South Africa

The Emmanuel Cooper books by Malla Nunn, set in 1950's South Africa, are another excellent series in what is luckily now becoming a bigger range of crime fiction set in various parts of Africa. SILENT VALLEY (aka BLESSED ARE THE DEAD) is the third book now, centred around Detective Sergeant Emmanuel Cooper, a policeman with plenty of demons from his past. Knowing that his past is closely intertwined with a society based on Apartheid will help the reader understand some of the difficulties that Cooper faces, just as understanding the intrinsic brutality of that system will give his struggle context.

Not that these books over-bake the personal situations, but the death of seventeen-year-old Amahle, daughter of a Zulu chief, in a society fraught with complications, inevitably takes everyone into the personal. Especially as there is no obvious motive for the death of a girl who, on the face of it, was destined for traditional marriage and life. There's a clever balancing act going on in this book - whilst the death of Amahle remains the central focus of Cooper and his investigation, the reader is also provided with a very personal and telling look into the nature of Apartheid. There is an extra element to that - not just the tension between black and white; but also the tension between the White Boer settlers and the later English arrivals.

In the middle of what is basically a whole heap of mistrust and dislike, there's some very well written individual characterisations and some touching partnerships. Cooper and his colleague, Zulu Constable Shabalala share a respect and understanding which is obviously outside the boundaries of racial acceptability, to say nothing of police procedure and hierarchy. In much the same way Cooper is able to reach out to the young British son of a local farmer, regarded as wild and not a little odd, Cooper and Gabriel connect - perhaps their mutual difference being part of what makes them work together. Really, that concept of difference being a connecting point weaves it's way through the entire narrative with so many of the characters prepared, often seemingly required, to be different, to survive in a society which most definitely does not approve.

What's particularly interesting is the way that this series is progressing. The first two books - A BEAUTIFUL PLACE TO DIE, and LET THE DEAD LIE - introduced Cooper, established the brutality of the world in which he lives, and set about creating a character who is real, conflicted and complex; somebody who is profoundly affected by the events that happen around him.

SILENT VALLEY takes another step forward again, building in a stronger sense of place and the different groups within the society. The inclusion of a strong Zulu cultural, societal and family environment into this book adds an extra layer to the ongoing storyline, and to reader's understanding of the complications of 1950's South Africa that was moving and instructive.

Part of what is really working in this series is the progression, and the way that the characters and the sense of place is building. SILENT VALLEY could work on some level as a standalone, but there will be a greater understanding of the characters and the place if you can read the series in order. If you've not caught up with any of Malla Nunn's Emmanuel Cooper books - now is as good a time as any.

Unbelievably violent, amazingly confrontational, searingly honest and profoundly emotional, ZULU is one of those books that you may have to read through spread fingers, but it is almost impossible to put this book down until it screeches to an ending that will make you shudder.

This is noir, critical, brutal writing at it's absolute best. The "Zulu" of the title refers not so much to the tribe as a whole, but to Cape Town homicide captain Ali Neuman.  Heading up the investigation into the death of a young woman whose body is found with a crushed skull, Neuman accepts that his job must sometimes mean that he's put in difficult situations.  His profound belief in the job he does comes from his childhood - when he was a young boy he was forced to watch the ritualised murders of his father and brother.  He grew up with an overwhelming desire to put an end to the lawlessness that plagues his country.  Regardless of other people's reactions to him or the colour of his skin.

There's nothing particularly uncommon about the idea that a central protagonist is fighting his own demons, or even battling against unsympathetic or antagonist authorities.  What is different in the portrayal of these elements in ZULU is the context.  Neuman's demons are the violent murders of his brother and father; the political complications of South African society; the appalling violence and disadvantage of the townships; attacks on his elderly mother.  Murder rates that are simply breathtaking; AIDS; desperation; the disregard for life - it's all laid bare, raw and yet, there's also some sense of poignancy.  There's love, affection, regard and concern for others.  There's even humour and acceptance.  Put all of that into a book that is written with a cynical, forthright style that is absolutely no holds barred.  Then add more ways of killing and maiming and hurting people than even in your worst moments you couldn't have dreamed up and build the action and the reader's interest into a really interesting and likeable central protagonist.  Then tear the rule book up and add a twist at the end that will just blow some readers out of the water, and what you've got is an intelligent, thought-provoking, frightening, fascinating and unputdownable book about a society that is still dealing with the impacts of Apartheid and profound societal upheaval.

ZULU isn't a book that is going to do much for the South African tourism industry, but it is a book that simply took my breath away.

The second Detective Sergeant Emmanuel Cooper book LET THE DEAD LIE has now been released, following on the from highly praised A BEAUTIFUL PLACE TO DIE.

LET THE DEAD LIE takes Cooper into different physical circumstances, working in a very bleak city, doing menial labour and nightly surveillance work, there's a sense of loss and depression surrounding him.  This rapidly changes to desperation as he is implicated in further murders and has a limited time, and difficult circumstances in which to clear his own name.

Readers of the first of the Cooper books will be aware that this series is based within apartheid South Africa in the early 1950's.  That's a very bleak, uncomfortable and disturbing location and timeframe for readers to be pushed into.  It's made even more discomforting with the move to the urban setting - somehow there's a loss of a sense of some beauty, probably because there's less of the natural world.  The vast majority of people that Cooper encounters in this book are down-trodden or controlled totally by their "racial situation".  There are some rare exceptions to that of course, and there's certainly some signs of people making the best of an appalling situation - but sadly there are also signs of depravity and prejudice and tensions within racial groups.  Somehow this makes the whole apartheid situation, and the nature of South Africa in that time darker, more depressing, more disheartening.

Cooper himself remains an interesting, challenging character.  Not quite an unreliable narrator, he's certainly a flawed human being.  Which is something that really appeals to this reader - central characters that engage, make you think, wince or even dislike on occasions.  Especially as Cooper has a good streak - his motivations are good, perhaps his methods less clear and sometimes his own relationships are at best hamfisted or at worst manipulative.  But it's that sense of manipulation that is strongest in this book - from the "State" manipulating people's rights and opportunities based on a mindlessly arbitrary classification of "race"; through people within those race groups manipulating their own situation, and those around them; to the way that the race groups do (or do not) co-operate or respect each other as well.

Where the circumstances of the setting of the book are so overwhelming, it can sometimes be that the narrative can get a little lost in the crowd.  It's an interesting thing that in LET THE DEAD LIE, there is sufficient description and background to the world in which Cooper is operating to give a clear indication of what it must have been like, without losing too much impetus in the investigation.  That investigation also twists and turns nicely and quite realistically giving the reader a sneaking suspicion that whilst some things are obvious, others may not be as they seem.  

Undoubtedly reading these stories isn't a particularly easy or pleasant task.  The world is unpalatable, the society confrontational and profoundly shocking.  Cooper himself isn't a knight in shining armour.  He is, however, a great survivor and let's hope this series survives with him.

DEAD-END ROAD is third novel Detective Harry Mason novel from South African author Richard Kunzmann - the earlier books are BLOODY HARVESTS and SALAMANDER COTTON.  It was the first of this series that I've read, and I'm not sure that was necessarily a wise move.

It's been a couple of years since Harry's last outing and since then he has joined the elite Serious and Violent Crimes unit.  They have been assigned to the investigation of the slaying of a minor politician and his family in a township west of Johannesburg.  Unsolvable, until a tip sends the unit in pursuit of a vigilante group known as the Guardians headed by two notoriously violent brothers.  Things get personally bad for Harry when he is shot during a dawn raid on a remote village in pursuit of the gang.

Part of the reason I picked up this book out of order was for a group read on a discussion list, and one of the participants in that discussion had read the earlier books - which was just as well, as this book didn't seem to work as a stand-alone.  Harry, I'm told is a great central character, but as he was shot very early on in this book and didn't really make much of a return appearance he was very hard to assess.  Perhaps it was this act that made the book seem to lack purpose or a single focus, but for much of the action I had absolutely and utterly no idea what was going on, who was who and what the whole point was.  I actually had to read the blurb to remind myself what this investigation was supposedly all about as cameo appearances from a range of characters who appeared to have no context whatsoever kept coming and going and my grip on the whole thing got fuzzier and fuzzier.

Luckily I've now got the 2 earlier books in the series so I'll pick them up when I get a chance and see if the problem was just this book (which I suspect may have been the case).  And the problem with this book could very well have been me - perhaps I wasn't working hard enough, having said that, I'm not sure I want to raise a sweat just to read a book.

One thing that will strike readers of A BEAUTIFUL PLACE TO DIE firmly between the eyes is how an apartheid society is so incredibly foreign from the ways in which others of us live.  That's not to say that there is an overtly "political" agenda in this book, rather the book does not take a step backwards in depicting South Africa under Racial Segregation laws.  It also starkly draws a picture of the various societies within that - the 'English' South African's, the Afrikaner South African's and the native South African's.  It is not a particularly pretty picture, and it's delivered vividly.

Jacob's Rest is a very small town in the South African veldt.  The prejudice, petty jealousy, intrigues, secrets and isolation of small town living are overlaid by the racial situation - the kaffir path that runs behind the town's houses is the only way around for the towns coloured population, and it's that situation that allows it to be used for more sinister purposes.  Captain Pretorius and his family of big, strong sons, have stood sway over Jacob's Rest with a born to rule superiority that can only come from an unwavering belief that their way is the only way.  So when the Captain is found in a river with a bullet in his head, his sons are convinced that the coloured community holds the key.  Detective Cooper gets the case mostly by accident and he has been placed in a dangerous and difficult position, particularly when the very heavy handed (and overtly political) Security Branch muscle in.  Cooper finds himself relegated to investigating previous claims of a peeping tom using the kaffir path, whilst he tries to keep out of the way of the thuggish Security Branch (and the sons of the dead man).

Nearly all of the observations and viewpoints in this book come from the young Detective Emmanuel Cooper.  He is a man who is not comfortable with Racial Segregation and he's not at all comfortable with the way that life is divided up in Jacob's Rest.  His natural inclination is towards time spent with Constable Shabalala - the part-Zulu man who was an offsider of the dead Captain Pretorius, and Zweigman, the German Jewish shopkeeper - who is really a doctor but part of the secondary class of society.  It is these three who are the key to the unwinding of a long tale of secrets and misuse of influence, and to hefty doses of corruption and cover-up.

More than a message book, A BEAUTIFUL PLACE TO DIE is really an extremely good thriller, with lots of twists and turns in the story, which happens to be set in a society totally foreign to this reader at least.  Having said that, there are elements which are familiar - the locked room (closed in village); elements of police procedure, albeit somewhat strained by the remoteness of the location and so on.  The underlying message of the book is heavy handed, but it is done in an illustrative way - rather than a smack over the head job.  The way that the investigation has to proceed within the society structure is profoundly shocking. The revelations of the way that the Security Branch operates; the secrets in families throughout the town - which aren't really all that shocking or dreadful, but nonetheless need to be secrets is profoundly discomforting; and the way that people's lives were so fundamentally affected by something as minor as the colour of their skin is really very sobering indeed.

The ending is undoubtedly a tiny bit sentimental, but after the previous hammering that the characters have endured, it's forgivable.  In fact that's probably the only small criticism I could come up with, the book could easily have finished with no need for the gentle let down, I'd have fretted over Constable Cooper just as happily.  I do hope, however, that the ending is hinting at another book beginning though.