A provocative thriller of the new South Africa, Deon Meyer"s Dead at Daybreak is set in a society where there are a new set of rules and people are still discovering the hidden depths of the old set. Ex-policeman Zed van Heerden is caught up in the betrayals of his own past, betrayals with which he has still to come to terms, when he is called in to look for a will, missing after the execution-style murder of a suburban antique dealer. Who tortured and killed Smit and who was he in the first place? Not the man whose papers he carries, that much is certain. Van Heerden can never be certain of the loyalties of the people with whom he is dealing--his own past reputation makes certain of that--and he soon finds himself uncovering secrets that the security services of more than one nation would like left well alone. Deon Meyer provides us with a gripping mystery solved by dogged legwork and occasional flashes of insight, and with a telling psychological portrait of a man and a nation haunted by a past that combines brilliance with much to be ashamed of. --Roz Kaveney