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Overview
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. Zed is still obsessed with the betrayals of his own past but must fill in the blanks of this victim's life. Who tortured and killed Smit, and who was Smit in the first place? Not the man whose papers he carries, that much is certain. Zed can never be sure of the loyalties of the people with whom he is dealing — his own past reputation ensures that — and he soon finds himself uncovering secrets that the security services of many countries would like left alone.
"Exciting....A terrific ride on almost every level."-Chicago Tribune
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780316000123 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Little, Brown and Company |
| Publication date: | 08/23/2005 |
| Pages: | 384 |
| Sales rank: | 327,717 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.96(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Dead at Daybreak
By Deon Meyer
Little, Brown
Copyright © 2000 Deon MeyerAll right reserved.
ISBN: 0-316-00012-4
Chapter One
He awoke abruptly out of an alcohol-sodden sleep, the pain in his ribs his first conscious sensation. Then the swollen eye and upper lip, the antiseptic, musty smell of the cell, the sour odor of his body, the salty taste of blood and old beer in his mouth. And the relief.Jigsaw pieces of the previous evening floated into his mind. The provocation, the annoyed faces, the anger - such normal, predictable motherfuckers, such decent, conventional pillars of the community.
He remained motionless, on the side that wasn't painful, the hangover throbbing like a disease through his body.
Footsteps in the corridor outside, a key turning in the lock of the gray steel door, the grating of metal slicing through his head. Then the uniform stood there.
"Your attorney's here," the policeman said. Slowly he turned on the bed. Opened one eye. "Come." A voice devoid of respect.
"I don't have an attorney." His voice sounded far away. The policeman took a step, hooked a hand into the back of his collar, pulled him upright. "Come on."
The pain in his ribs. He stumbled through the cell door, down the paved passage to the charge office.
The uniform walked ahead, used a key to indicate the way to the small parade room. He entered with difficulty, hurting. Kemp sat there, his briefcase next to him, a frown on his face. He sat down in a dark blue chair, his head in his hands. He heard the policeman close the door behind him and walk away.
"You're trash, Van Heerden," said Kemp. He didn't respond.
"What are you doing with your life?" "What does it matter?" His swollen lip lisped the s. Kemp's frown deepened. He shook his head. "They didn't even bother to lay a charge."
He wanted to indulge in the relief, the lessening of the pressure, but it eluded him. Kemp. Where the fuck did Kemp come from?
"Even dentists know shit when they see it. Jesus, Van Heerden, what's with you? You're pissing your life away. Dentists? How drunk do you have to be to take on five dentists?"
"Two were GPs." Kemp took in Van Heerden's appearance. Then the attorney got up, a big man, clean and neat in a sports jacket and gray slacks, the neutral colors of the tie a perfect match. "Where's your car?"
He rose to his feet slowly, the world tilting slightly. "At the bar." Kemp opened the door and walked out. "Come on, then."
Van Heerden followed him into the charge office. A sergeant pushed his possessions over the counter, a plastic bag containing his slender wallet and his keys. He took it without making eye contact.
"I'm taking him away," said Kemp. "He'll be back."
The day was cold. The wind knifed through his thin jacket and he resisted the impulse to pull it closer around his body. Kemp climbed into his large 4x4, leaned across, and unlocked the passenger door. Slowly Van Heerden walked around the vehicle, climbed in, closed the door, and leaned his head against it. Kemp pulled off.
"Which bar?" "The Sports Pub, opposite Panarotti's."
"What happened?" "Why did you fetch me?"
"Because you told the entire Table View police station that I would sue them and the dentists for everything ranging from assault to brutality."
He vaguely remembered his charge-office tirade. "My attorney." Mockingly.
"I'm not your attorney, Van Heerden." The ache in the swollen eye killed his laughter. "Why did you fetch me?"
Aggressively Kemp changed gears. "Fuck alone knows." Van Heerden turned his head and looked at the man behind the steering wheel. "You want something."
"You owe me." "I owe you nothing."
Kemp drove, looking for the pub. "Which car is yours?" He pointed to the Corolla.
"I'll follow you. I have to get you clean and respectable." "What for?" "Later."
He got out, walked across the road, and got into the Toyota. He found it difficult to unlock the door, his hand shaking. The engine stuttered, wheezed, and eventually fired. He drove to Koeberg Road, left past Killarney, onto the N7, wind suddenly sweeping rain across the road. Left to Morning Star and left again to the entrance to the smallholding, Kemp's imported American Ford behind him. He looked at the big house among the trees but turned off to the small whitewashed building and stopped.
Kemp stopped next to him, opening his window just a crack against the rain. "I'll wait for you."
First of all he showered, without pleasure, letting the hot water sluice over his body, his hands automatically soaping the narrow space between shoulder and chest and belly - just the soap, no washcloth, careful over the injured part of the ribs. Then, methodically, he washed the rest of himself, leaning his head against the wall for balance as he did first one foot, then the other, eventually turning off the taps and pulling the thin, overlaundered white towel from the rail. Sooner or later he would have to buy a new towel. He let the hot tap of the washbasin run, cupped his hands under the slow stream, and threw the water over the mirror to wash away the steam. He squeezed a dollop of shaving cream into his left hand, dipped the shaving brush into it, made it foam. He lathered his face.
The eye looked bad, red and puffy. Later it would be purplish blue. Most of the scab on his lip had been washed off. Only a thin line of dried blood remained.
He pulled the razor from the left ear downward, all the way across the skin, over the jawline into the neck, then started at the top again, without looking at himself. Pulled the skin of his jaw to tighten it around the mouth, then did the right side, rinsed the razor, cleaned the basin with hot water, dried off again. Brushed his hair. Had to clean the brush: it was clogged with black hair.
Had to buy new underpants. Had to buy new shirts. Had to buy new socks. Trousers and jacket still reasonable. Fuck the tie. The room was dark and cold. Rain against the windows at ten past eleven in the morning.
He walked out. Kemp opened the door of the 4x4.
There was a long silence that lasted as far as Milnerton.
"Where to?" "City."
"You want something."
"One of our assistants has started her own practice. She needs help."
"You owe her."
Kemp merely snorted. "What happened last night?" "I was drunk."
"What happened last night that was different?" There were pelicans on the lagoon opposite the golf course. They were feeding, undisturbed by the rain.
"They were so full of their fucking four-by-fours."
"So you assaulted them?" "The fat one hit me first." "Why?"
He turned his head away. "I don't understand you." He made a noise in his throat.
"You can make a living. But you have such a shitty opinion of yourself ..."
Paarden Island's industries moved past. "What happened?"
Van Heerden looked at the rain, fine drops scurrying across the windshield. He took a deep breath, a sigh for the uselessness of it all. "You can tell a man his four-by-four isn't going to make his prick any larger and he pretends to be deaf. But drag in his wife ..."
"Jesus."
For a brief moment he felt the hate again, the relief, the moment of release of the previous evening: the five middle-aged men, their faces contorted with rage, the blows, the kicks that rained down on him until the three bartenders managed to separate them.
They didn't speak again until Kemp stopped in front of a building on the Foreshore.
"Third floor. Beneke, Olivier, and Partners. Tell Beneke I sent you."
He nodded and opened the door, got out. Kemp looked thoughtfully at him.
Then he closed the door and walked into the building.
He slumped in the chair, lack of respect evident in his posture. She had asked him to sit down. "Kemp sent me," was all he had said. She had nodded, glanced at the injured eye and lip, and ignored them.
"I believe that you and I can help each other, Mr. van Heerden." She tucked her skirt under her as she sat down.
Mister. And the attempt at common ground. He knew this approach. But he said nothing. He looked at her. Wondered from whom she had inherited the nose and the mouth. The large eyes and the small ears. The genetic dice had fallen in strange places for her, leaving her on the edge of beauty.
She had folded her hands on the desk, the fingers neatly interlaced. "Mr. Kemp told me you have experience of investigative work but are not in permanent employ at the moment. I need the help of a good investigator." Norman Vincent Peale. She spoke smoothly and easily. He suspected that she was clever. He suspected she would take longer to unnerve than the average female.
She opened a drawer, took out a file. "Did Kemp tell you I was trash?"
Her hands hesitated briefly. She gave him a stiff smile. "Mr. van Heerden, your personality doesn't interest me. Your personal life doesn't interest me. This is a business proposition. I'm offering you a temporary job opportunity for a professional fee."
So fucking controlled. As if she knew everything. As if her cell phone and her degree were the only defense she needed.
"How old are you?" "Thirty," she said without hesitation.
He looked at her third finger, left hand. It was bare.
"Are you available, Mr. van Heerden?" "It depends on what you want."
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Dead at Daybreak by Deon Meyer Copyright © 2000 by Deon Meyer. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Reading Group Guide
1. What makes this an ideal case for Alex, Mike, and Mercer? How do their special skills help them to navigate the world of the Hunts? What makes the Hunt family different from any other suspects they have encountered?
2. How did you interpret Tina Barr’s cryptic description of her work? If you were in her position, would you have gone to the police after the first attack?
3. How did your impressions of Minerva Hunt change throughout the novel? Did you trust Karla? What was your theory about why she was found with the jewel-encrusted copy of the Bay Psalm Book?
4. Discuss the different motivations of the collectors portrayed in Lethal Legacy, from Jonah Krauss to Alger Herrick. What makes them covet particular objects?
5. Why is it important to preserve early volumes such as the Bay Psalm Book? In a digital age, why do printed books matter? What did you learn about the history of book printing and mapmaking by reading Lethal Legacy?
6. Though Lethal Legacy is entirely a work of fiction, in 2006 a real-life map thief admitted to stealing dozens of valuable specimens, targeting institutions ranging from the New York Public Library to Yale’s Beinecke Library. In your opinion, what (and who) drives the high market value of centuries-old maps? What value, besides a financial one, do these artifacts have in Lethal Legacy?
7. Most of Linda Fairstein’s fans know that she worked in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office for more than twenty years. But not many fans know that she collects rare books. How does it affect your reading to know that Fairstein is a rare-book lover herself?
8. What was thelegacy of the Jasper Hunt in emotional terms? Was Jasper Junior mad or brilliant? Or both? Is he solely responsible for the feuds between the Hunt siblings?
9. Does Jane Eliot appreciate rare books in a way that is different from the other characters? How was her childhood enhanced by life in the New York Public Library?
10. Jonah Krauss describes how his life changed after he bought an early edition of The Great Gatsby. If you could pay any price, which rare book would you most want to own?
11. In chapter five, Alex fights for access to California’s DNA database, trying to clinch her case against Jamal Griggs. DNA evidence also affects the Hunt family tree. Should America adopt Britain’s Police and Justice Act, which allows police to collect and retain DNA from anyone who is arrested?
12. Alex has a harrowing cab ride on her way to meet Luc for dinner. How does that evening capture the two sides of her life: the gritty, constant threat of retaliation and an evening with a man who loves to surround her with luxury? What makes Luc the perfect antidote to her stressful job?
13. How did Travis Forbes become powerful? How is his power different from the Hunt family’s?
14. Discuss the New York Public Library’s role as a character in the novel. What did you discover about its unique history? What has helped this landmark endure into the twenty-first century?
15. Alex has encountered many criminal minds since her debut in Final Jeopardy. Do all perps, including the ones in Lethal Legacy, share a common weakness?
Introduction
“Fairstein . . . makes the legal issues more exciting than any high-speed chase." —The New York Times
The introduction, questions, and suggestions for further reading that follow are designed to enhance your group’s discussion of Linda Fairstein's dazzling thriller Lethal Legacy.