excellent polar, on devient vite accro à l'auteur; énigme très compliquée d'un homme apparemment sans histoire assassiné ( )

Hope Beneke is running out of time. With only a week to find a missing will for her client, the mistress of a murdered man, she turns to private investigator Zatopek van Heerden. Van Heerden had been a police officer, but he left the force five years earlier after a trauma so terrible that he has suppressed the memories. While combing through the police reports from the murder investigation, van Heerden spots an angle that the police didn't investigate. Since it seems to be the only lead, van Heerden follows it. The trail leads to unexpected revelations about the dead man and to some very dangerous associates from his past. Now van Heerden isn't just racing against the clock. He's also trying to catch a killer before the killer catches him.

This book seems like a cross between Tom Clancy and Tana French. Although van Heerden used to be a policeman and there are police investigators involved in the criminal investigation, most of the action revolves around military, special forces, and mercenaries. Meyer's novels seem to be related to each other in the same way that Tana French's are. While the same characters appear in many of the novels, the protagonist changes with each novel. Thobela Mpayipheli and Mat Joubert have supporting roles in this novel, and each has a central role in another of Meyer's novels. The high body count, the profanity, and the sexual content may be too much for some readers. It exceeded my comfort level so I probably won't seek out any more books by this author. Although the book contains many elements I didn't like, I was impressed by the author's skill. The race against time to find the missing will alternates with van Heerden's back story, gradually revealing the cause of his psychological damage. The construction of the plot and the pacing are very effective. Readers who enjoy this type of crime thriller should add Meyer to their list of must-read authors. ( )

In South Africa Zatopek (Zet to his friends) van Heerden is an ex cop now working, reluctantly, as a private detective. Lawyer Hope Beneke hires him to find the will of an antiques dealer called Johannes Jacobus Smit who was killed in his home nearly a year earlier. If the will is not found within seven days Hope’s client, Wilna van As who was Smit’s live-in partner, will not receive any of Smit’s estate. One thread of this book takes off then as a fairly standard, if action-packed, procedural that counts back from Day 7 through van Heerden’s investigation into what happened to Smit and where the will might have ended up. The other thread of the book, revealed in alternating chapters, is a recounting of Zet’s life from his childhood onwards to his present circumstance of being self-proclaimed trash with evil in his heart.

The flawed protagonist is certainly not a new invention but I did find myself completely engaged by Zet van Heerden whose route to personal destruction is far from run-of-the-mill. The son of a miner and an artist, Zet’s journey to becoming a policeman and profiler is revealed in such a way that it feels perfectly natural and entirely believable even though it described many events which are completely foreign to me. One of the things that I like most about the characterisation of Zet is that although he’s depicted as quite sad, even depressed at times, he’s not always so and he does maintain some healthy relationships. For example he’s very close to his mother, the only woman he cooks for, and manages to make great friends with some unlikely people along the way even if he struggles to find the kind of love his father and mother shared.

The plot is quite complicated, with both threads getting sidetracked at times, but I found it remarkably easy to follow which is a credit to both Meyer’s writing and the excellent translation from Afrikaans by Madeleine Van Biljon which has retained all the bantering and colloquialisms that are sometimes lost in translated novels. As often happens with thrillers I did find the ending a teeny bit disappointing in terms of the alarming number of testosterone fueled shoot-outs that took place, but overall it was interestingly paced, full of suspense and quite unpredictable. Along the way there are some absolutely beautiful vignettes, such as when Zet and Hope discuss their personal feelings about the country’s referendum on apartheid in 1992 or when Tiny Mpayipheli, a man Zet engages to protect his mother when the search for the will gets dangerous, describes a rugby match he played in the Soviet Union.

Dead at Daybreak is a little more noir than what I tend to think of as ‘my’ kind of crime fiction but I found it captivating. Alongside the male-dominated narrative and the shootouts at the end there’s plenty of heart and intelligence in this book which made it a very satisfying reading experience for me. Saul Reichlin added to my enjoyment with his wonderful narration which included excellent South African accents that helped make me feel like I was half a world away and he might just have the sexiest voice I’ve heard on an audio book. Ever. ( )

very much enjoyed this book. ex-cop Zztopek "Zed" van Heerden is a likeable but taciturn character. - a bit like Harry Bosch ( )

The best of the (three) Meyer titles I have read to date. Good plot, good pace, and the subplots concerning the main character's previous career are interesting and not out of place. Van Heerden has baggage and is not an althoughter sympathetic main character, but his attempt at redemption does garner some sympathy. South Africa is ever central and adds to the interest level. A good investigative thriller. ( )