Dead Before Dying

Moody mystery set in Cape Town, South Africa. Mat is an appealing widower. ( )

Mat Joubert has a lot of troubles. The mid-30's Capetown police captain has been a widower for two years, following the on-duty murder of his undercover police wife - and he still has difficulties dealing with the void in his life. Mat has a new boss who makes it clear that he wants a fit team, and before he knows it Mat has visits scheduled with a physician, dietician and psychologist. His good friend Benny has problems with the bottle and Mat questions his own manhood since he has been out of practice ever since......Then there is the serial killer on the loose using a rather distinctive handgun more than 100 years old. Is this random, or is there a tie that unites all the victims. Oh, and there's the bank robber with all the odd disguises. As you might imagine the story is fast paced and continues to switch between Mat's job and his personal issues - but both are deliciously intertwined. This is Deon Meyer's first book, written in the late 1990's. It is a stand-alone of sorts since there isn't a Joubert #2 but other characters such as Benny reappear in future books. I'm a big fan of Meyer and I had the impression that his first books weren't quite as good as the current ones, but in my book (pun) if there are quality differences, they are small. I thought the ending of this one could have been a bit better and a tad less obvious but I still rated this 4.5 stars. My biggest disappointment is nothaving another Mat book. ( )

captain marcus joubert, large Africaaner. very enjoyable read. ( )

My recent introduction to South African Deon Meyer was his newest crime novel (Trackers), and second up was this, his debut novel 'Dead before Dying' (published in the 1990s). A police procedural, I thought it just ok for a debut novel; not as good as Trackers, the ending was too much of a coincidence and somewhat unbelievable, and I didn't see much point to the bank robbery story. The characters and interactions were a positive though. Based more on what I thought of Trackers, I will read another. ( )