Mike's review of Dead Before Dying: A Novel
Dead Before Dying: A Novel by Deon Meyer
Not bad, but not particularly good--if I'd read this Meyer first, I'd probably not have picked up another. The book is sung in the key of McBain, with a few strands of story (about separate crimes and characters in the Cape Town equivalent of a precinct) woven competently but less compellingly together.
There's less of the sociopolitical undertone to this, 'though (set in '96) it's hard to avoid some interesting conversations about race and racism, about the lingering aftereffects of the apartheid state, etc.
I did find the book somewhat fascinating as a precursor to Meyer's subsequent, very strong thrillers (which began appearing I think 4 years after this novel). Characters and certain generic elements recur in the later books, but the plotting, character development, contextual focus, thematic heft seem like reinvention rather than reiteration.
There's less of the sociopolitical undertone to this, 'though (set in '96) it's hard to avoid some interesting conversations about race and racism, about the lingering aftereffects of the apartheid state, etc.
I did find the book somewhat fascinating as a precursor to Meyer's subsequent, very strong thrillers (which began appearing I think 4 years after this novel). Characters and certain generic elements recur in the later books, but the plotting, character development, contextual focus, thematic heft seem like reinvention rather than reiteration.
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