Dead at Daybreak

Chronicling events that transpire before those in 2004's excellent Heart of the Hunter0 , Meyer shifts focus here from Xhosa ex-assassin Thobela Mpayipheli to Afrikaner ex-cop Zatopek van Heerden (although both men play key roles in each other's stories). Zet, as van Heerden's famed artist mother calls him, quit the Cape Town homicide squad after failing to prevent his partner's death. He's still wallowing in guilt when an attorney hires him to track the missing will of a mysterious antiques dealer who was murdered 15 years ago with a blowtorch and an M-16. Zet has a week to uncover the man's true identity, find the document, and discover what secrets his walk-in safe used to hold. Meanwhile, in exchange for help publicizing the case, he must write his life story for a sexy but twisted media maven. Alternating chapters between Zet's soulful confessional and the explosive investigation, Meyer manages to ratchet up the tension so effectively that readers will have a hard time deciding which mystery they wish to pierce first. The author once again mines South Africa's fertile history of racial conflict and cold war gamesmanship for a narrative gem. --Frank Sennett Copyright 2005 Booklist

South African crime writer Meyer's expertly crafted second thriller (after 2004's Heart of the Hunter) confirms his place as one of the genre's finest new stylists. Afrikaner Zatopek "Zet" van Heerden, a former cop, is slipping fast into drunken dissolution when a colleague pulls him up and gives him an opportunity. An attorney, Hope Beneke, needs a private investigator fast to find a missing will. An antiques dealer, Johannes Jacobus Smit, was recently found burnt with a blowtorch and shot execution-style, the contents of his walk-in safe, including his will, gone. Beneke and van Heerden have only seven days to find the document before Smit's considerable assets revert to the state, leaving his common-law wife destitute. It doesn't take long for van Heerden to discover that "Smit" wasn't the person whose papers he carried, and that someone very important, quite possibly the state itself, wants to hide his true identity. Meyer keeps the suspense moving throughout the third-person narrative, alternating back and forth with van Heerden's own first-person account of his past. This is a remarkable achievement from a singular new talent. Agent, Isobel Dixon at Blake Friedmann. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

South African crime writer Meyer (Heart of the Hunter) seamlessly merges two engrossing story lines in his second novel, at once a character study and a violent crime story set in Cape Town. In the first-person backstory, Zatopek "Zed" van Heerden traces his maturation from a boy in search of his soul mate to a hardened 38-year-old ex-cop who acts out at the slightest provocation. At first, Zed seems destined for a career as a criminal psychologist, cloistered in the world of academe. But when he tracks down the serial killer responsible years earlier for the brutal murder of his neighbor, he finds his true calling and joins the police force. He leaves after the death of his partner during a raid, but there's a much deeper reason for his guilt and despair. In the third-person crime story, Zed has been hired to find the will of Jan Smit, a murdered antiques dealer. As he begins to make headway in the case, sinister forces hinder his quest for the truth. A breathtaking pace, heart-pounding action set against a psychological backdrop, and a fascinating protagonist make this book a winner. Highly recommended for most public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 4/15/05.]-Ronnie H. Terpening, Univ. of Arizona, Tuscon (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

More darkness out of post-apartheid South Africa, but after a sizzling debut, Meyer's second disappoints. It's that pesky protagonist problem. With Thobela Mpayipheli, black, ex-freedom fighter, Meyer got it right in Heart of the Hunter (2004). With Zat van Heerden, white ex-cop, he doesn't. Thobela is all about action, purpose, narrative drive. Zat, on the other hand, throbs with angst and wallows in introspection, both of which will hamper pace and hamstring thrillers every time. Zat is in a bad way when first we meet him as a self-hating borderline alcoholic. He does, however, have at least one long-suffering friend. Kemp guides Zat to Hope Beneke, an attractive young lawyer who needs an experienced investigator, a description that would have fit Zat tidily before he messed himself up. (How and why is exhaustively rendered in flashbacks that also hamper pace.) Hope's client is the surviving significant other of a brutally murdered millionaire. In the process, Jan Smit's safe was robbed of everything in it, including the will that left the bulk of his estate to the deserving Wilna van As. Without it, lock, stock and barrel goes to the government. Zat's charge--find and retrieve the will before the final sitting of the Master's Supreme Court in exactly one week. Zat knows, of course, that the task isn't going to be easy. What he can't know is how wild the complications will become when, as it soon turns out, Jan Smit isn't--and never was--Jan Smit. Well, then, who was he? That's the kind of secret hard men on both sides of the law will do just about anything to keep hidden. But Zat buckles down, chasing the missing will and his own redemption simultaneously. A step back then, but enough flashes of real talent to hope for better from his next. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

/*Starred Review*/ Chronicling events that transpire before those in 2004's excellent Heart of the Hunter, Meyer shifts focus here from Xhosa ex-assassin Thobela Mpayipheli to Afrikaner ex-cop Zatopek van Heerden (although both men play key roles in each other's stories). Zet, as van Heerden's famed artist mother calls him, quit the Cape Town homicide squad after failing to prevent his partner's death. He's still wallowing in guilt when an attorney hires him to track the missing will of a mysterious antiques dealer who was murdered 15 years ago with a blowtorch and an M-16. Zet has a week to uncover the man's true identity, find the document, and discover what secrets his walk-in safe used to hold. Meanwhile, in exchange for help publicizing the case, he must write his life story for a sexy but twisted media maven. Alternating chapters between Zet's soulful confessional and the explosive investigation, Meyer manages to ratchet up the tension so effectively that readers will have a hard time deciding which mystery they wish to pierce first. The author once again mines South Africa's fertile history of racial conflict and cold war gamesmanship for a narrative gem. ((Reviewed July 2005)) Copyright 2005 Booklist Reviews.

South African crime writer Meyer (Heart of the Hunter) seamlessly merges two engrossing story lines in his second novel, at once a character study and a violent crime story set in Cape Town. In the first-person backstory, Zatopek "Zed" van Heerden traces his maturation from a boy in search of his soul mate to a hardened 38-year-old ex-cop who acts out at the slightest provocation. At first, Zed seems destined for a career as a criminal psychologist, cloistered in the world of academe. But when he tracks down the serial killer responsible years earlier for the brutal murder of his neighbor, he finds his true calling and joins the police force. He leaves after the death of his partner during a raid, but there's a much deeper reason for his guilt and despair. In the third-person crime story, Zed has been hired to find the will of Jan Smit, a murdered antiques dealer. As he begins to make headway in the case, sinister forces hinder his quest for the truth. A breathtaking pace, heart-pounding action set against a psychological backdrop, and a fascinating protagonist make this book a winner. Highly recommended for most public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 4/15/05.]-Ronnie H. Terpening, Univ. of Arizona, Tuscon Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

South African crime writer Meyer's expertly crafted second thriller (after 2004's Heart of the Hunter) confirms his place as one of the genre's finest new stylists. Afrikaner Zatopek "Zet" van Heerden, a former cop, is slipping fast into drunken dissolution when a colleague pulls him up and gives him an opportunity. An attorney, Hope Beneke, needs a private investigator fast to find a missing will. An antiques dealer, Johannes Jacobus Smit, was recently found burnt with a blowtorch and shot execution-style, the contents of his walk-in safe, including his will, gone. Beneke and van Heerden have only seven days to find the document before Smit's considerable assets revert to the state, leaving his common-law wife destitute. It doesn't take long for van Heerden to discover that "Smit" wasn't the person whose papers he carried, and that someone very important, quite possibly the state itself, wants to hide his true identity. Meyer keeps the suspense moving throughout the third-person narrative, alternating back and forth with van Heerden's own first-person account of his past. This is a remarkable achievement from a singular new talent. Agent, Isobel Dixon at Blake Friedmann. (Aug.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.