Canary

by Onke Mazibuko

Maks Ntaka has a target on his back. After years of loyal work for Arms-Tech Industries, Maks has found proof of serious corruption in his department. Tender fraud, illegal kickbacks, inflated contracts, the same old story. Maks wants to do something about it, turn whistleblower. What else can a good man do? But who can he tell if he can’t trust anyone? The people in charge seem complicit, while the rest turn a blind eye. Soon suspicions cloud the office, and all the knives are out for whoever turns on them first. As Maks prepares his disclosures, he discovers that his longtime mentor has implicated him in the illegalities. Not only is he being set up by his company, but some foreign nationals with deep pockets are also on his trail looking for their cut. For Maks, the walls are closing in, and danger waits at every turn. Meanwhile, his own private indiscretions are coming to light, and soon his life starts collapsing around him. In this compelling and harrowing account of a whistleblower, Onke Mazibuko creates a nail-biting, paranoid thriller about a good man pushed to the limit. Drawing from all too real instances of corruption and collapse, this book shows what such a system does to those who still listen to their conscience. What is a good man to do when your own company made the bullet with your name on it?

269 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 1, 2025

Reviews

[Lesego Chiloane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was bookclub read for the month of June 2025. Reading Canary by Onke Mazibuko was hard on the first pages, but after page 40 I found myself cruising nicely. I love how the word count was considered, layout inside and punchy sentences making it easier for the reader.

The book focuses on the life of Maks Ntaka who had a target on his back. Maks was a Xhosa man who worked at Arms-Tech for many years, building his career in the procurement industry. He was a loyal employee to his company. However, things got sour when he did not get promoted to a procurement executive position. During the disappointment and loss, Maks found a proof of serious corruption in his department. In his investigation, he found tender fraud, illegal kickbacks, inflated contracts. He then became obsessed in doing the right thing about the findings, as he was keen to become a whistleblower. Only to be suspected, demoted and challenges spiraled. His disclosures to the CEO was not worth it. They made his life hard, his reputation at work took a knock and retaliation made it worse to even survive at work. Maks had a complicated family life, most of his family members lived in the Eastern Cape, while, him and Ndileka —his sister lives in Joburg. Maks had a difficult relationship with his father which made it hard for him to go home even when his situation was life-threatening by being set up at work and also some foreign nationals wanted him to fulfil favours he was not aware of.

In this story, the reader goes through suspense of what's next. We go through Maks' anxiety, paranoia, and family problems that makes it hard for him to have peace. The story is fiction but feels so real and relatable. The message about whistleblowers in this book shows that sometimes in corrupt systems there is no point in being a hero. Maks had secrets in his life he did not want to be exposed. I enjoyed this book even though I was left with unanswered questions.

[Karen Watkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set against the backdrop of Johannesburg’s potholes, load-shedding schedules and the constant ping of anxious WhatsApp group messages, Canary is a sharp, unsettling thriller that feels uncomfortably close to home. Mazibuko, whose novel formed part of his PhD in Creative Writing, draws on corruption and collapsing systems to create a story that is fictional and yet entirely believable.
At the centre is Maks Ntaka, a loyal Arms-Tech Industries employee whose world unravels the moment he uncovers proof of tender fraud, inflated contracts and illegal kickbacks in his department. Already nursing the disappointment of a missed promotion and tangled in a long-standing affair, Maks becomes obsessed with doing the right thing. But in a culture where everyone is complicit or looking the other way, being a whistleblower is a dangerous act of faith.
Mazibuko builds a tense atmosphere as suspicions thicken in the office and “all the knives are out for whoever turns first.” With danger closing in from every side, even his complicated family relationships, particularly with his dad give him no safe place to land.
Mazibuko’s characters and the way he describes them is memorable. The psychologist/sangoma hybrid who insists, “We must learn to live in chaos; only then can you make sense.” It’s a line that threads through the story and through Maks himself, chirp chirp from the canary in the coalmine whose heart thumps boom boom as the net tightens. The cover continues through the theme, yellow mustang called Masha and Maks wearing a yellow tie.
Mazibuko delivers a powerful reminder of the personal cost of conscience and what happens when your own company makes the bullet with your name on it.
Hard-hitting, fast-paced, this paranoid thriller is full of twists. Canary is a gripping read for anyone who enjoys crime fiction rooted in South African reality.
Thanks to Penguin Random House SA for the review copy.

[Leah_bookstuff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very intriguing but lacks intensity.