Book Summary and Reviews of Devil's Peak by Deon Meyer

Devil's Peak by Deon Meyer

Devil's Peak

A Novel

by Deon Meyer

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  • Published:
  • Mar 2008, 416 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

A young woman makes a terrible confession to a priest. An honorable man takes his own revenge for an unspeakable tragedy. An aging inspector tries to get himself sober while taking on the most difficult case of his career. From this beginning, Deon Meyer weaves a story of astonishing complexity and suspense, as Inspector Benny Griessel faces off against a dangerous vigilante who has everything on his side, including public sympathy.

A gruesome abuse case has hit the newsstands, and one man has taken it upon himself to stand up for the children of Cape Town. When the accused is found stabbed through the heart by spear, it's only the beginning of a string of bloody murders - and of a dangerous dilemma for detective Griessel. The detective is always just one step behind as someone slays the city's killers. But the paths of Griessel and the avenger collide when a young prostitute lures them both into a dangerous plan - and the two find themselves with a heart-stopping problem that no system of justice could ever make right.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. Complex, finely wrought characters, keen psychological insight and a compelling plot lift this crime novel from South African author Meyer." - Publishers Weekly.

"Meyer piles on the complications, doling out exposition via an intermittent confession van Rooyen makes to an exceptionally patient priest, before ending with a show-stopping tableau bringing the cop and the vigilante together." - Kirkus Reviews.

This information about Devil's Peak was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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Michael Haughton

Devil's Peak by Deon Meyer
In the first chapter I noticed the writer started off with two characters, both meeting or sitting down at a table with a carton box in front them on it. But what stood out for me was the phrases the writer used to describe the female clothing and make up. I was not pleased with the writer saying "her make up was light, delicately down playing the fullness of her mouth." I got the impression that she was eating when in fact the writer didn't give that in writing so it should have been: fullness of lips.This was my first observation of the writer's misquoted phrasing.

I'm always certain that when a writer uses other languages apart from English but do not express it the right ways in English they will always lose the readers' interest. As not many readers care for a foreign language. The writer did not think his way through right when he used this African word (Liene Genade) and it was disappointing. There was no interpretation other than a two word the next line (sweet mercy) that made me guess if that was it.And that was poor writing skills from the writer.

In chapter two I was further disappointed. I always see writers making these simple but huge mistakes in there writing.The use of big words can alter or make worse the story line as this word did in this line "First shot. It reverberated through the quiet of the early evening" and this should be "It echoed through the quietness of the early evening" This affected my ratings negatively for this book.

A writers responsibility is not to speculate in his story.That is a big turn off for me and you did just that in this line."kitchen cupboard door were broken or ajar" no no no it has to be both so it should be and between and not or.This will affect my ratings.

"He move sluggishly.feeling the emotion pressing against him" this line also was poorly done because of big words.It should be " he moved little by little feeling the feeling pressing against him" this is so depressing to me as the writer lose with simple errors.

The only mystery I had was with the box. what exactly was in it and that had my mind in a world twisted wind. I must say that was kinda a plus for the writer that i could look forward to give a review ratings with some positive grading in mind. Rated 2 out of 5

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Author Information

Deon Meyer Author Biography

Deon Meyer was born in the South African town of Paarl in the winelands of the Western Cape in 1958, and grew up in Klerksdorp, in the gold mining region of Northwest Province.

After military duty and studying at the Potchefstroom University, he joined Die Volksblad, a daily newspaper in Bloemfontein as a reporter. Before becoming a full-time crime author in 2009 he also worked as press liaison, advertising copywriter, creative director, Internet strategist, and brand consultant. Deon completed an honours degree in History (UFS), and an MA in Creative Writing at the US.

In 1994 he published his first Afrikaans novel, which has not been translated. All later novels have been translated into a total of 27 languages.

Deon lives near Cape Town.

Author Interview
Link to Deon Meyer's Website

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