HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Heart of the Hunter by Deon Meyer
Loading...

Heart of the Hunter (original 2002; edition 2012)

by Deon Meyer

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
3571471,610 (3.8)6
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.… (more)
Member:booksmurf
Title:Heart of the Hunter
Authors:Deon Meyer
Info:Grove Press (2012), Edition: Tra Rei, Mass Market Paperback, 400 pages
Collections:Read but unowned
Rating:***1/2
Tags:thriller, suspense

Work Information

Dodemansrit by Deon Meyer (2002)

None
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 6 mentions

English (9)  Danish (2)  French (1)  German (1)  Norwegian (1)  All languages (14)
Showing 1-5 of 9 (next | show all)
A harder book to get through than reading Devils Peak. The book is kafkaesque, and the African names get a bit confusing, but the writing is once again excellent and a very interesting story. ( )
  zmagic69 | Mar 31, 2023 |
Thobela "Tiny" Mpayipheli is my favorite kind of character. I totally fell in love with Stieg Larsson's Lisbeth Salander because she is an unassuming and somewhat invisible character, but underneath that facade is a complete and total badass. Tiny is a male version. They each are the proverbial "lone wolf" who have few real friends - if any - so no one really knows them or understands what makes them tick. Similarly few if any know their true skill sets. But those skill sets, when applied, are second to none. They may be violent, but when they need to take care of business, they never back down and it is still a thing of beauty.

The other analogy is like the old Louis L'Amour Westerns where the hero never goes looking for trouble, but somehow trouble always finds them. And when you are the complete and total badass, when trouble finds you, trouble is in trouble. Thobela, like Salander, just wants to be left alone, but nope, not going to happen. So we are left with a situation brewing along the lines: "don’t make me do this...." Oops, too late now.

I thought the story within Heart of the Hunter was just okay. Half was the actual story, and the other half was about Tiny (I liked all of the latter). This book has got kind of a Kevin Costner "No Way Out" storyline. Lots of unknowns and intrigue and misdirection, who is good or bad or what was once bad is now good and good is now bad, friends and enemies and frienemies boomerang on every page, page after page. It's good or good enough, but I didn't think it was great; maybe somehow too much, probable but too much of a stretch.

There were some, well, not exactly funny parts because people were dying, but still humorous elements with the media coverage and the motorcycle folks and even the special military unit hunting Tiny down. And Orlando Arendse was nothing short of awesome. But mostly a bunch of bad stuff happens, and little or no good stuff; I prefer it the other way around, or at least one should balance the other. In my opinion, far too few of the baddies were held to account for a satisfactory conclusion; neither the law nor street justice prevailed to the degree they should have. ( )
  Picathartes | Feb 21, 2023 |
Dit was lekker om weer 'n boek in Afrikaans te lees. Dit het so rukkie gevat om weer gewoond te raak daaraan, maar toe dit lekker om so 'n storie van ons mense en plekke in my taal te lees... ( )
  rendier | Dec 20, 2020 |
Tiny Mpayipheli wants nothing more than to live out the rest of his life with his wife and stepson. He is a good man. His plan is to save enough to purchase some land and farm. But he has a past and when he gets a message from an old friend to bring him a hard drive, it seems like an easy task. Unfortunately the drive contains information that may or may not be bait in international game of spies. Soon everyone is after him and he is trying to stay loyal to his new life and his friend. That may not be possible.

This is a terrific book. It's a real page turner but with heart and feeling for the people and country of South Africa. It's also an examination of good and evil.

Some passges:

But disillusionment followed, not suddenly or dramatically—the small realities slowly took over uninvited. The realization that people are an unreliable, dishonest, self-centered, self-absorbed, backstabbing, violent, sly species that lie, cheat, murder, rape, and steal, regardless of their status, nationality, or color. It was a gradual but often traumatic process for someone who wished only to see good and beauty.

“That is my problem with the media, Miss Healy. You want to press people into packages, that is all there is time and space for. Labels. But you can’t label people. We are not all good or bad. There is a bit of both in all of us. No. There is a lot of both in all of us.”

And he had said: “You know, whitey, it sounds like the new excuse to me. All the great troubles of the world have been done in the name of one or other excuse. Christianization, colonialism, herrenvolk, communism, apartheid, democracy, and now evolution. Or is it genetics? Excuses, just another reason to do as we wish. I am tired of it all. Finished with that. I am tired of my own excuses and the excuses of other people. I am taking responsibility for what I do now. Without excuse. I have choices; you have choices. About how we will live. That’s all. That’s all we can choose. Fuck excuses.
( )
  ecw0647 | May 8, 2019 |
Thobela Mpayipheli has settled into a sedate but rewarding life with the woman he loves - 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. HARD
  JRCornell | Jan 29, 2019 |
Showing 1-5 of 9 (next | show all)
Jegerens hjerte :
Tiny Mpayipheli lever et rolig familieliv etter tidligere å ha jobbet som leiesoldat for regjeringen. En dag blir han kontaktet av den desperate datteren til en gammel venn. Faren hennes har blitt kidnappet. Tiny går med på å overlevere en harddisk med sensitiv informasjon til kidnapperne.

Jegeren :
Når han plutselig får regjeringsagenter og diverse undergrunnsmiljøer i hælene, innser Tiny at han er involvert i noe langt større enn en kidnapping. Han truer til seg en off-road motorsykkel og setter ut på støvete, ufarbare veier, med en konstant fare i ryggen. Det går opp for forfølgerne at personen de jakter, sannsynligvis er den råeste drapsmannen de har vært borti, en kriger kjent under navnet Jegeren.
 

» Add other authors (13 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Deon Meyerprimary authorall editionscalculated
Hoffmann, UlrichTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Reichlin, SaulNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
Information from the German Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
Für Anita
First words
Information from the German Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
Er stand hinter dem Amerikaner und wurde durch das Gedränge in der Metro fest an ihn gepresst.
Quotations
Last words
Information from the German Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

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.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Haiku summary
Sur sa BMW
Un ami l'a appelé
Il perdra Myriam
(Tiercelin)

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (3.8)
0.5
1 4
1.5
2
2.5 1
3 13
3.5 15
4 37
4.5 4
5 14

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 203,208,598 books! | Top bar: Always visible