Bennie Griessel has joined the elite police force known as the Hawks, and is asked to re-open the murder investigation of a rising, attractive female attorney. A nut starts emailing threats and then starts shooting cops ostensibly for the case remaining unsolved. Meanwhile, Bennie is struggling with his sobriety and his new girlfriend's. The first 50% of the book was slow because there is no progress on the case, then a series of breaks propel Bennie and his team towards the denouement. 3.75 stars. ( )

Fast paced, interesting, good story with characters that come to life for me. I really enjoyed this book, that showed how frustrating police work can be, and how the old motives (passion, revenge, hate) are still very powerful and must not be ruled out, even in this modern world of Facebook, Twitter & Linked in, up or something, a world Griessel is not familiar with at all. ( )

Exciting, nail-biting police procedural set in post-apartheid South Africa. The racially-integrated "Hawks" and other police divisions set out to solve the cold-case murder of a woman lawyer who was involved in a complicated business deal. Against them is a sniper who is picking off policemen one by one. Race against the clock to outwit the sniper and solve the crime. I just had to keep reading to find out who the sniper was. I was glad for glossary of Afrikaans and native terms to which I often referred.

Highly recommended. ( )

One of my favourite writers.

For me, one of the key attractions of Deon Meyer’s books is the way he brings to life the real people of South Africa.

A very taut police procedural. Shows a panoramic picture of modern South Africa. But just a few pages of this book will show that even though Meyer has set his sights lower here, he is simply too good a writer to produce anything by the numbers. In fact, if he'd written only books as concise as this, he’d still be above average.

Only “Trackers” remains to be read and I intend to correct it as soon as possible.

Reading one of his books in English makes me want to take up Afrikaans…
( )

READ IN DUTCH

Ik had zeer veel positieve verhalen gehoord of Deon Meyer, waardoor ik erg nieuwsgierig was geworden naar zijn boeken. Dat, in combinatie met het feit dat ik ook benieuwd was naar een thriller uit Zuid-Afrika, maakte de keus voor mij erg makkelijk. Ik wilde dit boek heel graag lezen.
Gelukkig kreeg ik een kans via de BUZZ-club van Crimezone.

7 Dagen, waarin de politie moet stoppen de communistische moordenaars van Hanneke Sloet te beschermen en de moord moet op lossen. Of anders... zullen er meer politie-agenten neergeschoten worden.

Het gegeven voor dit race-tegen-de-klok/kat-en-muis spelletje. Het leest heel makkelijk weg, de spanning wordt goed opgebouwd. Naarmate de dagen volgen wordt je meer en meer in het verhaal gezogen. Enig minpuntje vond ik toch wel dat het einde me heel erg deed denken aan een boek van Jo Nesbo, waardoor ik het toch opeens een stuk minder origineel vond. Ik ben zeker van plan in de toekomst nog meer boeken van Deon Meyer te gaan lezen. ( )