Heart of the Hunter

Deon Meyer

Hodder & Stoughton £18.99 hbk rel: Nov 2003

Reviewed by Mike Stotter

You can count the amount of thrillers set in South Africa on the fingers of one hand (an exaggeration perhaps, but I'm talking about good thrillers). Borrowing a title from Laurens van per Post, himself a South African writer, Deon Meyer sets his sights high with his new book.

The premise of the story is clean: Thobela 'Tiny' Mpayipheli, Xhosa warrior and former freedom fighter is contacted by a friend from the old days, who has been kidnapped, and asked to deliver a computer disk which will save his life. The disk apparently contains political embarrassing information to the new government, and is being put up for sale. Thobela's loyalty outweighs his love for his new way of life, his woman and surrogate son. He "borrows" a BMW and sets off across country, pursued by South African's newly-formed elite security force peopled by sadists and murderers. As he rides across the country his back-story unravels: Tobela was previously an assassin for a liberation movement not only in his country but also hired out to foreign countries. His character comes across as the loner in a Western who rides into town and cleans up the mess. At every turn there is someone out to kill him or damage those close to him.

Weaving the past with the present, Meyer controls the pace with an assured hand and there are plenty of political shenanigans going on in the background to keep this book on an even keel. Thobela is a very introspective and calm person and this counter-balances the violence happening around him. The landscape is a vividly evoked character in its own right. It is no wonder that Heart of the Hunter received the ATKV Prose Prize in 2003.

A terrific thriller of the first order and highly recommended.