Video - Lemmer's house:

Lermmer's house in Loxton actually exists - although he does not really live there, of course. But the history of the house, and everything else descibed in the book, is factual. Click on the 'video' icon to watch.

Blood Safari - The story:

When the rich and famous visit South Africa their first port of call is often Body Armor, the personal security company offering two types of protection: the big and intimidating muscle men called Gorillas, or the lean and hungry former government body guards, referred to as Invisibles.

Lemmer is a free-lance Invisible, way down on the price list where the bargains are to be found, because he is white trash, a violent man with a criminal record who spent four years in jail after killing a guy in a road rage incident. He lives in the remote village of Loxton in the Upper Karoo, trying to rebuild his life, when the call from Body Armor comes on Christmas morning: The tiny and beautiful Emma le Roux, a brand consultant from Cape Town, wants to hire him.

He needs the money. So he drives down, meets her, and listens to her story.

She says she saw her brother on the television news a few days ago. He seems to be the suspect in the killing of a witch doctor and four vulture poachers up in the Lowveld of Mpumalanga Province, now apparently on the run. The only problem is, her brother is supposed to be dead. He disappeared twenty years ago in the Kruger National Park.

After calling the investigating officer, she accepted that it must be a case of mistaken identity. But two days later, she received a mysterious phone call. And then three men in balaclavas broke down her front door and tried to kill her. She escaped, but now, she wants answers. She's going to the Lowveld herself, and Lemmer must watch her back.

Lemmer's First Law of Small Women is: Don't trust them.

Lemmer was a ministerial body guard for twenty years before affirmative action claimed his job. He knows people. He can read them like paperback novels - all the little signs and signals. And he knows Emma le Roux is lying. Probably about everything. But hey, that's what rich people do. If she wants to indulge in fantasy, he'll take the money and go along for the ride, thank you very much.

Emma's investigation goes nowhere quickly. And then she is seriously injured.

Lemmer's First General Law is: Don't get involved. But he has never failed as a body guard before. And despite her storming of windmills, he's grown a little too fond of Emma. So he starts digging, uncovering simmering racial and political tensions, greed, corruption, and a network of eco-terrorists. He bangs heads, has an encounter with a black mamba (see photo), and follows the leads until he finds what he's after: The people who attacked and almost killed Emma.

Getting to them will be extremely dangerous, and exposing them could have international political implications. If he fails, both he and Emma will end up dead.

But Lemmer is sick and tired of being invisible.

He goes after them, against all odds.

The Reviews

• Patrick Anderson in The Washington Post:

  Meyer is a serious writer who richly deserves the international reputation he has built. "Blood Safari" manages to be both an exciting read and an eye-opening portrait of a nation with problems perhaps even more complex and agonizing than our own.

• JC Patterson in the Madison County Herald:

  South African best seller Deon Meyer's greatest strength lies in his keen ability to create flawed characters clawing their way towards personal redemption.

  And JC Patterson in the Madison County Herald:For exotic locales, searing prose, and a protagonist who flies off the pages, book a Blood Safari with Deon Meyer. You'll need a big gun.

• Christopher Merrill and Marco Werman on American National Public Radio:

  "And this is a big, sexy novel It’s suspenseful, but it’s also clever and funny.” (For the full audio review, please visit TheWorld.Org.)

• Matthew Lewin in The Guardian:

  The action is as exciting as any reader of thrillers has a right to demand ... As Meyer writes, money and poverty and greed do not lie well together. But they make a hell of a thriller.

• John Dugdale, Sunday Times:

Deon Meyer follows the outstanding 'Devil's Peak' with 'Blood Safari', a South African thriller ... pulsating and gripping.

• Stephanie Riedi, Basler Zeitung, Switzerland:

  Meyer’s stories are subtle, psychologically and atmospherically densely constructed. Moreover, they highlight the beauty of the country. South Africa’s Mankell ... has deservedly pocketed numerous prizes.

• Maxine Clarke, Eurocrime:

  This is a detective story/thriller that really delivers: an extremely well-constructed, intelligent plot; a committed political and social stance; and a genuine emotional engagement with minor as well as main characters. This novel strongly reminds me of the superb work of Peter Temple, and it reads completely naturally: my compliments to the translator, K L Seegers. I'm immediately going to seek out other novels by Deon Meyer.

• Mary Whipple, Marywhipplreviews.come:

Deon Meyer just keeps getting better. This is a terrific and unusual thriller ...

• Gunter Blank, Berliner Morgenpost:

Thorough research marks all of his novels and it is due to this fact that Meyer manages not only to evoke a dense, gripping atmosphere, but also to create a finely chiselled panorama of South African society.

• Tobias Gohlis in Buchjournal:

One of the most important contemporary South African crime novelists ... his greatest book yet ... his epic placidity determines his style: gentle, polite, but adamantine. With a great love for his country and its nature ... a thriller in which the conflicts of this wonderful, rich and complicated country of South Africa take on gripping shapes.

• Peter Münder, Hamburger Abendblatt:

Deon Meyer is a top-class specialist on suspenseful socio-critical crime novels ... a strong, stirring thriller that ticks all the boxes.

• The Judges of the top ten crime novels of the month,In KrimiWelt:

An adventurous research through South Africa’s wilderness, society and history: great, epic breadth. Meyer becomes better and better.

• Sylvia Staude, Frankfurter Rundschau:

He understands the skill of making the reader turn page after page, greedily ... There isn’t any tepid line in this book, and so it will not leave any of its readers cold.

• Ken Vernon in the Weekend Gold Coast Bulletin, Australia:

  Calling Meyer the new Wilbur Smith might be a bit over the top, especially given the different genre, but we will all hear a lot more from Deon Meyer.

• Margaret Cannon in the Globe and Mail:

  Every so often I pick up a book and simply devour it from first page to final paragraph. Blood Safari is one of those.

  This is a book that both takes you away and makes you think, but most of all, it's a wonderful bit of masterful storytelling, with a gorgeous setting and complex, original characters. Meyer is the latest addition to Random House Canada's World of Crime imprint, which is turning into a treasure trove of great writing.

• Hilary Williamson on Bookloons.com:

  Don't miss Blood Safari, a gripping, very satisfying, and highly recommended read.

• Yolandi Groenewald in Mail & Guardian:

  "In peeling off the plot layers Meyers dishes up a host of South African problems, including ecological ones. While the action scenes are plentiful and excellent, the plot is refined -- a delicately prepared five-course meal. Onsig­baar touches on issues such as land claims, unchecked development of luxury estates, conflict between Western and African values, “development” versus the environment. And, as with the best of Meyer’s novels, the significant historic event.

  "The value of Meyer’s writing lies in the familiar Afrikaans landscape and South African setting in which he places his characters, while still managing to draw readers who are unfamiliar with the Afrikaans colloquial into the action. Real evil is universal, which is why Meyer’s book are so loved. His message is that the bad guys might crawl under the radar for some time, but they will never elude it altogether.

  "English readers, salivating in anticipation of the translation of Blood Safari will certainly not be disappointed."

• In Business Day:

  "Blood Safari is my first exposure to the man billed by his publishers as the “king of South African crime thrillers”. For once the publicity spinners are not guilty of hyperbole — Meyer is simply excellent.

  "Lemmer is too good a character to be a one-novel phenomenon. He is a sardonic, accurate observer of South African foibles, especially those of the Afrikaner. It is all rendered with enough wry, dry humour to make the reader laugh out loud."

• In the Cape Times:

  "Deon Meyer is a man of large stature in the writing world. He is also engaging and has a keen interest in the mechanics of why certain books become popular around the world. He knows South Africa and his market. And he is at the top of his game."

• Margaret von Klemperer in The Witness:

  ... "a pacy, well-plotted thriller, with the familiarity of the setting giving an added something to local readers."

• On FMR:

  "...the latest from the awesome local novelist, Deon Meyer. His novel Blood Safari is set in the bushveld over a hot Christmas and literally blisters and boils with deadly secrets. The plot doesn’t pause, the dialogue is witty, and the action sequences are pure Meyer, enough to make your heart race. The novel's been riding high on the German bestseller lists for the last three months."

From Krimi-Couch.de:

"... this is a tense, packed, intoxicating narrative, painted on a breathtaking backdrop. But it is a lot more than that: South Africa is Meyer's third protagonist. And perhaps the most exciting.