Irma Venter

Rating: 4.5* of five

The Publisher Says: Deep in the South African Karoo, a small desert town runs red with old grudges and deadly secrets.

Three years after his niece is found dead the week of her wedding, Jaap Reyneke, a retired detective, is still doggedly looking for answers. Why was her body displayed so carefully, like a macabre art installation? Who erased all correspondence from her devices? But the townspeople of Carnarvon seem content to let dead bodies lie.

Desperate for help, Jaap show more turns to Sarah Fourie, a convicted hacker seeking reprieve from her own demons. Together, they sniff out the truth of Janien's death, setting in motion a chain of events that will tear the town apart from within.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: South Africa fascinates me because it has so many of the same disfiguring flaws as US culture has, and an ugly side it likes to pretend it doesn't have like the US does. I've watched its soap operas in an effort to get to grips with what it thinks of itself; I read its mysteries and thrillers to find out what scares it from within.

Jaap's retired from the police force, but Janien's unresolved death, a murder without closure, refuses to let him rest. He needs more skilled help to get information from the internet age that, franjly, does not interest him nor does he want to get into its guts. Enter Sarah, convicted of hacking for profit, and now seeking redemption. How better than to get the data Jaap needs to finally close Janien's murder?

It's a good mystery, keeps a solid pace, plays fair...but wow, does the author need some computer tech lessons. This being fiction, I get the need to compress time scales but hacking is not as straightforward nor as quick to produce results as this story suggests. I felt I needed to withhold a star for that; but the reason Janien was murdered, the ugliness the solution uncovered, and Jaap's dogged quest to fix this rent in Ma'at's fabric all compelled me to keep the pages turning.

As the motive for multiple crimes came to light the story had a fascinating tonal shift. A matter-of-factness entered the narrative that, the more I thought about it, was so much more pointedly a comment on the sickness of the world that hides, empowers, allows suchlike than a more condemnatory tone would've been that I got a chill. That's the half-star returned.

I hope we'll see more of Irma Venter's work in English soon. show less

Until about 50% of the way into this book I thought it was classic noir set in what is, to me, an exotic location - Tanzania. A mysterious woman, Ranna, a photographer who seems to be a fatal attraction for most of the men who cross her paths. Alex, a journalist at loose ends who is powerfully drawn to her, but is put off by her reluctance to reveal details of her past. A clever detective, Hamisi, hiding his own secrets.

This is all told from Alex's POV with a strong forward momentum, show more building tension scene after scene.

And then Ranna takes over the story, and the tension dissipates. In the interest of avoiding spoilers I won't say much more except that I felt the suspense of not knowing that imbued Alex's side of the story was frittered away once Ranna, with prodding from Hamisi, shares what haunts her.

I kept hoping that there would be a twist at the end that would salvage my hope for an African noir, but in the end I was disappointed. Factoring in the great beginning and the evocative descriptions of Tanzania and later South Africa, I'm giving it 3 stars, despite the let down of the closing half of the book. show less

Man Down is the second title in Irma Venter’s action-thriller series Rogue, but it reads very well as a standalone. In fact, I think my lack of exposure to the key protagonists only served to heighten the predominantly character-driven cat-and-mouse slow-burn suspense and intrigue in this novel’s first half.

Venter’s contained ensemble cast (in number, not impact) and skilful use of alternating character first-person narratives (a construct I particularly enjoy) delivered compelling show more character development. Her evocative depiction of the South African setting, a deeply scarred society with unrest simmering under every surface, amplified character tensions and reader suspicions. Continue reading >> https://www.bookloverbookreviews.com/2021/04/man-down-by-irma-venter-review.html show less

Alex Derksen is a foreign journalist from South Africa on assignment in Tanzania. Shortly after arriving in the new country, he meets beautiful photographer Ranna Abramson. For Alex, it’s love at first sight.

But Ranna is not an easy woman to love. She seems attracted to Alex but she’s constantly pushing him away at the same time. She’s obviously hiding something but she won’t share her troubles with Alex. She shows up for a date with a bloody arm one night. Not long after, one of her show more acquaintances is found dead and Ranna is suspected of murder. What exactly is Ranna hiding? Or what is she running from?

I wanted to like this more than I did. It’s a pretty solid premise but the writing was too–jumpy? I actually restarted it about 20 pages in because I thought I had missed something. Alex and Ranna barely knew each other but Alex seemed to think that she owed him something. It was some crazy insta-love.

And then Ranna finally shares her worries with Alex and all I could think was, “What? Really? That’s where we’re going?” With this revelation in hand, I had a good idea of who done what, so to speak. All that I needed was the full details of why.

I was correct about who but the why? It felt far-fetched. And then the resolution? That really left me scratching my head. Alex and Ranna’s choices made absolutely no sense to me.

I did enjoy the hot, humid, rainy setting of the book. The author’s descriptions of Tanzania and South Africa made my travel bug flare up. It was also fun to read some South African words that I hadn’t come across before, like bakkie. It’s a pickup truck, if you’re curious.

Apparently this is a series but I don’t feel any need to continue with it.

I received this book for free through the Amazon First Reads program. I am not an Amazon affiliate. show less