7 DAE (edition 2012)

"South Africa is just not as sexy a place as Scandinavia" - Deon Meyer in reply to a question as to whether or not South Africa (SA) was taking over from Scandinavia as the new home of crime fiction (http://bit.ly/X0OCzu). To my mind, he is not making a bad fist of trying on its behalf.
In 7 Days, two investigations are intertwined; one into the murder of a female lawyer, the other in pursuit of the sniper who is shooting policemen as a result of their failure to reveal the female lawyer's murderer! As though they know! Meyer's plots are rarely straight forward, and there is always excitement and suspense. In this, Captain Benny Griessel, a man with his own demons, is landed the task of solving the first crime before more policemen are shot, so it's a race against time to solve a case that had previously ground to a halt. Plus there is a subplot to boot, namely Griessel's relationship with an alcoholic female singer. What this book doesn't quite do is give a broad picture of modern SA like some of his other titles, it being more focused on the police procedural aspect. But a good read with a good ending. ( )

Not quite up to the standard of the previous procedural book, Thirteen Hours, but still a much better than average read, in my opinion. There is some quite powerful writing here, such as the thoughts of Benny (an alcoholic who's been dry about 2/3 of a year) after being kissed by a woman who's been drinking--and he can taste the drink. The scene where Benny is recognized as a fellow musician/player by the top bass guitar god in South Africa struck a chord with me (if you'll pardon the pun) as I had almost the exact experience except substitute tennis for bass guitar; the graciousness of the top player has stuck with me for many years. Anyway, those are but a couple of scenes out of many that are quite good in this book. However, when it's all said and done, I think I'm ready for a POV character that's different from Benny, and I hope Deon Meyer is too.
This book has earned a very solid ( )

Deon Meyer is an author I've been anxious to read for quite some time and now thanks to Amazon Vine, I have. He lives in South Africa and this book is set there, a place I've never been but now have some insight into because of this book.

Police Detective Benny Griessel is the hero of the story, although he would never think of himself in such terms. He is a recovering alcoholic who is divorced, has trouble trying to relate to his teenage kids, has been transferred to another division perhaps as punishment for drinking, and is inclined to think of himself as a failure. He is falling in love with a talented and beautiful singer, also an alcoholic who keeps falling off the wagon. He tries to help her, then again feels like a failure because he can't tend to her and still keep up with his new assignment.

That assignment is the crux of the story. A sniper in a white van shoots a policeman in the leg. He has been sending emails to the police threatening to do so if they don't reveal their knowledge about who murdered a young businesswoman months earlier. Actually the police are stumped; they have no idea who killed her. Setting Griessel on the case, they heed the sniper's warning that he will shoot a cop every day for seven days unless they arrest the killer. Talk about stress.

Reading Seven Days isn't easy like reading a light cozy. This case is difficult and it isn't made easy for the reader either. I was confused off and on but doggedly stuck with it because I just couldn't let it go without finding out who, and most importantly why. The characterizations are so good that even though this is a different culture with unique customs, I felt like I got to know them all, even the sniper.

This has made me want to travel to South Africa someday. Well, I already wanted to since my husband's grandfather lived there for many years, but now I'm very curious about the country. And I intend to read Meyer's other novels as well.

Recommended reading for police procedural lovers.
Source: Amazon Vine ( )

http://coyotewandering.wordpress.com/2012/09/21/book-review-seven-days/ ( )

Another very good book by Deon Meyer in the Bennie Greissel series. An attractive young woman has been found murdered in an expensive flat in Cape Town. The investigation has cooled due to lack of evidence and suspects but then there is a threatening email that a cop will be shot every day until the killer of the young woman is arrested. It is this threat and subsequent incidents that provide the tension and urgency for the story. And it is somewhat reminiscent of the killers who shot random victims over a period of weeks in the Washington, DC region a few years back. Having lived through that experience as a resident of McLean Virginia I would have to say that "Seven Days" does not create the same level of emotion as the DC experience for obvious reasons, but also because in DC the victims were from the population at large, e.g. people shot while pumping gas, and most were fatalities. In "Seven Days" there is a nice back story involving Alex, Bennie's gf also with a drinking problem (can this relationship work? anybody see "Days of Wine and Roses"?). And what resonated with me is how Bennie suddenly feels overwhelmed by all the new technologies and apps that everyone except him seems to know and use. Despite all the goodies here, I just didn't enjoy this story (perhaps too much detail of financial partnerships)as much as other DM books and found it was very easy to put down after short periods. ( )