MIXED BLOOD

An American attempting to outrun his past runs afoul of Cape Town locals on both sides of the law in this debut thriller.

After Jack Burn participates in a bank robbery that leaves a cop dead, he and his pregnant wife decide to start a new life with their four-year-old son in this bustling city on Africa’s southern tip. Things are going well until two small-time gangbangers, high on crystal meth, decide to break into Burn’s house, terrorize his family and take what they want from his home. Of course the gangsters don’t know about Burn’s criminal past or his military training. Before things have a chance to get really ugly, both gangsters wind up dead on the floor, victims of Burn’s skills with a kitchen knife. Being a wanted fugitive, he can’t go to the police, so he’s forced to dispose of the bodies himself. This sets off a complicated chain of events that thrusts Burn into the midst of Cape Town’s dark, confusing underworld. He finds himself caught amidst three opposing forces: Rudi “Gatsby” Barnard, an obese, foul-smelling crooked cop; Benny Mongrel, a gangbanger turned security guard who witnessed the break-in from his post at a building site across the street; and Disaster Zondi, a reformer from the capital who is trying to clean up the local police department. Smith does an outstanding job of bringing Cape Town to life, taking us through the twists and turns of the local criminal world and the confusing labyrinth of racial identity in post-apartheid South Africa. His prose is crisp and efficient, but unfortunately, beneath this book’s fascinating and vividly conjured location lies a pretty standard story peopled with pretty standard players.

Genre fans will find nothing objectionable, but others may long for something new, or at least for characters with a little more depth.