love Deon Meyer and have listened to many of his books. Parts of the book were really good but in the end he did not bring it together in the end for me.

Story of the decade

Loved it from the 1st chapter there was a bit of confusion when the story shifted to a typical Bennie Griesel style murder investigation that tied up nicely at the end but I was still excited all the way through. I really hope the whole series gets picked up for TV. P

Narrator spoiled it for me

This is an excellent book by a talented author. I read a hard copy approximately ten years ago, and have listened to several of Meyer’s books in audio format over the last five years or so. So I was hoping this offering would give me as much pleasure as the other in the Deon Meyer/Saul Reichlin canon.

Unfortunately Rupert Degas’ performance is severely lacking. It is unprofessional not to have researched the pronunciation of South African words like Karoo, for example! An unconvincing Lemmer, to say the least …

I cannot imagine why Saul Reichlin was not given the entire book to narrate. He has shown himself to have a mastery of the wide range of South African accents in his work on Meyer’s books.

Great book, not so great narration

I enjoyed this Deon Meyer novel for a number of reasons. His insight into human behaviour and how he can get into his character's heads is remarkable. He had completely different storylines which came together at the end (this aspect could perhaps be done a bit better), but the story lines were interesting and intriguing in and of themselves.

Saul Reichlin is by far one of my favourite narrators and I am always amazed at his excellent rendering of various accents, especially his range of South African ones. But herein lies my criticism. With respect to the other narrators who also participated in this production, why did he not narrate the whole book on his own? He would have been more than capable of handling it himself. In my opinion the other voice actors detracted from the production and lowered the quality of the final product. Their accents were also not well researched at all, not getting basic words right like the Afrikaans "Oom".

The other thing I found strange is the use of the term "hell's bells" as a form of mild cussing. I have only listened to the English translation and don't know what the original Afrikaans term was, but I don't know of any Afrikaner who uses that term. Since I don't know the original I might be out of my place with this criticism, but I find that a highly unlikely and unauthentic translation of whatever the Afrikaans was.

Having said all this, I still think it is worth getting and listening to as Deon Meyer is an excellent author, Saul Reichlin is an excellent narrator, and the two of them makes a good team.

not bad but not the best

This book is made up of 4 smaller books which build up the whole story. It takes a bit of memory and concentration to find exactly where they overlap and I found the last book didn't reveal enough of the main story to justify the length. The book was OK.