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Wake Up Dead: A Thriller
by
Roger Smith
An amphetamine-fueled thriller about a bombshell American widow on the run in Cape Town’s violent badlands—from a writer being compared to George Pelecanos and Richard Price
A split-second decision with no second chance: get it wrong and you wake up dead.
On a blowtorch-hot night in Cape Town, American ex-model Roxy Palmer and her gunrunner husband, Joe, are carjacked,
...moreHardcover, 304 pages
Published
February 2nd 2010
by Henry Holt and Co.
(first published January 1st 2010)
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I read both of Smith's first two novels (including #1 Mixed Blood) in one fell swoop, part of a larger project I'm fiddling around, trying to see if/how it might develop. (If you're interested...I'm interested in the explosion of South African crime fiction since '94... what, how, why, who. Other than having an assumption that pop culture embodies and enacts a complex and intriguing approach to social issues, cultural values and beliefs, and the knotted tangle of who "we" are -- I hav...more
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After reading about the renaissance in South African crime fiction in Library Journal and Booklist, I decided to take a look at this book. Blurbed by one of my favorite authors, Ken Bruen, as "unrelenting noir" it seemed like a good place to start. Beginning with a carjacking and a murder and building to a horror-show of atrocities, this story certainly isn't for the weak of stomach. Billy Afrika, a mixed race former mercenary and cop is the pivotal character around which a wild cast o...more
Mack
rated it
Recommends it for:
People who like fast paced, violent, action thrillers
Shelves:
thrillers,
crime-fiction
This review is based on an ARC of Wake Up Dead by Roger Smith, (the author of Mixed Blood). Wake Up Dead will be published by Henry Holt & Co in February 2010. Roger lives in Cape Town, South Africa. His web site is Roger Smith Books
Links to sources that show the environment in which Wake Up Dead is set are at the end of the review.
As with Roger's first book, Mixed Blood, Wake Up Dead hits me at an intellectual as well as emotional level. It isn't a read-toss-forget novel...more
Links to sources that show the environment in which Wake Up Dead is set are at the end of the review.
As with Roger's first book, Mixed Blood, Wake Up Dead hits me at an intellectual as well as emotional level. It isn't a read-toss-forget novel...more
Looking for a page-turning crime thriller? Wake Up Dead is violent crime story, full of bad people doing bad things.
With a book title like that you shouldn’t be expecting puppies, ponies and rainbows.
Two meth addicts on the streets of Cape Town decide to carjack a Mercedes. They pull ex-model Roxy and her husband out of the car and shoot him in the leg, leaving behind the gun in their meth-induced haze. Roxy decides on a quicky divorce and uses the gun to end her marriage...more
With a book title like that you shouldn’t be expecting puppies, ponies and rainbows.
Two meth addicts on the streets of Cape Town decide to carjack a Mercedes. They pull ex-model Roxy and her husband out of the car and shoot him in the leg, leaving behind the gun in their meth-induced haze. Roxy decides on a quicky divorce and uses the gun to end her marriage...more
This thriller is one that keeps you up, and reading to the end! Set in South Africa, Roxy, an American model, and Joe, her gunrunner husband, a man with very unsavory friends, are carjacked, leaving Joe dead in a pool of blood. Disco and Godwyn, the carjackers, are meth addicts, who have no idea what they've gotten into. Joe owes money to Billy Afrika, a mercenary, and former policeman, who appoints himself Roxy's protector, hoping to cash in and get his money from her. Also thrown into the powd...more
When you took a life, you lost some form of protection you didn't even know you had until it was gone. Left you in a place where bad people started tuning in to your frequency.[return]To me, this quote summarizes the theme of this book. All the characters have lost or given up a piece of their humanity, whether from greed or desperation. No adult is innocent, no child is safe.[return]Fans of action movies will enjoy this. It moves from violent scene to violent scene with little introspection to ...more
Julia
added it
Wow what a rollercoaster of a story. Fast paced (bit confusing at first with so many characters being introduced) but I did get pulled into it. Not for the faint heared though - even with the warnings on the back cover I hadnt expected quite so much violence and death (how some of them die is really quite gruesome) and of course all the time you are thinking that some people have had to live through this sort of life and perhaps still are
This book started out strong, a vivid, tough noir story, following several potentially interesting characters. But the multitude of characters, all unlikable, began to slow the story down and I had to struggle through the middle section. But then it picked up again at the end and delivered on it's excellent noir beginnings.
Definitely not a travel ad for Capetown.
Cops, gangs and an ex-model from Florida get caught up in a lot of blood in a landscape that seems more apocalyptic than real.
If you like Pelecanos, you'll probably like this.
Cops, gangs and an ex-model from Florida get caught up in a lot of blood in a landscape that seems more apocalyptic than real.
If you like Pelecanos, you'll probably like this.
One helluva ride through gangland Cape Town, an unforgiving tale of losers and occasional winners. Recommended for those who like their action pacey and racey. This is in your face storytelling. A page turner.
could be the highest 'body count' in any book i've ever read. then again, if the title is 'wake up dead' this makes sense. despite this it was quite well written and read as plausible. looking forward to #3.
"A Thriller" is right--I had a hard time putting this book down. Full of action and characters who seemed to come to life. I'll look for more by this author.
i like violent and crime driven novels. this is TOO violent maybe. roger smith is very hardcore. South Africa yes, is pretty hardcore too, but damn. Of course, please do check in to Smith's bio, if true, violence and fuckedupedness has touch him and his family intimately so maybe all this sick stuff is where he's coming from, but just be aware that this isn't like Robert Parker violence, or even Denis Johnson violence, it's something more menacing, and seemingly more cinematic too. for what ...more
not for the squeamish, this action-packed thriller is set in Cape Town, South Africa.
I really enjoyed this book, it keeps you wondering whats going to happen.
Relentless is right. One of the scariest killers on recent pages in the prison “general” Piper. A world where reputation is all, this is a bleak terrifying vision of Cape Flats(the ghetto attached to Cape Town South Africa). Almost a comic farce but all the jokes are replaced with mayhem. Some silliness at the ending slightly distracts from Smith’s unblinking eye.
One of my crime books of the year
It is a ride, but a bit over the top?
More blood and gore.
2.5 stars
So-called "South Africa Noir". Capetown is interesting as locale where the "haves" live behind secure gates overlooking ocean and the rest live in "the flats" slums and villages.
These characters are locked-in to their roles from the beginning and offer no hope for redemption/change.
So-called "South Africa Noir". Capetown is interesting as locale where the "haves" live behind secure gates overlooking ocean and the rest live in "the flats" slums and villages.
These characters are locked-in to their roles from the beginning and offer no hope for redemption/change.
Sleek, deftly plotted, absolutely wonderful noir.
started as a strong noir, ended as a kind of silly thriller.
Elizabeth Shields
marked it as to-read
Stuart
added it
Vivien Mihaly
marked it as to-read
Kris
marked it as to-read
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Roger Smith was born in Johannesburg and now lives in Cape Town. His debut thriller, Mixed Blood (2009), was published in six countries and won the Deutscher Krimi Preis (German Crime Prize). His second book, Wake Up Dead (2010), was a 10 best pick of the Philadelphia Enquirer, Times (South Africa) and Krimiwelt (Germany) and was nominated for the German Krimi-Blitz Reader’s Award .
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