Heart of the Hunter

by Deon Meyer

Book Overview

Six-foot five-inch Thobela "Tiny" Mpayipheli was once a feared assassin and freedom fighter, trained by the Stasi and KGB. In post-apartheid South Africa, he's happily working in a garage. But Tiny's... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316935492
• ISBN13: 9780316935494
• Release Date: July 2004
• Publisher: Little Brown and Company
• Length: 374 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

as good as it gets

I'll be brief. I am thrilled to find a new author (to me) who is such a master. He is compared to LeCarre who often leaves me restless and impatient. Not Meyer. It is rare I cannot put a book down but this one is in that short list. He builds rich characters that you care about, carries you along with one dramatic moment after another, weaves in excellent observations of humanity, politics, ambition, the landscape and I am very happy to know there are a few more of his books out there for me to read. Bravo!!

Ride On!

Set against the beautiful South African landscape this novel twists and turns like the epic bike ride that the main character goes on. With Deon Meyer you can never go wrong and you will be kept at the edge of your seat. If you want a crime thriller to keep you wondering, this one is it.

"Once the cycle began it couldn't be stopped..."

Thobela Mpayipheli is an African giant, ex-spy, who is now living with his fiancé and her son in a small town in South Africa, called Guguletu. He has vowed never to go back to his old life, but his peaceful existence is broken when Monica Kleintjes, the daughter of one of his dear friends from the past, asks for his help. Johnny Kleintjes has been kidnapped and will only be released upon the delivery of a disk containing information that is crucial to national security. Kleintjes gathered this information when working in an integration project in an effort to document the real history relating to the events that took place in the dark era of the Apartheid. Thobela, or Tiny as his friends call him, is a mysterious man that shows great kindness at moments, and cold-blooded violence at others. In a world when everyone wants to see things white or black, he presents a solid gray. This can be clearly appreciated by the reaction of the people as he goes on his quest, mounted on a powerful motorbike. Some see him as a hero, while others regard him as a dangerous man who cannot be good because he used to work as a "collector" for a drug baron. There is one reporter for the Cape Times, Allison Healy, who tries to answer the question: Is Tiny good or bad? This will provide us with valuable insight regarding the main character, but: can the question be answered with certainty? One would thing that helping a friend that has been kidnapped would be hard enough, but Thobela has other problems too. Janina Metz, a high ranked officer in one of the intelligence agencies, had a wire that allowed her to listen to the conversation between the kidnappers and Monica. Therefore, she activated a special forces group led by a violent and vicious captain named Mazibuko. The idea is to prevent Tiny from delivering the information to the kidnappers. Thus, he is drawn into a mission filled with dangers and violence; a mission in which he will be faced with a worthy opponent in the relentless captain Mazibuko. The exotic setting, the cleverly crafted plot, the exciting action, and the rich and complex main character, make this a novel that has it all. Deon Meyer has created a real masterpiece that is not even one notch below the work of some great authors in the genre, like John le Carré. I will be eagerly looking forward to this Meyer's new book!

A first-rate thriller, worthy to be on a bestseller list

Deon Meyer's American debut novel, HEART OF THE HUNTER, is a first-rate thriller, worthy to be on a bestseller list. Not only does Meyer write a fast-moving story, he also acquaints his readers with the landscape of South Africa. He writes suspense that moves quickly and delves deep into the heart of his characters. They jump from the page and involve his reader with immediacy. Meyer invokes sympathy for minor characters as well as his protagonist, Tiny Mpayipheli. Tiny is a six-foot three strongman, retired from a life of killing for hire to that of a mechanic in a motorcycle shop in a small town. He lives with the woman who changes his life, Miriam Nzululwazi, and her son, Pakamile. All three are drawn into a spider web of life changes that none can control. Tiny's former life seeks him in the form of an old friend, held captive by persons unknown, who is desperate and contacts the quiet giant. In 1984, the complicated government of a South Africa that has emerged from its struggle for independence is the undercurrent for Meyer's plot. Distrust among competing agencies leads to players with ambition seeking their own dynasties within government departments. Prime among these is Janina Mentz, officer in charge of the Ops Room's special unit of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA). Her agency intercepts a phone call from Tiny's friend, Johnny Kleintjes, to his daughter and rolls into action. Mentz's mission is to stop Tiny from delivering a disk, believed to contain sensitive government information. Mentz calls on the diabolical Tiger Mazibuko, a marine officer with no scruples, for help in the Ops mission. Tiny's skills as a former assassin and KGB operative come into play when he sets forth on a stolen BMW motorcycle across the Cape country to deliver the tape and rescue his old friend. Adrenalin long suppressed by his present pastoral life bursts into activity when he leads his pursuers across the South African veld on a chase for survival. Meyer's description of the terrain makes his audience a part of the story, cheering for Tiny's success and the return to his new life. But we want to witness the strength and skill he possesses as part of the old. We're not disappointed. HEART OF THE HUNTER is a wealth of information about South Africa's struggle, disparity within her infant government and identity crises in both public and private sectors. Meyer's capable scripting weaves images with identity and blends the two with incredible skill. Chapter breaks blend portions of the story into a continuous thread that connects the characters through common word bonds. For example, Tiny waits for the subject of his first assassination. "The door, dark wood, was shut again...This was not the way to wage war...not right." A section break follows. Then, "There was a bar on the door, white letters on a green background that read PUSH/DRUK, and Miriam obeyed...She realized she was in a dead end." HEART OF THE HUNTER should be in strong demand in the A

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 des