Dead at Daybreak

by Deon Meyer

Book Overview

A headspinning thriller from crime writer Deon Meyer: the story of an ex-cop who has seven days to solve a seemingly unsolvable crime -- the answer to which lies in his own dark past.

When Johannes Jacobus Smit, an antiques dealer, is found burned with a blowtorch and killed execution-style with a single shot to the back of the head, former cop Zatopek "Zed" van Heerden is called in to investigate the unusual circumstances of the murder...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316000124
• ISBN13: 9780316000123
• Release Date: August 2005
• Publisher: Little Brown and Company
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.3" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Great book

It seems to me that this book should be read second and the first one you should read is Dead Before Dying. There is an order posted that is opposite. I wish I read this one second then I’d be more familiar with the characters and understand how people change in this book. Oh well. This guy knows how to write. Loved it.

Fantabulous Triller

The country of South Africa is the exotic and fascinating background to Deon Meyer's thrillers. His books are filled with names and places in the Afrikaans and traditional languages: Mzimkhulu, Mpayipheli, Van Heerden, de Jager, Groote Schur, Gerhardus Basson. I loved trying to pronounce these words. They sound so beautiful and rare in my attempts at verbalization. The book also deals with contemporary issues in South Africa, especially racism. Mr. Meyer has again created a top level thriller with Dead at Daybreak. After reading Blood Safari, which I loved, I decided to read all of Mr. Meyer's thrillers. This novel is about several things - - a lost will, a lost man and an event that occurred thirty years ago that is leaving dead men in its wake today. Zet Van Heerden is a former police officer who has spent the last several years in a drunken haze, fighting and brawling as he tries to escape his personal demons. After a night in jail, a friend rescues him and sets him up with a job as a private investigator for a female attorney who is trying to find a missing will. Zet lives a lonely life. His main interests, when he's not drinking, are cooking and listening to classical music -- especially Mozart and Beethoven., Zet is very close to his mother who is a famous South African artist. As Zet chases down the will, a conspiracy unfolds, leaving many dead men in its wake and putting those close to Zet at risk. Concurrent with the thriller's narrative, the story of Zet's personal history unfolds. Every other chapter in the book is a chapter in Zet's memoirs. We watch Zet grow from his childhood into the man he is today. We understand how he came to believe that all of us are evil, that we carry badness within us. We watch as Zet searches for the perfect woman only to be foiled over and over again. We come to really know him and his demons. Thrillers are ubiquitous. How does a reader find the truly exceptional ones - - those worth reading. Once way is to pay attention to reviews. This is a fantabulous book, one that came up to my every expectation. I plan to read the rest of Meyer's books and hope they're all as good as the first two I've read.

Zatopek is my hero

Once you get to know the main character, Zatopek van Heerden's tortured and artistic soul you will get to love him. This novel will keep you reading until the early morning hours. Deon Meyer is a an engaging and entertaining writer. Great book.

Good addition to series

If you like this series, this is another winner. These stories are well written and heartfelt, a picture of South Africa that I had never experienced before.

A brutal murder, an empty safe and a missing will

A brutal murder, an empty safe and a missing will - this is the central theme around which this thrilling who-dun-it from South African Deon Meyer evolves. The unlikely hero takes the form of Zatopek "Zet" van Heerden, a former policeman who once excelled in Police Science, but now is a lonely, aggressive alcoholic, bent on self destruction. It is also well known that the safest place to be when Zet fires a gun is directly in front of the target. Zet was on the scene when an accused serial killer fatally shot his partner and mentor, but this is not the only skeleton in his closet. The author skillfully ties in his past and present, so we soon get a picture of what makes Zet tick. At the beginning of the story, a drunken tussle with a group of five men lands Zet some jail time, but a former colleague links him up with attorney Hope Beneke, who has a job for him. Hope's client is Wilhelmina Johanna "Wilna" van As, significant other of Johannes Jacobus "Jan" Smit, the unfortunate target of the aforementioned murder and robbery. Zet has seven days to recover the missing will before Wilna loses her inheritance, and the investigation takes every ounce of his considerable skill. It immediately becomes obvious that nothing can be taken at face value, and that the case goes back nearly two dozen years to 1976. Time is running out, the situation is getting desperate and the players are bringing out the big guns. A richly embellished tale, laced with murder, mayhem, intrigue, a little romance and a lot of cooking. Amanda Richards, January 14, 2006

Well done psychological crime thriller

Generally speaking, I don't like novels where the hero carries around a lot of psychological baggage as a backstory. Deon Meyer's Zet van Heerden, a former police orficer turned failing private investigator, carries a backstory that would have a Freudian analyst turning cartwheels. To Meyer's credit, he controls the backstory and although he comes close to overdoing it at several points, he does rein himself in time. It's a personal bias of mine, no doubt, but I think "Dead at Daybreak" would have been a better novel without spending so much time on van Heerden's psychological problems. Even with that reservation, "Dead at Daybreak" is an engrossing mystery. Sprung from the local jail by attorney Kemp, who apparently holds van Heeren in low regard, he is deposited at the office of Hope Beneke, a young woman lawyer who has but seven days to recover a will that was stolen in a grisly execution style murder. If the will is not found, Wilna van As will collect nothing from the estate of the deceased, with who she has lived and worked for more than a decade. Once a rising star in academic criminology, van Heerden leeft the academy and joined the police force. After the death of his partner and mentor, he embarked on a downward slide of alcohol and anger. His mother, a famous artist, is still there to lend him moral support. Van Heerden is convinced that he is a failure and on several occasions comes to Beneke and quits. But each time he is pushed forward by a new idea. Seven days and they are passing quickly. Van Heerden uses his network of old police and criminal contacts and the story of the murder begins to unravel as new threats to van Heerden, his mother, lawyer Beneke and others are introduced. Meyer is skillful writer. His plot is imaginative, sometimes coming close to straining credulity, but almost always staying within the boundaries that keep the reader interested. At the end, a plot nearly a quarter of century old is revealed. The police, military intelligence, even the CIA have become involved. All together it adds up to a fascinating mystery. Jerry