What a tangled web ...

Loved the twists & turns & unexpected ending. Benny Griesel is a truly South African character!

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Devil's Peak

A police procedural that isn't the exact same as every other police procedural! Any others I've read over the last few years have all melded into one. The details are the only things that differ. They are all only surface deep.

When I saw a mention of an alcoholic cop, I immediately assumed it was the same alcoholic cop you get in all these detective novels - the angry, sardonic cop who hides his chauvinism and general lack of personality behind "humour" (sometimes puns or innuendos and others just sharp, mean comments followed by laughing).
Anyway this is not that guy! This is a fleshed out character trying really hard to keep his family, but really struggling.

The same goes for the novel in general. It set in a particular time and place, with relevant political backdrop. There is depth to the story as well as its characters.

And it's not all just set up for winning. Like they consider different ideas and go down different paths, in a logical, methodical way, just as they would in real life. And not in a Dora the Explorer way other novels and shows carry on either, ie Is it this one? No! Is it this one? No! Is it THIS one? Si!

The downsides of this Audible book mostly relate to the production. I was often confused as to who we were following and what was going on as changing chapters seemed to be done almost in the same breath as the previous sentence from last chapter. Without seeing the physical novel I can't really tell if it written in this same confusing manner. Probably to some degree. I did also think the pacing of both novel and production were a little off in their own ways.

In general though it is worth listening to. Although, probably reading the physical book would be a better experience overall.

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Saul strikes again...

This is an excellent novel and the Narrator is one of my favourite, Saul Reichlin is superb.

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4 people found this helpful

very good

very good, holds one's attention throughout but not comfortable listening. The reading was excellent throughout.

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Brilliant

Really, really enjoyed this book. Was slow to start but then i really got into it, could not stop listening until it was complete. Saul Reichlin is a brilliant narrator, i find myself searching his name first then checking out the novels,

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5 people found this helpful

Top writer at the top of his game

Brilliantly woven story with some well drawn characters. There are many twists and turns in this ever unfolding plot. A cracking read and Bennie Greissel is a great character

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loved it.

Great read. I hope his folowing books are going to be as good. Narrator was excellent too. Accents and pronunciations spot on.

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Top class crime novel

I'll be honest, I listened to this book not because I've ever heard of Deon Meyer, but because Saul Reichlin does the narration. No prizes for guessing where I had first enjoyed Reichlin's fantastic voice and generally good characterisations (Millennium Trilogy). However this book was a real revelation.

It does have some of the usual detective novel cliches in it (cop with a broken marriage, anyone?) but they are at least done in a refreshing way (this cop's marriage is breaking, not broken, for instance). It also shows the story from the perspective of three radically different central characters who are all easy to sympathise with and cast their subsequent actions in a light that is at least understandable if not justifiable.

The plot skips along a fair pace with none of the periods I sometimes experienced of wishing everyone would just get on with it. The jumping from character to character might be a little confusing, but this where the Audible version scores over the dead tree edition; Reichlin's characterisation of each of the participants is amazingly consistent and means that you can almost immediately know who is speaking and from what perspective this part of the tale comes from.

Last, but by no means least, is the fantastically vivid portrait that Meyer paints of South Africa, both its people and the landscape. It has that wonderful sense of place that authors like Henning Mankel create. But gone is the drearyness of the Scandinavian winter that characterises many of the Wallander books, to be replaced with the vivid colours and textures of southern Africa.

Overall a great book that is well worth the 14 hours of your life it demands.

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9 people found this helpful

Atypical therefore unpredictable plot

Liked the unusual story told progressively about three main characters. Well developed plot. Language a little extreme but in keeping with reality.

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Devil's Peak a really good listen!

I started listening to this book and I just couldn't even think of pausing it, though of course practicalities meant that I had to. Bennie is such a good character. Human and full of foibles and yet brave. Even Thobela had his redemptive features. The piece de resistance was the reading by Saul Reichlin who got all the accents just about right. Give it a try, you won't regret it!

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1 person found this helpful