An extract from Held Up, by Christopher Radmann
A searingly powerful, heart-wrenching novel set in South Africa about a father whose daughter is abducted and his attempts to recover her in the face of police indifference and a society where violence is increasingly a way of life.
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How far do you go to rescue your child?
Paul van Niekirk, a successful white South African is held up at gun-point when driving his new BMW. He’s dragged out and his abductor drives off in his car. It’s an everyday car jacking. Except his nine-month old daughter is in the back seat. As a pacifist, Paul is reluctant to carry a gun, but he descends into the heart of darkness of his country determined to find his child. He uncovers a criminal gang involved in people trafficking and discovers in himself a capacity for violence. When the trail goes cold, he is on the verge of losing everything but finds redemption in the most unlikely circumstances. Moving from the enclaves of Johannesburg’s northern suburbs to the throbbing heart of Soweto’s informal settlements, Paul is forced to confront the changing political and social landscape of the new South Africa, questioning his own values as his perfect life crumbles around him.
July 28th, 2012 at 1:34 pm
This book will do for South African tourism, what midnight express did for Turkey. It is blunt and to the point about the great divide in that country, and teaches quite a bit about life in South Africa; that obviously the author has experienced to some degree.
As a book it is quite frustraiting to read. It’s not sure if it is a revenge thriller, or an arty descriptive record of human emotions. It doesn’t help itself by being written in the 2nd person, as you dont really feel for the characters.
At times it flows along nicely, but then drops back into ‘over the top’ descriptive writing. It is almost as if there are two authors. Aside from that, I did enjoy reading it as it is very honest, but feel it could have been made into two different books.
Try it yourself… if only for the undercurrents of South African life; and the divisions, hopes and fears still there