Dead Before Dying:

by Deon Meyer

Book Overview

This brilliantly atmospheric new suspense novel from a rising African thriller writer is about a detective racing to solve a terrifying series of murders. Film rights have been sold to Jungle Media for Heart of the Hunter and Dead at Daybreak.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316000132
• ISBN13: 9780316000130
• Release Date: May 2006
• Publisher: Little Brown and Company
• Length: 342 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.2" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Read this one first

This one will give a lot of insight. A lot of the same characters are in the next book. Any hoo. This guy can write. Amazing ending. Heart wrenching. Fantastic development.

Keeps you guessing until the end

Reviewed by Kristina Patton for Reader Views (5/06) Ancient artifacts, a serial killer, a bank robber, and an unknown town with a risk-taking police force make Deon Meyer's novel, "Dead Before Dying," a fantastic page-turner. The Murder & Robbery Squad of Cape Town, South Africa gets a new media-happy colonel. The squad's captain is still grieving the loss of his wife in the line of duty and one of its detectives is battling an addiction to alcohol. But, despite the hardships, the show must go on. A recent string of murders and bank robberies jump start this division into headline-making success. Captain Mat Joubert, in the midst of grieving, is told that, unless he shapes up, he can ship out. He begins to see a psychiatrist, starts a new diet and exercise program and watches his best friend battle rehab. All the while, he is trying to track down a serial killer, a bank robber, and a love life. In what has to be the best thriller that I've read all year, Deon Meyer takes an ordinary man with ordinary problems and makes him a newsworthy hero. As Captain Joubert solves the crimes, he also encounters new people and new situations to help him through his own grief and sadness. The reader will laugh, cry, and get angry as Joubert emits a personality so real to life that he becomes a friend. My favorite passage is: "Sometimes....you had a fast ascent to the summit, where you handed over the warrant of arrest, a neat parcel of motive and evidence, cause and effect. But sometimes, like this one, the mountain was smooth and slippery, without crevices for hands and toes to grip. You climbed and slipped, climbed and slipped without progress, without a way to the top." This passage really shows the emotion that is carried between these pages. Meyers really makes the reader feel as if you are right alongside Captain Joubert throughout all of his trials and tribulations. In a story that keeps you guessing until the end, Meyer sheds new light on an old game. The crimes are brutal and the characters become your friends in a mystery that reads like an episode of Law & Order. This book is fantastic and makes the reader want to go back and read everything that Deon Meyers has written.

"The insignificance of life was just as sad as the finality of death."

Captain Mat Joubert is sinking under the weight of his despair, still grieving the death of his wife two years and three months ago, his attention to police work slipping noticeably and his connection to life failing miserably. He has been in pain for too long, considering the only option that makes sense. When the sudden attention of a young girl occasions a surge of unexpected feelings, challenging his long slide into oblivion, it occurs to Joubert that he may not be ready to face the Grim Reaper. It's just as well. Under the leadership of a new commanding officer, the first black minister of law and order, the Department of Murder and Robbery is officially a part of the new South Africa, post-apartheid. Bart de Wit is enigmatic and demanding, requiring all the men in his command to shape up, physically and mentally, their jobs contingent on sufficient progress in every aspect of their lives. Joubert acquiesces while dealing with a baffling new case: someone is shooting civilians point blank, with no apparent motive. Still reeling from his return to the living, Joubert grapples with awakening emotions and a desire to stop the senseless murders that are terrifying South Africans, while De Wit contentiously monitors his every move. Besides the tension Meyer brings to his novels, the character development is multi-layered and uniquely human, the inner turmoil of Captain Joubert; his friend and co-worker, the alcoholic Detective Sergeant Benny Griessel, whose job is on the line; the wife of the first victim, Margaret Wallace (she of the strangely colored eyes); even his assigned therapist. It is this combination of humanity and criminality that renders Meyer's novels irresistible, tapping into the utter horror of random murders and the devastation such acts leave in their wake. Opening up to life after his dark night of the soul, Joubert can hardly ignore the gritty reality of the criminal elements that define his work as a detective, particularly the seemingly random murders he must bring to an end. More than a police procedural, Dead Before Dying is solid, tightly-plotted and unpredictable, the new South Africa more recognizable with each Meyer title, the violence universal. Luan Gaines/2006.

You'll enjoy!

Captain Mat Joubert of Murder and Robbery in Cape Town, South Africa is a tormented man. Two years ago his wife Lara, also with the police department, died--and since that time, Joubert has lost his will to live and his job is hanging by a thin thread. Now, people in Cape Town, without any known connection, are being murdered with a century-old Mauser handgun and a gentleman robber is hitting branches of the Premier Bank. Joubert and his colleagues have a new boss who is set on changing the department and those who work there. He is demanding that they not only solve cases quickly but they must also get healthy. That means lose weight, eat healthy, stop drinking and smoking and if, like Joubert, there are emotional distresses in their lives, see a psychologist. Joubert is compelled to sort out his life, face his past and solve his cases in a last-ditch effort to save his career--and maybe even his life. Deon Meyers is a master storyteller. Dead Before Dying is filled with action, excitement and intense tension. The characters are multi-dimensional and their work and personal lives share the stage in a manner that brings them and the story to life. Armchair Interviews says: Since the setting is in Cape Town, there are cultural differences that Americans are not familiar with but don't let that prevent you from a good read.

graphic South African police procedural

In Cape Town, South Africa, a killer has murdered three victims with no apparent links. The culprit used a Boer War German Mauser gun with bullets as old as the weapon is to fire two shots to the head and to the chest of the victim. Murder and Robbery Squad Captain thirty-four years old Mat Joubert heads the investigation. Mat knows this case is probably the last opportunity to salvage a career that has rapidly collapsed since his beloved wife Lara was killed on duty during a police matter two years ago. Mat investigates the three murders, but finds no motive to tie them together. He begins to wonder if the killer is just randomly selecting his victims. Still as the local residents panic over who is next, the media adds to the feeding frenzy and the brass, especially the ambitious politicians in and out of the police station, demand either the culprit or a fall guy. Mat struggles with finding clues before he has to visit the crime scene of the next victim. This graphic South African police procedural is a tense gritty serial killer noir that grips the audience from start to finish with a haunting final twist. Mat is an interesting detective carrying plenty of baggage in a career that is as dead as the victims of the killer, but hooks fans, who will join him as he seeks evidence especially something that ties the dead together. Readers will appreciate Deon Meyer's strong vivid murder mystery and want to read his other South African novels (see HEART OF THE HUNTER and DEAD AT DAYBREAK: PAST IS NEVER DEAD). Harriet Klausner

A superb police procedural

There is a certain common format in the writing of a British police procedural novel. The main protagonist, whether he is a chief inspector or detective inspector, are all complex creations full of angst with a whole host of personal issues. Over the course of a series these issues will be confronted and hopefully resolved. The murder or crime is almost peripheral to the characters. The reader is drawn in by these very realistically portrayed characters and can't wait to visit with them again. After all, it is not the crime the reader recalls, it is usually whether the main protagonist stopped drinking or left his wife that is most pressing. The whole host of supporting and minor characters, as well as the locale, give these books their full richness. Examples include the superb books of Ian Rankin, Peter Robinson, Reginald Hill, Elizabeth George, Stephen Booth or the historical novels of Charles Todd. Add to these highly regarded authors the South African writer, Deon Meyer, who writes very much in the vein of the contemporary British police procedural. Captain Mat Joubert of Capetown, South Africa, has several problems he must solve. First of all, there is a polite bandit holding up the Premier Banks. He always compliments the bank clerks as he is robs them. Second, and more pressing, is the seemingly random murders of various men in town -- all killed by an old German handgun. On top of this, Joubert must cope with the recent loss of his wife, Lara, and his new boss who wants Joubert to straighten himself out or look for another job. DEAD BEFORE DYING is a very impressive work because the characters are so carefully and realistically created. But do not pick up this book if you are expecting a fast read. It is not a thriller. It is, rather, a book to be read slowly and savored. The plot is complex enough to keep the readers wondering until the very end. The locale is somewhat sketchily detailed, but the richly portrayed characters easily make up for that. Interestingly, the book is translated from the Afrikaans language. I met Deon and he speaks perfect English! Go figure. DEAD BEFORE DYING is the third of Meyer's works to be published in the U.S. This is a strongly recommended work.