Description
“ Heart of the Hunter is the dark, explosive side of Alexander McCall Smith’s Botswana books, as full of love for the vast beauty of the country but also riddled by the anger of South Africa’s recent racial and political struggles.” — Chicago Tribune “A stellar performance. . . . Deon Meyer’s well-turned story and Vance’s top-notch narration make this a compelling listen.” — AudioFile “[Vance’s] performance feels spontaneous, off the cuff, and fresh. The gripping story . . . is a mesmerizing listen, thanks to Vance’s precise reading.” — Booklist --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. From Publishers Weekly A hulking black motorcycle-shop janitor named Tiny is the unlikely hero of this frantic, intelligent thriller by a South African crime writer. Tiny (aka Thobela Mpayipheli aka Umzingeli, the Hunter) is a former KGB-trained assassin who plied his trade in service of the struggle against apartheid. He is now a peace-loving family man, but when a plea for help comes from the daughter of an old friend, he is forced to race across the country on a motorcycle to deliver a coveted disk, chased by a homicidal special forces commander. His fear of revisiting the violence of his past feels real—the sincere hesitation of a dark-skinned man in a country where violent acts multiply like viruses, especially where black blood is involved. "His hands so terribly ready to kill, his brain clattering out the knowledge of the vital points on the soldier's body like machine gun fire, despairing, don't, don't, don't..." In other ways, this is a standard thriller complete with CIA involvement, an appearance by Muslim extremists and a loose, rat-a-tat prose that keeps pages turning. The central plot twist is predictable and too few of the many story lines are resolved, but the freshness of the context and the emotional complexity of the hero's journey are ample compensation for readers who want a more thought-provoking spy story. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From Booklist *Starred Review* Thobela Mpayipheli has settled into a sedate but rewarding life with the woman he loves. He works as a gofer at a South African motorcycle shop and readies his partner's young son for life on a farm--until an ex-boss asks him to perform a dangerous favor. His Xhosa warrior's heart racing, Thobela soon finds himself driving hard toward Nigeria with a hard drive full of secrets the unified government wishes to file away for good. Thrillingly competent at evading the police, intelligence services, and even a crack paramilitary team, Thobela struggles with the novel's core question--Can people change their essential nature?--while the authorities uncover his deadly past as a weapon of the antiapartheid movement on loan to the Soviet bloc. Like John le Carre's The Tailor of Panama, this novel examines the rippling horrors too often caused by so-called intelligence agents working for foreign masters in backwater nations. With simmering racial tensions, a bounty of natural resources, and a government whose members worked both sides of the cold-war fence, South Africa should prove fertile ground for many fine spy thrillers to come. Don't be surprised if quite a few of them are written by Meyer. Frank Sennett Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. “ Heart of the Hunter is the dark, explosive side of Alexander McCall Smith’s Botswana books, as full of love for the vast beauty of the country but also riddled by the anger of South Africa’s recent racial and political struggles.” — Chicago Tribune “A stellar performance. . . . Deon Meyer’s well-turned story and Vance’s top-notch narration make this a compelling listen.” — AudioFile “[Vance’s] performance feels spontaneous, off the cuff, and fresh. The gripping story . . . is a mesmerizing listen, thanks to Vance’s precise reading.” — Booklist --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Deon Meyer is the internationally acclaimed, prizewinning author of twelve thrillers, including The Woman in the Blue Cloak, Fever, Icarus, Cobra, Seven Days, and the Barry Award-winning Thirteen Hours. His books have been published in twenty-seven languages. He lives in Stellenbosch, South Africa.Simon Vance, a former BBC Radio presenter and newsreader, is a full-time actor who has appeared on both stage and television. He has recorded over eight hundred audiobooks and has earned five coveted Audie Awards, and he has won fifty-seven Earphones Awards from AudioFile magazine, which has named him a Golden Voice. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Read more
Features & Highlights
- A former assassin in post-apartheid South Africa is drawn back into his former profession in this “rip-roaring adventure” (
- The Washington Post
- ).
- Six-foot five-inch Thobela “Tiny” Mpayipheli was once a feared freedom fighter, trained by the Stasi and KGB. Now, he’s a family man working in a garage in post-apartheid South Africa. But when the daughter of one of Tiny’s former associates comes to him with a desperate plea, he finds himself returning to his violent former life. With his old friend Johnny being held hostage, Tiny agrees to do whatever it takes to get him back safely. But as he races to the rendezvous point on a stolen BMW motorcycle, Tiny is trailed by several hostile forces, including South Africa’s Presidential Intelligence Unit. And when his old training kicks in, his pursuers will learn what kind of man they’re up against . . . With books published in twenty languages, Deon Meyer has established himself as one of the best crime writers in the world. In
- Heart of the Hunter
- , he has created a thriller “good enough to nip at the heels of Le Carré” (
- Kirkus Reviews
- ). “This guy is really good. Deon Meyer hooked me with this one right from the start.” —Michael Connelly,
- New York Times
- –bestselling author of the Harry Bosch novels “A portrait of spy-world duplicity and a look at South Africa’s post-apartheid politics.” —
- The Washington Post
- “The dark, explosive side of Alexander McCall Smith’s Botswana books, as full of love for the vast beauty of the country but also riddled by the anger of South Africa’s recent racial and political struggles.” —
- Chicago Tribune
- “A brilliant American debut by Afrikaans writer Deon Meyer, uses political intrigue as the fuel for a fast-paced crime thriller.” —
- The Times-Picayune
