Sign up for our newsletters to receive our Best of 2024 ezine!

Book Summary and Reviews of The October Killings by Wessel Ebersohn

The October Killings by Wessel Ebersohn

The October Killings

by Wessel Ebersohn

  • Critics' Consensus (2):
  • Published:
  • Jan 2011, 336 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Book Summary

Abigail Bukula was fifteen when her parents were killed in a massacre of anti-apartheid activists by white security forces. A young soldier spoke up in her defense, and she was spared. Now she's a lawyer with a promising career in the new government, but she's never forgotten Leon Lourens, the soldier who saved her. Twenty years later, he comes to her for help: Someone is killing off members of the team who killed her parents, and Leon is one of two still alive.

Abigail turns to Yudel Gordon, an eccentric, nearly retired, white prison psychologist, for help. To save Leon's life they must untangle the web of politics, identity, and history before the anniversary of the raid - only days away.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. The complexities of South Africa a decade after the end of white rule help fuel a compelling plot that builds to several dramatic climaxes." - Publishers Weekly

"Starred Review. Deftly mixing past and present in a complex plot that pits justice against moral ambiguity, he vividly portrays a divided nation in which a national hero may also be a contract killer—still at large." - Library Journal

"Ebersohn, an established South African novelist, has created engaging characters; a gripping plot; a great backstory involving the country's recent, violent past; and trenchant commentary on South Africa today." - Booklist

"His writing is earnest, his plotting is murky and his dialogue is ponderously expository. But his horrors, rooted so closely in history, have a nightmare quality that's hard to shake." - Kirkus

This information about The October Killings 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.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Wessel Ebersohn

Wessel Ebersohn was born in Cape Town, South Africa. An internationally published author, The October Killings - the first in a new series - marks his return to crime fiction.

More Author Information

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Recommendations

Readers Also Browsed . . .

more thrillers...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Small Rain
    Small Rain
    by Garth Greenwell
    At the beginning of Garth Greenwell's novel Small Rain, the protagonist, an unnamed poet in his ...
  • Book Jacket: Daughters of Shandong
    Daughters of Shandong
    by Eve J. Chung
    Daughters of Shandong is the debut novel of Eve J. Chung, a human rights lawyer living in New York. ...
  • Book Jacket: The Women
    The Women
    by Kristin Hannah
    Kristin Hannah's latest historical epic, The Women, is a story of how a war shaped a generation ...
  • Book Jacket: The Wide Wide Sea
    The Wide Wide Sea
    by Hampton Sides
    By 1775, 48-year-old Captain James Cook had completed two highly successful voyages of discovery and...

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
In Our Midst
by Nancy Jensen
In Our Midst follows a German immigrant family’s fight for freedom after their internment post–Pearl Harbor.
Who Said...

Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Big Holiday Wordplay 2024

Enter Now

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.