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markpsadler
Posted March 20, 2010
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An in-your-face gritty drama
In Mixed Blood Smith has a way of taking the most obnoxious, despicable character and painting them in such a fashion that you find yourself rooting for them, all of them. As each main character is introduced, each one worse than the previous one, you are able to find some unbidden trait that makes you want to see them succeed. From Jack Burn, the American bank robber, hiding out in Cape Town under an assumed name, to Benny Mongrel the ex-jail-bird and long time gang-banger to the slime-ball, power hungry Boer cop Rudi Barnard, each one reels you in.
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Jack's pregnant wife, coerced into his drama after the botched robbery, is wanting a divorce to move home and turn herself in. Benny has taken a real job and found a dog, the first thing he ever loved and is trying to stay on the straight and narrow. Rudi, for all the hard-nosed tactics he takes is just another Bible-thumping fat slob whose hemorrhoids ache and who never gets laid since his wife moved out. Something to feel for with each character, which makes the end result for each of them even more memorable.
This in-you-face gritty crime drama will keep you turning pages until the book is done and well worth the time. -
xJDx
Posted February 27, 2010
Couldn't put it down!
Great one or two day read.It sucked me back in everytime i put it down.Loved the characters
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Compelling Thriller from South Africa
Sometimes, what I really want to read is a scorched earth, no prisoners, no quarter, no good guys just degrees of badness, thriller. It's like running Sodium hydroxide through the plumbing, it cleans out the pipes. This is why I was happy that I came across Roger Smith's Mixed Blood. But for me, Mixed Blood is more than a read-and-toss thriller, it reaches me at intellectual and emotional levels as well. South Africa has complex history and Mixed Blood and the effects of decades of apartheid are a subtext to the story.
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Jack Burn has a gambling problem. Back in the U.S., a large debt put him in the middle of a robbery that left a cop dead. Jack escapes with a large part of the loot and takes his pregnant wife and young son to Cape Town, South Africa. With a new identity and lots of money, Jack feels pretty safe until a random home invasion by a couple of drug dealing gang-bangers puts him in the sights of Rudi "Gatsby" Barnard, a physically and morally repugnant and corrupt cop. Rudi senses that there is more to Jack than just another American expat. Also drawn into the picture are vengeance seeking ex-con Benny Mongrel and Zulu police investigator Disaster Zondi who wants to settle an old score and at the same time take down a bad cop.
Mixed Blood is a solid thriller with the plot, action, and violence that make this type of thriller enjoyable. But while I thoroughly enjoyed it as a thriller, there is something much more that makes it stand out for me. This is the role South Africa plays in the story. Consider Rudi "Gatsby" Barnard. His nickname comes from the signature South African sandwich, the gatsby, that he favors. With his horrible body odor, sumo-sized gut, air bag-sized butt cheeks and a love of "Jesus Christ, gatsbys, and killing people" you might dismiss him as a caricature of the bad cop. But Rudi is a holdover from South Africa under apartheid. Do a Google search with the terms apartheid and apartheid hit squads and you will see that Rudi is based on fact.
Cape Town itself is a character in the story. Gatsby rules the aeolian sand flat known as Cape Flats. It blasted by winds in the summer and many areas flood in the winter. Here are the government-built townships where non-whites were forced to move; the Flats were apartheid's dumping ground. They are a place of terrible poverty, drug abuse, and gang violence. In contrast, Jack Burn and his family live on the wealthy Atlantic side. I recommend a visit to Roger Smith's web site where there is a video narrated by him. There is also a slide show of images of Cape Town and Cape Flats that will give you a good picture of the settings in the book.
I enjoyed Mixed Blood as a straight-up thriller and also for the intense sense of place that Roger was able to weave into the story.
Recommended highly for readers who like thrillers and don't mind a bit of stomach churning violence. -
Kept Me Riveted!
This very different type of thriller was a great ride through a frightening world in South Africa. John Hill and his wife and son are on the run from the American authorities and are hiding out in South Africa. They become the target of a random house attack. This sets into motion a very complex plot involving a corrupt cop, a crazed half-breed ex-con, a drugged out girlfriend and an investigative cop looking to bring the corrupt cop down. Some of the writer's descriptions are so vivid that they are horrifying and paint a very dark picture of modern day South Africa.
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I couldn't put this book down and the book must be read up until the very last paragraph before all loose ends are tied up. A great read! -
AndreNeusch
Posted February 27, 2009
Mixed Blood is an exciting, gritty tale
As a born and bred Capetonian growing up in a middle class suburb on the Cape Flats and later living in the "affluent" area described in this novel, I was pleasantly surprised how well Roger managed to capture the ethos of Cape Town in all its guises.
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While successfully translating the colloquialisms unique to the Cape Flats for non-Capetonians to enjoy, Roger still manages to retain and portray the gritty underbelly of the Cape Flats and creates a masterful, believable tale.
This novel portrays an accurate window of Cape Town societe' not normally seen in glossy magazines or tourist publications.
I cannot wait to see what Roger has in store for us in his next novel. -
This exciting South African crime caper will enthrall the audience
In the United States, American security specialist Jack Burn worries about the impact his recent financial failures will have on his family. When he is offered a chance to stay solvent, he reluctantly accepts the terms offered him. He agrees to join a gang planning to rob a bank.
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The plan was perfect; the execution a disaster. Most of the gang and a cop die. Burn escapes with millions, but is wanted by the law and the few robbers who survived the debacle. He, his pregnant wife Susan, and their four years old son Matt relocate to Cape Town, South Africa. Life seems peaceful and good until two meth users invade their home; Jack kills both, but now corrupt Police Inspector Rudi Barnard is scrutinizing the professional use of counter force inside his realm, Cape Flats.
This exciting South African crime caper will grip the audience from the moment Barnard checks on the Americans, which begins the spin out of control somewhat fueled by career felon Benny Mongrel observing his fellow American. Susan will learn she don¿t know Jack as he piles lies on top of lies with her and with Barnard. With the cast divided between the innocent and the felonious, fans will enjoy Roger Smith¿s tense thriller while humming Bonnie Tyler¿s Holding Out for a Hero as increasingly none seem to surface.
Harriet Klausner
