Description
An amphetamine-fueled thriller about a bombshell American widow on the run in Cape Town’s violent badlands—from a writer being compared to George Pelecanos and Richard Price
A split-second decision with no second chance: get it wrong and you wake up dead.
On a blowtorch-hot night in Cape Town, American ex-model Roxy Palmer and her gunrunner husband, Joe, are carjacked, leaving Joe lying in a pool of blood. As the carjackers make their getaway, Roxy makes a fateful choice that changes her life forever.
Disco and Godwynn, the ghetto gangbangers who sped away in Joe’s convertible, will stop at nothing to track her down. Billy Afrika, a mixed-race ex-cop turned mercenary, won’t let her out of his sight because Joe owed him a chunk of money. And remorselessly hunting them all is Piper, a love-crazed psychopath determined to renew his vows with his jailhouse “wife,” Disco.
As these desperate lives collide and old debts are settled in blood, Roxy is caught in a wave of escalating violence in the beautiful and brutal African seaport. With savage plotting and breakneck suspense that ends in a shattering cataclysm of violence, Wake Up Dead confirms Roger Smith as one of the world’s best new thriller writers.
"[A] stellar thriller. Bad choices, not bad luck, drive human depravity in this brutal fable. One fundamental irony unforgettably lingers: that these characters, trapped in poverty, ignorance, and prejudice, have really had no choice at all." – Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"From the terrific first sentence, the reader is firmly hooked in this dark South African thriller of murder, drugs, corruption, and revenge . . . with bizarre characters Elmore Leonard might appreciate and an intricate plot of tangled relationships across racial divides. Highly recommended for those wanting their noir as hard-boiled as it gets" Roland Person – Library Journal (starred review)
"An intricate Robert Altman–like narrative that, when the pieces finally connect, forms a terrifying portrait of the Cape Flats. [A] searing vision of characters trapped in a fetid purgatory." Kirkus Reviews
"What sets this [book] apart is its setting – sunbaked, blood-soaked Cape Town – and its relentless intensity. Racial tension, gang warfare, prison life, and witchcraft – with a nod to cannibalism – will make this thriller a prime destination for readers who like to detour from crime-fiction’s beaten path." Keir Graff – Booklist
"Violent, uncompromising, unflinching, Wake Up Dead grabs you by the throat and will haunt you long after you've finished its last blood-soaked pages." Dave Zeltserman, author of Small Crimes & Pariah
"Wake Up Dead is proof that Noir is alive and flourishing. With his second novel, Roger Smith reaches another level of unrelenting Noir, with all the elements of the genre given homage yet wonderfully mutated. Dark and brutal, the novel has a focused poetic style that stays with you long after you finish reading." Ken Bruen, author of The Guards & Once Were Cops
A split-second decision with no second chance: get it wrong and you wake up dead.
On a blowtorch-hot night in Cape Town, American ex-model Roxy Palmer and her gunrunner husband, Joe, are carjacked, leaving Joe lying in a pool of blood. As the carjackers make their getaway, Roxy makes a fateful choice that changes her life forever.
Disco and Godwynn, the ghetto gangbangers who sped away in Joe’s convertible, will stop at nothing to track her down. Billy Afrika, a mixed-race ex-cop turned mercenary, won’t let her out of his sight because Joe owed him a chunk of money. And remorselessly hunting them all is Piper, a love-crazed psychopath determined to renew his vows with his jailhouse “wife,” Disco.
As these desperate lives collide and old debts are settled in blood, Roxy is caught in a wave of escalating violence in the beautiful and brutal African seaport. With savage plotting and breakneck suspense that ends in a shattering cataclysm of violence, Wake Up Dead confirms Roger Smith as one of the world’s best new thriller writers.
"[A] stellar thriller. Bad choices, not bad luck, drive human depravity in this brutal fable. One fundamental irony unforgettably lingers: that these characters, trapped in poverty, ignorance, and prejudice, have really had no choice at all." – Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"From the terrific first sentence, the reader is firmly hooked in this dark South African thriller of murder, drugs, corruption, and revenge . . . with bizarre characters Elmore Leonard might appreciate and an intricate plot of tangled relationships across racial divides. Highly recommended for those wanting their noir as hard-boiled as it gets" Roland Person – Library Journal (starred review)
"An intricate Robert Altman–like narrative that, when the pieces finally connect, forms a terrifying portrait of the Cape Flats. [A] searing vision of characters trapped in a fetid purgatory." Kirkus Reviews
"What sets this [book] apart is its setting – sunbaked, blood-soaked Cape Town – and its relentless intensity. Racial tension, gang warfare, prison life, and witchcraft – with a nod to cannibalism – will make this thriller a prime destination for readers who like to detour from crime-fiction’s beaten path." Keir Graff – Booklist
"Violent, uncompromising, unflinching, Wake Up Dead grabs you by the throat and will haunt you long after you've finished its last blood-soaked pages." Dave Zeltserman, author of Small Crimes & Pariah
"Wake Up Dead is proof that Noir is alive and flourishing. With his second novel, Roger Smith reaches another level of unrelenting Noir, with all the elements of the genre given homage yet wonderfully mutated. Dark and brutal, the novel has a focused poetic style that stays with you long after you finish reading." Ken Bruen, author of The Guards & Once Were Cops
Book Details
Format
Kindle
Pages
304 pages
Language
English
Published
Apr 1, 2010
Publisher
Henry Holt and Co.
Editions
2 editions