The Twelfth Delegate
by Gustav Preller
(Pegasus Publishers, R185 )
Gustav Preller’s first novel, Icarus Over Hong Kong, placed him among South Africa’s top crime writers. He has exceeded all expectations with his second delivery The Twelfth Delegate.
Joburg banker Pierre Joubert’s life as he knows it is about to come a screeching halt. In a few seconds his wife and daughter are gunned down in a hijacking. With no IDs identification was a problem, leaving Joubert, who is also the father of a university-student son, to search for the two women in his life. But it is also the start of a journey of self-discovery, mending relationships, leaving South Africa to settle in a safer environment and finding new love. This is, however, not without complication.
In a Parisian slum is Hassan, an Islamic immigrant angry at the situation he and his family find themselves in. Joubert, in Provence, befriends several people. Free thinker Dr Uli Maier is intent on preserving Europe from the growing threat of Islam. Shada is the young Algerian Islamic immigrant with whom he becomes infatuated.
While the story sounds predictable, it is anything but. Preller has masterly woven a story of hatred, deceit, love, discovery, sadness and elation moving across two continents and three countries in The Twelfth Delegate.
His second novel has placed this South African author more firmly among the ranks of the world’s best crime writers.
This is a novel sincerely recommended to readers of crime fiction that we are able to identify with. I look forward with glee to Preller’s next offering.