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Nowhere
A dark tale of fate, revenge and violence in a country where wrong is the new right.
When the president of South Africa murders his wife in a fit of drunken rage he charges his most trusted henchman, the bloodthirsty Steve Bungu, with orchestrating a cover-up that pivots on blackmailing Joe Louw, a retired cop of impeccable ethics, to mount a fake investigation that'll clear the crooked head of state.
In a seemingly unconnected case, Investigator Disaster Zondi (Mixed Blood, Dust Devils) who, because of his criticism of the corrupt post-apartheid regime, has been banished to the fringes of law enforcement, is given the thankless task of traveling to the remote Kalahari Desert to arrest Magnus Kruger, a notorious white supremacist who rules over an Afrikaner-only enclave, for the slaying of a young black man.
As Louw and Zondi peel away layers of lies, hatred and festering secrets they reveal the connections that bind them, connections that reach back deep into the nightmare of South Africa's apartheid past.
When the president of South Africa murders his wife in a fit of drunken rage he charges his most trusted henchman, the bloodthirsty Steve Bungu, with orchestrating a cover-up that pivots on blackmailing Joe Louw, a retired cop of impeccable ethics, to mount a fake investigation that'll clear the crooked head of state.
In a seemingly unconnected case, Investigator Disaster Zondi (Mixed Blood, Dust Devils) who, because of his criticism of the corrupt post-apartheid regime, has been banished to the fringes of law enforcement, is given the thankless task of traveling to the remote Kalahari Desert to arrest Magnus Kruger, a notorious white supremacist who rules over an Afrikaner-only enclave, for the slaying of a young black man.
As Louw and Zondi peel away layers of lies, hatred and festering secrets they reveal the connections that bind them, connections that reach back deep into the nightmare of South Africa's apartheid past.
290 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 23, 2016
102 people are currently reading
124 people want to read
About the author
Roger Smith
11 books118 followersRoger Smith's thrillers
Nowhere, Man Down, Sacrifices, Capture, Dust Devils, Wake Up Dead, Mixed Blood & Ishmael Toffee
are published in eight languages and two are in development as movies in the U.S.
His books have won the German Crime Award and been nominated for Spinetingler Magazine Best Novel awards. He also writes horror under the pen name Max Wilde.
“Roger Smith writes with brutal beauty." The Washington Post
“Smith’s writing is astonishing.” Cleveland Plain Dealer
“You’ll struggle to find a more forceful voice in current crime writing.”
Die Zeit (Germany)
“Smith is the shooting star of the crime scene.” Radio Europe
"If you are a fan of George Pelecanos or Dennis Lehane, give Roger Smith a close look." BookPage
His books have won the German Crime Award and been nominated for Spinetingler Magazine Best Novel awards. He also writes horror under the pen name Max Wilde.
“Roger Smith writes with brutal beauty." The Washington Post
“Smith’s writing is astonishing.” Cleveland Plain Dealer
“You’ll struggle to find a more forceful voice in current crime writing.”
Die Zeit (Germany)
“Smith is the shooting star of the crime scene.” Radio Europe
"If you are a fan of George Pelecanos or Dennis Lehane, give Roger Smith a close look." BookPage
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
November 30, 2016
A recurring theme in Roger Smith's work is the residue of Apartheid and how the South African people are still affected by those ghosts of the past. That theme is something that you can't avoid when you write in the unflinching way that Smith does about race and class conflict in modern South Africa. The ghosts of Apartheid are always lurking in the background of all of his books, but in this one, his latest, they are brought front and center.
It follows two separate investigations that ultimately connect and collide: in the first, a cop on the outs travels to Nêrens ("nowhere" in Afrikaans) to arrest a racist, white-power Afrikaaner who's created a white-only outpost in the middle of the Kalahari Desert, and in the second, after the South African President murders his #1 wife with a tribal spear, a decorated, retired cop is blackmailed into conducting a sham-investigation to cover up the murder. These two stories come together in violence and reckoning, in grand Roger Smith fashion.
The characters here are some of his best, including a fascinating and complex "villain" in the fixer Steve Bungu, who is also one of my favorite characters I've read about this year. Former cop Joe Louw is also great, a man tortured by the fact that his unavoidable past has put him in a position where he has to go against his usually unwavering ethics.
The book is also a pleasure to read from a story standpoint as I loved the way Smith meticulously laid all of the groundwork and then revealed layer after layer as the story went on until I realized that there was much more to all of it than I expected, a tale of conspiracy and revenge, of a coming to terms with past legacy in a similar way to Brian Panowich's Bull Mountain from last year.
Smith is such an excellent storyteller that too many readers are missing out on.
It follows two separate investigations that ultimately connect and collide: in the first, a cop on the outs travels to Nêrens ("nowhere" in Afrikaans) to arrest a racist, white-power Afrikaaner who's created a white-only outpost in the middle of the Kalahari Desert, and in the second, after the South African President murders his #1 wife with a tribal spear, a decorated, retired cop is blackmailed into conducting a sham-investigation to cover up the murder. These two stories come together in violence and reckoning, in grand Roger Smith fashion.
The characters here are some of his best, including a fascinating and complex "villain" in the fixer Steve Bungu, who is also one of my favorite characters I've read about this year. Former cop Joe Louw is also great, a man tortured by the fact that his unavoidable past has put him in a position where he has to go against his usually unwavering ethics.
The book is also a pleasure to read from a story standpoint as I loved the way Smith meticulously laid all of the groundwork and then revealed layer after layer as the story went on until I realized that there was much more to all of it than I expected, a tale of conspiracy and revenge, of a coming to terms with past legacy in a similar way to Brian Panowich's Bull Mountain from last year.
Smith is such an excellent storyteller that too many readers are missing out on.
February 17, 2016
This novel fits the mold Roger Smith fans have come to expect in some sense. It's political, nihilistic and strongly character-driven. It's just broader, more ambitious and intricate than anything he's ever done before. Smith usually chronicles one aspect of the decay of South African society, but he decided to tackle the entire thing in NOWHERE and it's as impressive as it is emotionally exhausting. Lots of people throw the word "noir" around like it gives credibility to their work, but Roger Smith is one of the only true noir writers I know and his work won't leave you intact.
Now excuse me as I'm going to go roll up in a ball and cry myself to sleep. Don't get me wrong, I read to challenge myself and my perception of the world and NOWHERE hit the spot.
Now excuse me as I'm going to go roll up in a ball and cry myself to sleep. Don't get me wrong, I read to challenge myself and my perception of the world and NOWHERE hit the spot.
August 11, 2018
You want to read noir? Read this book.
Two separate plots converge: the covered-up investigation of the president's wife murder by the incumbent and the arrestation of a white supremacist in a small town called Nowhere in the bleak landscape of the Kalahari desert.
Plot and character driven Nowhere is set in a bleak post-apartheid South Africa where racism is multi-colored and spoken in different languages, where politics are as corrupt as anywhere else, where the wounds of the violence of decades ago still nurtures today's.
The 2 plots deftly converge without really coming to head, each exploring some of the somber aspects of the country and its inhabitants. Both are violent, dark and nihilistic, not leaving much breathing space for hope of anything.
The main characters (Louw, Zondi, Bungu) are all excellent, torn and tormented for various reasons, dealing with it their own way. Some bloodier than others.
Don't expect the supporting cast (Assegai, Sue, Leon) to be much more sane. They too suffer from the sins of their fathers and some will pay the debt in blood.
Nowhere is an excellent noir thriller, as scorching and unforgiving as the burning sun of the Kalahari.
Two separate plots converge: the covered-up investigation of the president's wife murder by the incumbent and the arrestation of a white supremacist in a small town called Nowhere in the bleak landscape of the Kalahari desert.
Plot and character driven Nowhere is set in a bleak post-apartheid South Africa where racism is multi-colored and spoken in different languages, where politics are as corrupt as anywhere else, where the wounds of the violence of decades ago still nurtures today's.
The 2 plots deftly converge without really coming to head, each exploring some of the somber aspects of the country and its inhabitants. Both are violent, dark and nihilistic, not leaving much breathing space for hope of anything.
The main characters (Louw, Zondi, Bungu) are all excellent, torn and tormented for various reasons, dealing with it their own way. Some bloodier than others.
Don't expect the supporting cast (Assegai, Sue, Leon) to be much more sane. They too suffer from the sins of their fathers and some will pay the debt in blood.
Nowhere is an excellent noir thriller, as scorching and unforgiving as the burning sun of the Kalahari.
February 10, 2016
After last year's grand guignol excess (in terms of both violence and the vileness of the characters) in the mostly US set home invasion thriller Man Down Roger Smith has toned things down and returned to his home ground of South Africa for his brilliant new novel Nowhere.
When South Africa's venal, alcoholic president murders his wife in a rage, Steve Bungu (a brilliant creation) sets about fixing it. He starts by murdering the wife's private bodyguard and then brings in retired detective Joe Louw, via a touch of emotional blackmail, to run a whitewash investigation. Bungu uses Louw's messed-up, psychopathic son, Leon, as a means of keeping him in line. At the same time, Disaster Zondi, previously from Mixed Blood and Dust Devils, is sent to Nerens (in Afrikaan the Nowhere of the title) to arrest and bring to justice Apartheid relic, and white power 'General', Magnus Kruger, for the murder of a young black man.
This sets in motion a complicated tale of revenge and the abuse of power. As Joe Louw realises that Bungu's motives for blackmail go back to his apartheid days as an activist (and the sins of Joe's own father – another evil apartheid relic), Zondi also comes to realise that Kruger might just be innocent of the murder he's in the frame for, but responsible for something equally as dark and unpleasant. And as the two initially separate investigations begin to coalesce in odd ways, blood begins to flow.
In many ways Nowhere is the archetypal Roger Smith book, in that it draws on his familiar themes of messed-up family units (especially Sacrifices and Capture) and the messed-up politics of South Africa (in particular Dust Devils) and pulls them together in a way that he's never quite managed before. It also creates in Steve Bungu the finest villain of Smith's career (which is quite a feat, because I personally feel that Smith writes the best villains around). He is an awful, Machiavellian character, and utterly ruthless, but he also has his reasons. He wasn't born that way, but moulded by the horrific sins of apartheid. The reader understands the reasons for what he does, even though they will undoubtedly despise his methods. Smith also creates in Joe Louw and Disaster Zondi two sympathetic characters. Some of the terrible decisions that Louw makes following his blackmail (one of which leads to a massacre) come from promises he made to his dying wife. He does bad things, but he's not a bad man. Zondi is a shell of the person he was in Dust Devils, but somewhere along the line he develops a newfound taste for his job and an increased sense of worth. Even a villain like Magnus Kruger is given some depth and shade for his crimes and venality.
Nowhere is brilliantly written with a narrative propulsion that kept me reading into the night. Smith also tones back the violence and sadism that, I felt, marred the excellent set-up of Man Down, and uses it as a part of the plot and as a means to explore character. Yes, it is brutal, but not excessively so and entirely in keeping with the storyline. The characters are also among the best that Smith has created. I can't recommend Nowhere it highly enough. If there's any justice in the literary world then it should bucketloads of both Kindle and paperback copies. This one should be Smith's real breakout success.
When South Africa's venal, alcoholic president murders his wife in a rage, Steve Bungu (a brilliant creation) sets about fixing it. He starts by murdering the wife's private bodyguard and then brings in retired detective Joe Louw, via a touch of emotional blackmail, to run a whitewash investigation. Bungu uses Louw's messed-up, psychopathic son, Leon, as a means of keeping him in line. At the same time, Disaster Zondi, previously from Mixed Blood and Dust Devils, is sent to Nerens (in Afrikaan the Nowhere of the title) to arrest and bring to justice Apartheid relic, and white power 'General', Magnus Kruger, for the murder of a young black man.
This sets in motion a complicated tale of revenge and the abuse of power. As Joe Louw realises that Bungu's motives for blackmail go back to his apartheid days as an activist (and the sins of Joe's own father – another evil apartheid relic), Zondi also comes to realise that Kruger might just be innocent of the murder he's in the frame for, but responsible for something equally as dark and unpleasant. And as the two initially separate investigations begin to coalesce in odd ways, blood begins to flow.
In many ways Nowhere is the archetypal Roger Smith book, in that it draws on his familiar themes of messed-up family units (especially Sacrifices and Capture) and the messed-up politics of South Africa (in particular Dust Devils) and pulls them together in a way that he's never quite managed before. It also creates in Steve Bungu the finest villain of Smith's career (which is quite a feat, because I personally feel that Smith writes the best villains around). He is an awful, Machiavellian character, and utterly ruthless, but he also has his reasons. He wasn't born that way, but moulded by the horrific sins of apartheid. The reader understands the reasons for what he does, even though they will undoubtedly despise his methods. Smith also creates in Joe Louw and Disaster Zondi two sympathetic characters. Some of the terrible decisions that Louw makes following his blackmail (one of which leads to a massacre) come from promises he made to his dying wife. He does bad things, but he's not a bad man. Zondi is a shell of the person he was in Dust Devils, but somewhere along the line he develops a newfound taste for his job and an increased sense of worth. Even a villain like Magnus Kruger is given some depth and shade for his crimes and venality.
Nowhere is brilliantly written with a narrative propulsion that kept me reading into the night. Smith also tones back the violence and sadism that, I felt, marred the excellent set-up of Man Down, and uses it as a part of the plot and as a means to explore character. Yes, it is brutal, but not excessively so and entirely in keeping with the storyline. The characters are also among the best that Smith has created. I can't recommend Nowhere it highly enough. If there's any justice in the literary world then it should bucketloads of both Kindle and paperback copies. This one should be Smith's real breakout success.
December 7, 2018
Freedom?
Is this what South Africa has come to? Is this what the fighting and the boycotting and the struggle was all about? Roger Smith tells a lot about modern day South Africa while matter-of-factly telling a story.
Is this what South Africa has come to? Is this what the fighting and the boycotting and the struggle was all about? Roger Smith tells a lot about modern day South Africa while matter-of-factly telling a story.
March 4, 2016
Very good book from Roger Smith again. When the president of South Africa drunkenly murders his wife, a colossal coverup begins. In a separate case, Investigator Disaster Zondi.....a character from past books....is sent to arrest a white supremacist for the murder of a black man. With each turning page, the reader sees the two cases on a collision course. As always, Smith has created wonderfully deep characters and set them in his brutal South African atmosphere of political corruption, harsh landscapes and the aftermath of Apartheid.
December 31, 2020
Detectives, killers, good guys, bad guys, parents, children --- they're all mixed up in this thriller. Nobody is all hero. Many are an equal mix of hero and villain. And some are just plain villains through and through. I guess I always realized that when a country is turned topsy-turvy politically and socially, like South Africa was, things are going to get a little hairy for a while. And according to this book, so they did. All for a good cause in the end, but it must have been hell to get there!
"Nowhere" provides plenty of action and I enjoyed it. But I was left with a tremendous feeling of sadness at the end. If you're looking for cozy mysteries with no cursing and no violence, please don't read this book. If you enjoy thrillers about real-life criminals and those seeking justice, then please DO read this book!
"Nowhere" provides plenty of action and I enjoyed it. But I was left with a tremendous feeling of sadness at the end. If you're looking for cozy mysteries with no cursing and no violence, please don't read this book. If you enjoy thrillers about real-life criminals and those seeking justice, then please DO read this book!
October 28, 2017
Hmmmm
Tho I did read this with anticipation of every new chapter, it was slightly
harder to follow his writing style of past and present back and forth and I found myself going back to skim the last chapter so I could keep up. There were more likeable characters in this book, although everyone seems to have funky breath and b.o.. this seems to be the case in most of his books, everybody has some kind of nasty odor whether they be good or bad characters. I have used "earthy" to describe his writing style before and he does live up to that! This is a good suspense writer and i will definitely keep reading his books! 3 stars because this one his writing seemed to jerk me into too many different directions and I'm a little pissed about the way Kruger daughter ended up!
Tho I did read this with anticipation of every new chapter, it was slightly
harder to follow his writing style of past and present back and forth and I found myself going back to skim the last chapter so I could keep up. There were more likeable characters in this book, although everyone seems to have funky breath and b.o.. this seems to be the case in most of his books, everybody has some kind of nasty odor whether they be good or bad characters. I have used "earthy" to describe his writing style before and he does live up to that! This is a good suspense writer and i will definitely keep reading his books! 3 stars because this one his writing seemed to jerk me into too many different directions and I'm a little pissed about the way Kruger daughter ended up!
September 9, 2018
Roger Smith is a wonderful writer! I love his writing and this novel didn't disappoint. The characters, the storyline and how they merge are riveting.
I love stoylines that are unpredictable and engrossing and that is Roger Smith.
This story is about the coverup of a murder by a South African
President, a widowed, blackmailed father with an addict for a son who wants nothing to do with him, a widowed husband seeking revenge and fulfillment, a daughter who hates her gangsta father and an inspector who walks into danger without weapons, against his boss's orders seeking to make things right.
I love stoylines that are unpredictable and engrossing and that is Roger Smith.
This story is about the coverup of a murder by a South African
President, a widowed, blackmailed father with an addict for a son who wants nothing to do with him, a widowed husband seeking revenge and fulfillment, a daughter who hates her gangsta father and an inspector who walks into danger without weapons, against his boss's orders seeking to make things right.
May 9, 2018
I loved this book. I struggled with the places and names of the cities and people, not having been to that part of the world, but the tale was wonderful, very well written, tremendously interesting, with excellent character organization. I like how Roger Smith uses language and plan to read more of his work.
December 23, 2019
I am a Chinese reader. I have only read Mixed Blood. It is so good. I want to read all the books of Roger Smith, but there is no Chinese version except for Mixed Blood. It is a shame! I asked several Chinese publishing houses if they could introduce translations and wait for a reply! !! !!
May 10, 2018
Hard to review. Not a masterpiece book, no, but a page turner. The South African setting made it for me. But very gritty and not a lot of heroes. Like life can be sometimes.
June 6, 2018
Very good boo!k
A very dark but enthralling story. Amazing characters. Not your typical picture of good vs. evil. I highly recommend this if you like something out of the ordinary.
A very dark but enthralling story. Amazing characters. Not your typical picture of good vs. evil. I highly recommend this if you like something out of the ordinary.
June 15, 2021
Nerens...what a colorful,thrilling,and insightful array of imagery and storytelling by the writer about each characters storyline coexisting at certain inserts.
February 1, 2022
I liked "Nowhere" by Roger Smith. It was bleak and depressing, and reminded me of Coetzee's "Disgrace" in terms of a desolate land on which all sorts of guilt and trauma are played out. But I have to say that I was disappointed with the quality of the manuscript. I stopped counting after the first dozen or so of typographical and grammatical errors - words left out or duplicated, [examples: - "in time for his trail" instead of "trial", "was was mounted on the boom", "Zondi raised his palms the ceiling", "and held them out Zondi", "But it then it turned up", "had brought here her", "her in hair in red rollers", "that's a blunt way of putting at it".... I could go on.
There's a lot of nonsense written about traditional publishers versus self-publishing. Here's an example of a long-standing traditionally published author whose experience with editors and agents and the whole machinery of traditional publishing doesn't seem to have helped him a great deal in preparing this particular manuscript for publishing. I've read many self-published authors whose texts are entirely without blemish. Readers deserve that kind of treatment. I might have given four or five stars if it weren't for this.
There's a lot of nonsense written about traditional publishers versus self-publishing. Here's an example of a long-standing traditionally published author whose experience with editors and agents and the whole machinery of traditional publishing doesn't seem to have helped him a great deal in preparing this particular manuscript for publishing. I've read many self-published authors whose texts are entirely without blemish. Readers deserve that kind of treatment. I might have given four or five stars if it weren't for this.
January 31, 2016
Here's another unflinching, unsparing portrait of South Africa and its people. What makes Roger Smith's work so masterly is its depth and nuance. Nothing is simple black and white. Even one of the bad guys -- Steve Bungu is an amazing creation -- has surprising depths that engage sympathy. The atmosphere, especially of the slums and the desert, is incredibly vivid. You really feel like you're in the midst of the scene. The range of South Africa's cultures and peoples is also on display, including the Boers, the Bushmen (Assegaai is another really remarkable character), and more.
I've always really liked and respected Roger Smith's work, but "Nowhere" is my new favorite. The cover blurb calls Smith "the crime genre's greatest tragedian" -- but that's too limiting. It's just great tragedy, full stop.
I've always really liked and respected Roger Smith's work, but "Nowhere" is my new favorite. The cover blurb calls Smith "the crime genre's greatest tragedian" -- but that's too limiting. It's just great tragedy, full stop.
June 26, 2016
Smith is Great
Just finish the latest Roger Smith( the best, most unheralded crime writer in the world) and as usual it is a doozy! Fast paced, dark, very dark, and violent , Nowhere deals
with the politics of South Africa and the ramifications of Apartheid more than any of Smith's other novels. You will learn a lot about a
country you probably know little about and read a helluva book at the same time. This is realistic fiction and the violence is graphic but truthfully rendered. Just a heads up. Read it.
Just finish the latest Roger Smith( the best, most unheralded crime writer in the world) and as usual it is a doozy! Fast paced, dark, very dark, and violent , Nowhere deals
with the politics of South Africa and the ramifications of Apartheid more than any of Smith's other novels. You will learn a lot about a
country you probably know little about and read a helluva book at the same time. This is realistic fiction and the violence is graphic but truthfully rendered. Just a heads up. Read it.
April 24, 2016
Very edgy thriller set in Cape Town and a small Kalahari town. Some of the main characters are based on South African politicians. If you enjoy the Scandinavian thrillers, esp. Stieg Larsson then try Roger Smith's books. Fast paced and unflinching.
June 2, 2016
Roger Smith impresses once again.
November 14, 2017
L’auteur nous emmène au milieu de nulle part : comprenez au fin fond de l’Afrique du Sud, en pleine brousse désertique, où le racisme a encore force de loi.
Des personnages hors-norme, jamais caricaturaux, mais emblématiques de la société du pays : le petit blanc réac qui s’est créé une communauté entièrement dévouée ; le bushmen qui a grimpé l’échelle sociale pour devenir policier ; l’ancienne dissidente devenue une politique influente ; la jeune fille en rébellion contre son papa ; et bien sûr les petits secrets de chacun.
Tout concourt à rendre ce roman passionnant, même si on met un certains temps à découvrir ce qui relie les personnages les uns aux autres.
Un instantané sur la société Sud-Africaine post-Apartheid. Une écriture fluide qui donne envie de ne jamais lâcher le texte. Un très bon moment de lecture. La découverte, pour moi, d’un auteur captivant.
L’image que je retiendrai :
Celle du 4X4 d’un des personnage rempli de junk-food, palliatif à son mal-être.
Des personnages hors-norme, jamais caricaturaux, mais emblématiques de la société du pays : le petit blanc réac qui s’est créé une communauté entièrement dévouée ; le bushmen qui a grimpé l’échelle sociale pour devenir policier ; l’ancienne dissidente devenue une politique influente ; la jeune fille en rébellion contre son papa ; et bien sûr les petits secrets de chacun.
Tout concourt à rendre ce roman passionnant, même si on met un certains temps à découvrir ce qui relie les personnages les uns aux autres.
Un instantané sur la société Sud-Africaine post-Apartheid. Une écriture fluide qui donne envie de ne jamais lâcher le texte. Un très bon moment de lecture. La découverte, pour moi, d’un auteur captivant.
L’image que je retiendrai :
Celle du 4X4 d’un des personnage rempli de junk-food, palliatif à son mal-être.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews