Blood Safari

By: Deon Meyer, K. L. Seegers - translator

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Lemmer is a professional bodyguard. Silent, invisible, he never gets involved. Emma le Roux is convinced she's seen her brother on the news as a suspect in the recent killing of four poachers. But her brother is supposed to have died 20 years ago.

When le Roux hires Lemmer to watch her back while she goes looking for answers, it becomes clear someone wants to keep them in the dark. And when that someone tries to murder them both, for once in his life Lemmer steps out of the shadows.

©2007 Deon Meyer; Translation: K.L. Seegers (P)2010 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

"Top-notch." ( Kirkus Reviews)

“A big, sexy novel . . . two compelling characters, Lemmer and Emma le Roux—but there’s another character, and that’s contemporary South Africa itself. You’ve got race, reconciliation, resentment, environment, tourism—they’re all propelling this novel along.” ( The World, NPR)

“Meyer’s stellar stand-alone thriller delivers muscular prose with a hero to match.” ( Publishers Weekly)

We've gotten hooked on books by Deon Meyer

What made the experience of listening to Blood Safari the most enjoyable?

Meyer writes an interesting story, but we came out of it believing that we had some understanding of life in South Africa. The "mystery" is intriguing, but the characters more so.

Needs a South African narrator

Deon Meyer’s books are well known and loved by South African readers. It’s hard to believe that they could not find a single South African actor to narrate his books. The inaccurate and mangled accent, with bad inflections and just plain wrong pronunciations of common South African words makes for a horrible distraction. Spoils the book for a South African listener.

Excellent storyline

I enjoyed the narration by Simon Vance very much! Sometimes the accent for South African can be difficult to attune to but the storyline was was easily followed with this narration.

Another great book from Meyer

I listened to this one because I liked Thirteen Hours so much. It didn't disappoint--I love this author and this narrator!

Excellent story. Bring Saul Reichlin back.

Deon Meyer writes a great story. Having grown up in central Africa in the 70s and 80s with South Africa closed off as a mysterious, inaccessible, veiled land to the south, these stories paint revealing and enchanting pictures of the people, place and transition to the new reality of today's South Africa. He shows with effortless grace how the complexity of the country's history looms imposingly in each character's journey through life. The people he describes are full, rich, flawed, sympathetic and compelling. The context of class and race from Afrikaner, Zulu, Xhosa, English in which the characters operate is complex and satisfyingly surprising. Meyer perfectly captures the immense presence of the sky, landscape and nature that one feels when in Africa. All of this rich layering of character, language and history bring the story to life to the point where you can almost feel, smell and taste the air, heat and dust. And the thrill of the chase makes for long nights when it is nearly impossible to switch off the iPod.

Simon Vance is an excellent reader and I enjoy listening to him immensely particularly when the characters speak in variations of British accents. Vance is not the right narrator for a story that requires a native South African's facility with regional and tribal accents. Listen to Saul Reichlin read "Dead Before Dying". There is a difference in the way a poor white from the Cape flats speaks compared with a farmer from deep in Kwazulu. The accents and regionalisms are as important in telling these stories as the narrative and Vance doesn't come close to Reichlin's rich and textured delivery.

Great Book - Aweful Reader

What didn’t you like about Simon Vance’s performance?

Why is it not possible to have a South African narrate these books so that the Afrikaans names, terms and phrases are not so horrendously butchered?
Even for someone fluent in Afrikaans it is almost impossible to figure out what this guy is saying - I have to listen a few times & use context to figure it out & sometimes still can't.
Since these particular books are only available in English & there is no Afrikaans version, PLEASE try & get someone who can handle the Afrikaans references in a way that at least makes them understandable.

Good story wrong narrator

Story was fascinating. I always love Deon Meyer's stories they grip you from beginning to end. However I struggled to get use to the narraror's accent which is british but the characters are afrikaans. As a South African it really iritated me. I want to listen to Heart of the Hunter as well, but don't know if I can stomach the british in a South African novel again.

Another excellent Deon Meyer Book

I enjoy the puzzle pieces created by Meyer in his novels. They are never clear and always intriguing. The action packed books aw evenly divided between well thought strategy and physical execution. Worth reading.

You've done it again Deon!

Again, I was facinated by the story, the characters and the writer's attention to detail.

Wrong narrator for Meyer's work

What disappointed you about Blood Safari?

The narration.

Has Blood Safari turned you off from other books in this genre?

No

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I want to be clear: Simon Vance is an excellent narrator, but for a South African listening to a South African story with South African characters, I could not get passed the first few chapters. These books need to be narrated by a South African, or the brilliant Saul Reichlin who is an absolute master in the South African accent department.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

N/A

Any additional comments?

Bring back Saul or get a South African narrator for Deon Meyer's books. His stories are great, but an appropriate narrator (even a very good one like Vance) takes the joy away from the book.