Product Description

When Johnny K is kidnapped and held to ransom, his daughter turns to the only man she knows can help her - his old friend - Tiny. The kidnappers want a disk from her safe that contains extremely sensitive data, and she has seventy-two hours in which to deliver, or her father will die. But there are those watching Tiny's every move, monitoring, waiting for him trip up and lead them to what they want. Two warring factions with innocents caught in the middle It is only a matter of time...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #173517 in Books
• Published on: 2004-04-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

From Publishers Weekly
A hulking black motorcycle-shop janitor named Tiny is the unlikely hero of this frantic, intelligent thriller by a South African crime writer. Tiny (aka Thobela Mpayipheli aka Umzingeli, the Hunter) is a former KGB-trained assassin who plied his trade in service of the struggle against apartheid. He is now a peace-loving family man, but when a plea for help comes from the daughter of an old friend, he is forced to race across the country on a motorcycle to deliver a coveted disk, chased by a homicidal special forces commander. His fear of revisiting the violence of his past feels real—the sincere hesitation of a dark-skinned man in a country where violent acts multiply like viruses, especially where black blood is involved. "His hands so terribly ready to kill, his brain clattering out the knowledge of the vital points on the soldier's body like machine gun fire, despairing, don't, don't, don't..." In other ways, this is a standard thriller complete with CIA involvement, an appearance by Muslim extremists and a loose, rat-a-tat prose that keeps pages turning. The central plot twist is predictable and too few of the many story lines are resolved, but the freshness of the context and the emotional complexity of the hero's journey are ample compensation for readers who want a more thought-provoking spy story.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Thobela Mpayipheli has settled into a sedate but rewarding life with the woman he loves. He works as a gofer at a South African motorcycle shop and readies his partner's young son for life on a farm--until an ex-boss asks him to perform a dangerous favor. His Xhosa warrior's heart racing, Thobela soon finds himself driving hard toward Nigeria with a hard drive full of secrets the unified government wishes to file away for good. Thrillingly competent at evading the police, intelligence services, and even a crack paramilitary team, Thobela struggles with the novel's core question--Can people change their essential nature?--while the authorities uncover his deadly past as a weapon of the antiapartheid movement on loan to the Soviet bloc. Like John le Carre's The Tailor of Panama, this novel examines the rippling horrors too often caused by so-called intelligence agents working for foreign masters in backwater nations. With simmering racial tensions, a bounty of natural resources, and a government whose members worked both sides of the cold-war fence, South Africa should prove fertile ground for many fine spy thrillers to come. Don't be surprised if quite a few of them are written by Meyer. Frank Sennett
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
'A new book by Deon Meyer is a cause for celebration. Heart of the Hunter is not just an exciting story of a pursuit; it paints a thought-provoking picture of today's South Africa' -- Sunday Telegraph 20031110 'A brand-new talent and a welcome change of locale for thriller fans...An impressively tangled web and taut narrative keeps the reader guessing until the last couple of pages' -- Heat*** on DEAD AT DAYBREAK 20031110 'Despite the complexity of its tightly woven plot - skilfully revealed through newspaper articles and intelligence reports - Meyer's U.S. debut moves at a breathtaking pace that will carry readers away. A sympathetic protagonist and the landscape of South Africa add colour to the story. Highly recommended' -- Starred Review, Library Journal 20031110 'Exceptional...a taut post-Apartheid thriller pitting a common man against a corrupt government...Breakneck pacing, staccato dialogue...think Mystic River meets Rambo, in a setting suggesting The Gods Must Be Crazy' -- Bookpage 20031110 'Out of post-apartheid South Africa comes a thriller good enough to nip at the heels of le Carre...Wonderful setting; rich, colourful cast, headed by a valiant/vulnerable protagonist' -- Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review) 20031110 'Like John le Carre's THE TAILOR OF PANAMA, this novel examines the rippling horrors too often caused by so-called intelligence agents working for foreign masters in backwater nations. With simmering racial tensions, a bounty of natural resources, and a government whose members worked both sides of the cold-war fence, South Africa should prove fertile ground for many fine spy thrillers to come. Don't be surprised if quite a few of them are written by Meyer.' -- Starred Review, Booklist 20031110

Customer Reviews

action packed suspense thriller
In Cape Town, South Africa, former freedom fighter (or assassin depending on which side you supported) during the "Struggle", Thobela "Tiny" Mpayipheli has become a dedicated family man. He contentedly works at a low paying job because he looks forward to going home every night to his beloved Miriam Nzuluwazi and her son.

His violent past returns when a distraught Monica Kleintjes informs him that his old compatriot in arms her father Johnny needs his help. Tiny owes Johnny so when Monica asks him to deliver a disc to terrorists because if they are not handed over to them by a certain time they will kill her father. He accepts the mission bur the CIA, al Qaeda, the government, and other agencies also want the disk. Killing a retired assassin to obtain what they want is fine by everyone involved as Tiny learns how perilous a friend in need is and how deadly competition can be to the "supplier".

This exciting post apartheid and 9/11 thriller never slows down especially when everyone seems to be chasing after Tiny (actually he is sort of a South African Little John) fleeing on a stolen motorcycle. Tiny is a terrific center of gravity as he keeps the tale moving and focused while the support cast either enables a deep look into the HEART OF THE HUNTER or want to kill him. Cape Town and the surrounding countryside make a fabulous background to the escapades. Though over the top at times, Deon Meyer provides an action packed suspense thriller starring a fabulous hero.

Harriet Klausner

Inside the Chaos Theory
A man contacts an old friend asking for his assistance; with that one action, a government agency is set in motion, tracking all activity, assessing security and setting safeguards in place, so finely tuned as to be error-proof. In one simple act of acquiescence, lives are irrevocably changed.

A society is defined by the agencies that conduct the business of the people. Developed by the South African Presidential Intelligence Unit (PIU), designed from an intelligence-specific prototype, the Reaction Unit (RU) falls somewhere between a counter-terrorist organization and hostage rescue unit, similar to the British Special Air Services. The creators of the RU have dark dreams of redemption from a shameful past in South African human relations and, given an opportunity to prove the superiority of the unit, envision new beginnings for a country struggling to redefine its political and social systems.

Thobela Mpayipheli, a six-foot-three giant of a man with a gentle heart, has finally found contentment in his life, living quietly with his woman and her young son. A former member of Umkhonto we Sizwe ("the spear of the nation"), part of the black resistance when South Africa was fighting for racial balance and equality. Thobela, AKA Tiny, has made a covenant with himself and those he loves, putting the violence forever behind him. But when an old friend from the past makes a request, it is a call to honor that must be met. Thobela must act as his conscience dictates, aware of what is at stake when he allows his natural instincts to resurface. Tiny is the unknown quantity in the equation, the one man to test the raison d'etre of the RU.

Like all bureaucracies, once set in motion with agendas activated, everything proceeds as planned, inexorable. Regardless of nuance or human complications, these pseudo-machines are incapable of subtlety, or changing plans to adapt to exigent circumstances. Whatever and whoever is in the way is simply collateral damage.

"Contact. Action. Control." Protect the State at all costs. The action man of the Reaction Unit is Tiger Mazibuko, who lives for the thrill of the chase and a worthy opponent. He's been training his team relentlessly, preparing for just such an opportunity. Mpayipheli is the perfect adversary, a man who challenges all the skills Tiger has honed. As long as Tiger's supervisor, Janina Mentz, dehumanizes Mpayipheli, Tiger can behave dispassionately, impossible to stop. Meanwhile, Mentz sits in the catbird seat, answerable only to her Director, watching the machinations as the RU goes into overdrive, tracking Mpaypheli. This is a high-stakes chess game, and it is deadly serious.

The contretemps between man and "machine" balances in fragile stasis before chaos erupts and the forces collide, uncontrollable. Special interests, driven by self-preservation and pride, are motivated by the arrogance bred of power, corrupted, a somnolent decay that destroys the integrity of the agency itself. Meanwhile Mpaypheli's only desire is to fulfill his mission and return home, but circumstances conspire to isolate him, returning him to that state of existence he inhabited when he was a killing machine.

Meyer's complex characterizations are excellent, introspective and compassionate, revealing the underlying humanity that is at war with rigorous indoctrination. These people are multi-faceted, troubled, dealing with the demands of duty vs. personal integrity. Meyer uncovers the layers that form the whole of the human heart and the violence that destroys innocence, fomenting intolerance and distrust. Luan Gaines/2004.