The thrill of the thriller

There used to be a vacuum in South African fiction, right there on the border between crime fiction and thrillers with contemporary interest. One that needed to be filled with fast-paced, high tension, relevant stories with recognisable, interesting characters set in the roiling society of post-apartheid SA. That gap has been filled by Deon Meyer. At the outset you will discover that he possesses that vital skill authors in these genres need (and often lack) – he makes you want to turn the page. More than that, he makes you race to the end of the page so that you can turn to the next. The phrase ‘edge of the seat tension’ may be hackneyed and in intensive care from over-use, but it was made for him. Not only as regards the plot, (though that is essential), but also regarding the characters and their development. On first reading one of his books I found myself unable to put it down. I cannot remember the last time I read a book in a single sitting, but he forced me to with his skill. He manages to capture the atmosphere of the country and its people with style and wit. In fact, if I have any criticism of his writing style, it is that he does not write enough dialogue as he creates some of the sharpest and wittiest conversations between his characters. Without fail, his characters are interesting and as complex as the plot allows. They are so recognisably human, so defective, scarred, incomplete and prone to making mistakes that they never fail to resonate with the reader, suffering much of the same conditions, circumstances, hopes and failings. His novels are well plotted, structured with care and shows the result of many hours of study. Technical details are handled with a convincing thoroughness and ease that belie painstaking research. Where there are faults (and there are, though few) the cracking pace of the plot makes for an easy exercise in the suspension of disbelief. Some things are hinted at rather than resolved which makes, for me, for quite satisfying reading. Everything need not be spelled out and delivered complete with a nicely tied, frilly bow, life is not like that and fiction should not be either. Some things are left to the imagination, something few other authors care to do. His writing is earthy, expletives leavening the dough of many a page, and more so in dialogue. It is refreshing, and falls naturally on the ear, never once feeling gratuitous or superfluous. Above all he engages an economy of language that enhances rather than detracts from his descriptive passages. The country and the people come alive in his words, making it sheer delight to read. An added advantage for me was to read his novels in the original Afrikaans, a language he wields with formidable grace and power. Dialects and phrases blend beautifully in dialogue and description, carrying you along on a shimmering stream, masking the strong pull of plot-current twisting under the surface.
So far he has written six novels that have been translated into seventeen languages. He has won the prestigious German Krimi Award, two of his books have been filmed as mini-series and the film rights to another have been bought by a U.S. production company.
His official website can be found at:

www.deonmeyer.com