Mixed Blood: A Thriller by Roger Smith

Mixed Blood: A Thriller by Roger Smith

Publishers Weekly

Screenwriter Smith offers a gritty tale of corruption and vengeance set in South Africa in his absorbing debut. On the verge of financial ruin, American Jack Burn, a security specialist, reluctantly joined a bank robbery plot that he hoped would save his family from disaster. The scheme ended badly, with most of his accomplices dead, along with a policeman, turning Burn, who made off with millions, into a wanted fugitive. Under a new identity, Burn has succeeded in making a new life with his wife and four-year-old son in Cape Town, South Africa. Their tenuous stability ends after two meth-heads invade the Burnses' home and threaten violence. While Jack manages to kill the intruders and dispose of the bodies, the incident draws the unwelcome attention of Insp. Rudi Barnard, a dirty cop who rules the area known as Cape Flats. The grim denouement may not satisfy all readers, but Smith's taut prose bodes well for future thrillers from his pen. Author tour. (Feb.)

⇒ Via: BN.com

American fugitive on the run with his wife and child finds himself facing the raw underbelly of Cape Town. Drug dealers, corrupt cops and addicts form a tale of twists and turns that make you sympathize with the plight of the main characters.

Salamander Cotton by Richard Kunzmann

Salamander Cotton by Richard Kunzmann

Synopsis

A dark, chilling mystery set in the brooding, atmospheric lands of South Africa

In his debut thriller, Bloody Harvests, Richard Kunzmann gave readers a glimpse into the turbulent South African landscape. Now Detective Inspector Jacob Tshabalala and his former colleague Harry Mason return with another beautifully spellbinding thriller combining murder, revenge, greed, and the classic struggle between good and evil.

A wealthy ex--mining boss has been found beaten and burned to death at his home in suburban Johannesburg. His estranged wife, however, does not seem particularly surprised by this cold-blooded murder, but keeps insisting that the killer will be found in the Northern Cape, where the victim owned a farm with a dark secret. It’s a remote and desolate landscape of extreme poverty, burdened with a bleak history as an asbestos-mining community.

When Tshabalala persuades Mason to investigate a link between the man’s murder and the disappearance of his daughter thirty years before, Harry has no way of knowing he will soon be plunged into a menacing world of rumored supernatural attacks, corporate cover-ups, ruthless hijackers, and bitter vengeance.

Kunzmann returns with a strong force, capturing the bitter landscape and people of Johannesburg and beyond---captivating readers with his plot twists, dramatic action, and engaging characters. Salamander Cotton is a representation of poverty and a portrait of a country whose values of freedom and justice are only just emerging.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Adark mystery set in South Africa woven in a backdrop of asbetos mines and unjust practices of mine operators exploiting the natives.