ŷ������

I don’t have a great memory for all the books I’ve read. There are a few books that I still clearly remember 50-60 years after I read them. These are the ones that truly integrated themselves into my thinking schemas—ones that still reverberate today.

But usually I can remember a few bits and pieces from lesser books I’ve read, particularly after reading reviews that describe the main characters or basics of the plot. When the character Flea (Christina) was introduced in Deon Meyer’s new novel “Leo��, and it was mentioned that she had first appeared in “Trackers��, I looked up reviews of “Trackers��, but couldn’t remember reading it. Yet a paperback copy was sitting on my “favourite authors�� shelf. I had ordered it from the UK in 2011 because Deon Meyer’s books weren’t being sold in Canada at that time.

I read it, but forgot the basics of the plot, and, as well, the characters who appeared in it. So, I read it a second time.
��
The main reason I forgot everything, I believe, was because it contained four disjointed novellas. These were:��
��
(1) Book 1: Milla (Conspiracy)
Milla Strachan, a housewife, is treated so badly by her husband and her 18-year-old son that she walks out on them and finds a job working as a report writer for the Presidential Intelligence Agency (PIA). This Agency is trying to nail down a possible terrorist plot involving a conspiracy between a Muslim group (The Supreme Committee) and a Zulu gangster group run by “Inkunzi��. The three members of the PIA—Janina Mentz, Tau Masilo, and Rajeev Rajkumar—appear often in the story but their actions and personalities are jumbled. There is also, near the ending, a strange conversation recorded between Inkunzi and a man named “Lukas Becker��. Book 1 ends on an unfinished note, and overall, with the exception of Milla’s part in the story, is not easy to understand.

(2) Book 2: Lemmer (The Black Swan)
Lemmer (who appeared in an earlier book by Deon Meyers) is hired by Diederik Brand to help bring three endangered rhinos across the border (illegally) from Zimbabwe. In Zim, he is joined by Flea Van Jaarsveld, a female veterinarian, who is taking care of the rhinos. Along the way they are hijacked by Inkunzi, but eventually get their cargo to its destination. Later, Lemmer finds that Flea has deceived everyone and Lemmer goes looking for her but ends up in a shootout with Inkunzi. Again an incomplete ending.

(3) Book 3: Mila (A Theory of Chaos)
In Book 1, Mila started taking ballroom dance classes because she had always wanted to learn how to dance. In Book 3, she meets Lucas Becker at a dance class, after having prepared a dossier on him for the PIA. (Becker is briefly mentioned at the end of Book 1 but not until Book 3 do we discover his background.) We also learn that one of the middle aged motorcyclists that Lemmer beat up in Book 2 was Mila’s ex-husband, so the stories are beginning to interweave. The discussions among the three PIA agents are as chaotic as ever. Eventually, Milla goes on the run with Becker because he is an international swindler who accidentally became entangled with the gangster Inkunzi—the same Inkunzi who was involved with a shoot-out with Lemmer in Book 2. The PIA thinks that Becker may be involved with the Muslim conspiracy that they have been following. There is an unexpected ending, and the PIA finally discovers the nature of the Muslim conspiracy.

(4) Book 4: Mat Joubert (Form 92)
Former police senior superintendent, Max Joubert (who appeared in two earlier Deon Meyer novels), is now working for a private detective firm. For his first case, he is hired by Tanya Flint to find her missing husband, Danie. Danie has been missing for three months, and almost from the start, Joubert believes that he will be searching for Danie’s body. Tracking down what happened to him involves several twists. This is by far the best story in the book and it is not related to the earlier three except for an epilogue at the ending which mentions Flea.

My Perspective
Three of the four novellas are tied together, but Books 1 and 3 are very difficult to follow because the work that the three members of the PIA are doing is too chaotic. Only Milla’s growth as a person is worth following in those two stories, and even this is challenging because several other themes are occurring simultaneously.

There are too many characters in each novella. A novella works best when a reader needs to follow the trajectory of only a few characters.

The Lemmer story is interesting but has no ending. And Flea turns out not only to be a liar and thief, but (as described in the epilogue) also responsible for her cousin’s death—it is left unsaid exactly what part she played in that death, but she is definitely not a nice person, not one with whom a reader can easily identify.

Only Book 4 is top-level reading. I wish that that section had been expanded to form the core of the book, rather than ending up as a short independent story.

Deon Meyer tried to do something interesting by putting four not-quite-independent novellas together in one book. Unfortunately, this was one of his lesser efforts, and that is why I completely forgot it’s content.

Still, not-so-great Deon Meyer is better than many thrillers being written today. 3.5 rating

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My reviews for some other books in this series:
The Last Hunt (Benny Griessel #6)
The Dark Flood (Benny Griessel #7)
Leo (Benny Griessel #8)

and also see:
Heart of the Hunter
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~