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pannapark's review
4.0
Trackers is an epic novel reaching across the South African landscape - city, suburb, coast line and Karoo - involving three stories of people from different walks of life. First we meet Milla Strachan, the 40 year old disillusioned wife of a straying husband and mother of a manipulative teenaged son. Milla summons the courage to leave them and her stultifying suburban neighbourhood. She seeks out a job that might use her college background in journalism and satisfy her desire to get back into writing. Milla answers a fairly innocuous ad in a local paper for a journalist, “previous experience preferred”. Milla musters the courage to apply despite having no experience and is recruited quite quickly by the National Intelligence Agency. She begins to find purpose putting together reports for the higher ups amidst the camaraderie of her new colleagues and against the backdrop of increasing intel of a possible terror plot.
Next, we are propelled into Lemmer’s life whose mantra is, “I don’t go looking for trouble, it comes looking for me.” Lemmer is enjoying a quiet Saturday morning breakfast at the Red Pomegranate with his girlfriend, Emma, when a pack of executive type Harley Davison riders pulls in, parks and proceeds to insult both the restaurant owner and Emma. Lemmer is distracted from reacting physically by the entrance of Diederick Brand, local legend and farmer, who has a one off job for him. Lemmer is reluctant as he already has a job as a body guard for another outfit and thinks his boss wouldn’t be pleased. After checking in with his boss, Lemmer gives into the pressure from Diederick and Emma to act as a body guard for the pick up of two rare black rhinos who Diederick wants to rescue.
Lastly, we’re introduced to Mat Joubert who has recently retired from 30 plus years with the South African Police Service, and is starting day one as a private detective. His first client is desperate to find her husband, Danie Flint, who disappeared leaving his Audi outside the gym after a regular workday. To date, the police have had no luck finding him alive or dead. Mat’s forte as a cop was his ability to dig up information, slog through details and build a hypothesis and he brings this work ethos with him. While Mat uncovers the reasons why Danie might have gone missing, links between the three plot lines intersect and are drawn to a close.
I read Trackers as a e-book and regret not having a paper copy to flip back through more easily to keep track of characters, places and details. I would have given this a 5 star rating, but I’m left feeling that I would have rather read separate novels focusing on each character. I definitely want to read more books by Deon Meyer!
Next, we are propelled into Lemmer’s life whose mantra is, “I don’t go looking for trouble, it comes looking for me.” Lemmer is enjoying a quiet Saturday morning breakfast at the Red Pomegranate with his girlfriend, Emma, when a pack of executive type Harley Davison riders pulls in, parks and proceeds to insult both the restaurant owner and Emma. Lemmer is distracted from reacting physically by the entrance of Diederick Brand, local legend and farmer, who has a one off job for him. Lemmer is reluctant as he already has a job as a body guard for another outfit and thinks his boss wouldn’t be pleased. After checking in with his boss, Lemmer gives into the pressure from Diederick and Emma to act as a body guard for the pick up of two rare black rhinos who Diederick wants to rescue.
Lastly, we’re introduced to Mat Joubert who has recently retired from 30 plus years with the South African Police Service, and is starting day one as a private detective. His first client is desperate to find her husband, Danie Flint, who disappeared leaving his Audi outside the gym after a regular workday. To date, the police have had no luck finding him alive or dead. Mat’s forte as a cop was his ability to dig up information, slog through details and build a hypothesis and he brings this work ethos with him. While Mat uncovers the reasons why Danie might have gone missing, links between the three plot lines intersect and are drawn to a close.
I read Trackers as a e-book and regret not having a paper copy to flip back through more easily to keep track of characters, places and details. I would have given this a 5 star rating, but I’m left feeling that I would have rather read separate novels focusing on each character. I definitely want to read more books by Deon Meyer!
sandin954's review against another edition
4.0
Always enjoy reading this author's work. While this book was a bit long and the plot quite complicated, everything came together in the end and the characters and South African setting were as well done as in previous books.
jwilly19's review
4.0
A wonderful book. A step above most thrillers I have read - the characters have depth and the patience and pacing Meyer has with the various mysteries of the book make his South Africa feel real and expansive. Excited to read more of his work!
liberrydude's review against another edition
4.0
We've encountered some of the characters in this story in previous mysteries but now they all come together in this "six degrees of separation" style thriller. The book is divided into four books all around the theme of tracking. The middle two books are just adrenaline filled page turners. After "finishing" book three at a frenetic pace you are down to a slow crawl through book four and wondering what the linkage is to the rest of the books. All the characters are on a quest to find something or somebody and Meyer knows how to spin a tale. This is like Tom Clancy meets James Patterson but set in South Africa. Deon Meyer never disppoints!!
liezl_loves_books's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
jeremyhornik's review
4.0
A South African crime novel, originally in Afrikaans, and an unexpectedly good thriller. It didn't seem like it was going to be that way. It started in a disjointed way, cutting back and forth between characters. But the book has this crazy energy. The characters grew on me and at some point, I was into it, and just started churning on through.
The book, which the jacket flap will tell you is about Rhino smuggling, is actually three or four stories loosely connected in important ways. The lead characters are all trackers: a divorced woman who gets a job with the secret police, a bodyguard hunting down a gun, a fired policeman finding a missing husband. The pacing stutters along, often losing me for a moment in a large pile of characters ("Is that the one guy using an alias, or some other guy we've never seen before?") The prose has that gummy feeling that translations often do. It jumps genres within Crime... now it's a thriller, now a police procedural, now a spy story. But it works, in a crazy quilt sum-is-more-than-its-parts kind of way.
One odd resonance: all these Afrikaners are sitting at home on their couches watching Everybody Loves Raymond and CSI. I found that detail just weird, I can't say why. The book fights your attempts to distance yourself from these characters, even though they're on the other side of the world and smugglers and tough guys and getting into gunfights.
The book, which the jacket flap will tell you is about Rhino smuggling, is actually three or four stories loosely connected in important ways. The lead characters are all trackers: a divorced woman who gets a job with the secret police, a bodyguard hunting down a gun, a fired policeman finding a missing husband. The pacing stutters along, often losing me for a moment in a large pile of characters ("Is that the one guy using an alias, or some other guy we've never seen before?") The prose has that gummy feeling that translations often do. It jumps genres within Crime... now it's a thriller, now a police procedural, now a spy story. But it works, in a crazy quilt sum-is-more-than-its-parts kind of way.
One odd resonance: all these Afrikaners are sitting at home on their couches watching Everybody Loves Raymond and CSI. I found that detail just weird, I can't say why. The book fights your attempts to distance yourself from these characters, even though they're on the other side of the world and smugglers and tough guys and getting into gunfights.
wintermute314's review
2.0
An original story but rather bland writing and the protagonists are cardboard figures. meh.
subash's review
5.0
Five stars for the plot. Five stars for the writing. Five stars for the cast.
But if you really want to know what the book's about check out switterbug's review. She does such an awesome job of writing up this book it would be foolish to try and add anything further on my end.
But if you really want to know what the book's about check out switterbug's review. She does such an awesome job of writing up this book it would be foolish to try and add anything further on my end.
dianevr's review
3.0
I loved this book with it's strong local (South Africa, Johannesburg, Cape Town) flavour.
Besides familiar locales and colloquialisms I enjoyed the pace of the book, the tension and the strong larger-than-life characters.
Trackers is a brilliant holiday novel that will have you observing your fellow South Africans with far more interest.
Besides familiar locales and colloquialisms I enjoyed the pace of the book, the tension and the strong larger-than-life characters.
Trackers is a brilliant holiday novel that will have you observing your fellow South Africans with far more interest.
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