Well done psychological crime thriller | Dead at Daybreak

A brutal murder, an empty safe and a missing will | Dead at Daybreak | Deon Meyer

books:


	• Dead at Daybreak Deon Meyer Little, Brown and Company, 2006 - 496 pages average customer review:based on 7 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

(4.5) One man's heart of darkness

Meyer's second work of fiction, Dead at Daybreak, is set in South Africa, as was his impressive first novel, Heart of the Hunter, once more proving that greed and murder are universal, humanity equally flawed anywhere in the world. Zet van Heerden is disenchanted with life since his partner's death, having quit the force, spending his days in alcoholic oblivion. His old cronies in the department think it is Nagel's death at the hands of a serial killer that has pushed van Heerden over the edge, but it is more than that, an unbearable guilt that the disillusioned detective carries in his heart.

When van Heerden, now a private investigator, receives a call from attorney Hope Beneke, he begrudgingly accepts an assignment to recover a handwritten will, stolen from Johannes Smit, an antiques dealer who was tortured with a blowtorch before being shot, execution-style, in the back of the head. Smit's specially built safe is empty, but nothing else in the house has been touched. The antique dealer's live-in partner, Wilna van As, has only seven days to find the will and claim the estate. Zet's job is made more difficult by the time restriction, his frustration mounting with each dead end. But when he discovers there is no paper trail for Smit prior to starting his business, the PI turns his attentions to Smit's activities pre-1983, opening a Pandora's box of killers, intelligence agents, mercenaries and assorted desperadoes, all of whom will do anything to keep certain information quiet, threatening van Heerden's life and those around him. Suddenly, Zet is pursued by faceless assassins and determined intelligence officers in an accelerating cat-and-mouse game that quickly degenerates into violence.

The chapters counting backward from day seven, the prose moves back and forth between present and past, the investigation of Smit's murder reopening old wounds, bringing to the surface what the protagonist so desperately wants to suppress. Within the plot of Dead at Daybreak, Meyer creates a parallel universe, the police procedural translated into a struggle to contain the despair that has crippled van Heerden's spirit. Forced to look into his darkest motivations, Zet sees only the evil, unforgiving and without compassion for himself, his concentrated self-denial usurps his waking life, poisoning the present and the future; only the jailer can unlock the cell. Ironically, van Heerden's mother and Hope Beneke have the patience that may foster his resurfacing, as both women allow him the freedom to escape from a moral quagmire of his own making.

Constructing a picture of a man in conflict, Meyer ties art to life in a subtle marriage of music, passion and imagination, giving a sense of purpose to suffering: "I didn't realize how finally, how dramatically the morning of my life would spill me over the edge like so much flotsam". In this fascinating drama, personal morality overlaps professionalism in a moral quagmire, the characters sharply drawn with complicated motives. Even Tiny Mpayipheli, the hero of Heart of the Hunter, makes an appearance, lending his critical support to van Heerden on the final bloody leg of their journey. Insightful and psychologically taut, this South African thriller is compelling, a thoughtful examination of denial and personal responsibility and the acceptance of human limitations. Once again, Meyers displays his impressive skills as an observer of human nature, with all its misplaced passions and yearning for compatibility with the interior landscape of the heart. Luan Gaines/2005.

for more information click here

Well done psychological crime thriller

Generally speaking, I don't like novels where the hero carries around a lot of psychological baggage as a backstory. Deon Meyer's Zet van Heerden, a former police orficer turned failing private investigator, carries a backstory that would have a Freudian analyst turning cartwheels.

To Meyer's credit, he controls the backstory and although he comes close to overdoing it at several points, he does rein himself in time. It's a personal bias of mine, no doubt, but I think "Dead at Daybreak" would have been a better novel without spending so much time on van Heerden's psychological problems.

Even with that reservation, "Dead at Daybreak" is an engrossing mystery. Sprung from the local jail by attorney Kemp, who apparently holds van Heeren in low regard, he is deposited at the office of Hope Beneke, a young woman lawyer who has but seven days to recover a will that was stolen in a grisly execution style murder. If the will is not found, Wilna van As will collect nothing from the estate of the deceased, with who she has lived and worked for more than a decade.

Once a rising star in academic criminology, van Heerden leeft the academy and joined the police force. After the death of his partner and mentor, he embarked on a downward slide of alcohol and anger. His mother, a famous artist, is still there to lend him moral support.

Van Heerden is convinced that he is a failure and on several occasions comes to Beneke and quits. But each time he is pushed forward by a new idea. Seven days and they are passing quickly.

Van Heerden uses his network of old police and criminal contacts and the story of the murder begins to unravel as new threats to van Heerden, his mother, lawyer Beneke and others are introduced.

Meyer is skillful writer. His plot is imaginative, sometimes coming close to straining credulity, but almost always staying within the boundaries that keep the reader interested.

At the end, a plot nearly a quarter of century old is revealed. The police, military intelligence, even the CIA have become involved. All together it adds up to a fascinating mystery.

Jerry

for more information click here

A brutal murder, an empty safe and a missing will

A brutal murder, an empty safe and a missing will - this is the central theme around which this thrilling who-dun-it from South African Deon Meyer evolves. The unlikely hero takes the form of Zatopek "Zet" van Heerden, a former policeman who once excelled in Police Science, but now is a lonely, aggressive alcoholic, bent on self destruction. It is also well known that the safest place to be when Zet fires a gun is directly in front of the target.

Zet was on the scene when an accused serial killer fatally shot his partner and mentor, but this is not the only skeleton in his closet. The author skillfully ties in his past and present, so we soon get a picture of what makes Zet tick.

At the beginning of the story, a drunken tussle with a group of five men lands Zet some jail time, but a former colleague links him up with attorney Hope Beneke, who has a job for him. Hope's client is Wilhelmina Johanna "Wilna" van As, significant other of Johannes Jacobus "Jan" Smit, the unfortunate target of the aforementioned murder and robbery. Zet has seven days to recover the missing will before Wilna loses her inheritance, and the investigation takes every ounce of his considerable skill.

It immediately becomes obvious that nothing can be taken at face value, and that the case goes back nearly two dozen years to 1976. Time is running out, the situation is getting desperate and the players are bringing out the big guns.

A richly embellished tale, laced with murder, mayhem, intrigue, a little romance and a lot of cooking.

Amanda Richards, January 14, 2006

for more information click here

A wonderful thriller!

This is South African Deon Meyer's second thriller. His first release was Heart of the Hunter in 2004.

Former Afrikaner cop, Zatopek "Zet" van Heerden is a drunk. He"s in jail sleeping off a huge hangover after a fight with five (yes, five) dentists. This is definitely a man with a past and a lot of problems. In other words, he does not play well with others.

Hope Beneke is an attorney who hires Zet to locate a missing will. An antiques dealer, Johannes Smit, was killed execution style and his safe was emptied. As Zet tries to stay sober and learn more about Smit, he discovers the man did not exist prior to 1983. Zet attempts to learn who Smit was but there are others who will stop at nothing to prevent that. Things begin to happen and Zet's survival depends on what he can do in seven days.

Armchair Interviews says: Deon Meyers is a master storyteller. His action-packed novel is filled with scintillating tension, the characters are multi-dimensional and compelling and the plot is exciting. This book just plain sizzles and I can"t wait to get my hands on Heart of the Hunter. I am a new fan.

for more information click here

"What had driven him to take the wrong turnings to nowhere, to seek the dead ends?"

Zapotek "Zet" van Heerden is beaten, bruised, and sleeping off a drinking binge in a South African jail when he is hired to work as a private detective for attorney Hope Beneke. Hope's client is the lover of Johannes Jacobus Smit, an antiques dealer who was tortured with a blowtorch before being shot and killed. His safe, reportedly containing two million dollars, has been emptied, and his will, purportedly leaving everything to his lover, has been stolen. If it cannot be found within a week, everything will go to the state.

Living on the edge and decidedly antisocial, Zet van Heerden is fighting numerous personal demons. Once honored as an intelligent and resourceful crime fighter, he feels responsible for the death of his mentor, Nagel, who was shot in front of him. Filled with rage which he does not even try to control, he now lashes out at the world and then escapes into an alcoholic stupor.

As van Heerden tries to unearth the will and information about Smit's past, he also investigates events from 1976, when Smit was in the army, and from 1983, when Smit accumulated an enormous amount of cash. During his research, Zet is haunted by two other cases--one from 1991, involving the murder and mutilation of a woman who lived behind him when he was a teenager, the event which led him to join the police force, and the recent tragedy involving Nagel's death, which led him to leave the force.

As van Heerden's family background, his past love life, and the events which have brought him to his present state unfold, the reader comes to appreciate how disturbed van Heerden really is and to feel sympathy for him. A wide variety of peripheral characters in various police organizations add to the depth of the novel and expand its scope, as van Heerden must deal with the Murder and Robbery division, a "friendly" gangster with a large security force, the Urban Anti-Terrorist Force, the military Defense Force, and the American consular office.

Meyer resists the temptation to turn this compelling psychological mystery and character study into a quasi-love story, choosing instead to involve the reader less through romance than through intriguing and alternating stories, time periods, and points of view. Details about South African life and the individual characters give immediacy and emotional intensity to the action, and Meyer's deliberate withholding of key information keeps the various mysteries fresh and exciting. The conclusion is satisfying on all levels, making this unusual and psychologically astute mystery far more intriguing than the typical police procedural. n Mary Whipple

for more information click here

- This is a taut, provocative mystery and a telling psychological portrait of a man and a nation haunted by the past.- This book provides another tightly woven, brilliantly written thriller with an African backdrop--appealing to readers of "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.- Deon Meyer has already been published to great success and acclaim in the UK, France, Italy, Germany and many other countries beyond his native South Africa. His previous book, "Heart of the Hunter (7/04), was his first US release and this new book will build on the exciting feedback generated by "Heart's publication.- The movie rights to "Heart of the Hunter have been sold to Jungle Media. Tiny, the central character in that book, has a recurring role in this book as well.- The mass market of "Heart of the Hunter will be published in 7/05 and will include a teaser chapter of DEAD AT DAYBREAK.

for more information click here

reviews: page 1, 2

hot