Dead Before Dying

Dead Before Dying
by Deon Meyer

Mat Jourbert is an overweight, chain-smoking detective. He goes through the motions at his job in the Murder and Robbery Squad of the Cape Town police department in post-apartheid South Africa. Jourbert was a top-notch detective before his wife, Lara, was killed in the line of duty as an undercover agent. When she died Jourbert sunk into bog of despair in which he still wallows. Jourbert has a new boss, a political appointee named Bart de Wit. de Wit is on a tear, all the members of his department must be physically fit. All slackers must "shape up or ship out". Jourbert starts swimming and cooking low calorie meals and sees psychologist. On the job he works two cases. One is thief who robs banks. He is dubbed the "sweetheart bandit" because he calls all of the tellers sweetheart. The other is serial killer using a hundred-year old German handgun. This is a character driven novel. We follow Jourbert as he rouses from his pit of misery and realizes that the world still turns and he can make a place for himself in it. [If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the works of Michael Stanley and Malla Nunn.] -- recommended by Donna G. - Virtual Services Department


[ official Dead Before Dying page on the official Deon Meyer web site ]

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