Smokescreen

• Book: Smokescreen
• Location: Johannesburg, Kruger National Park
• Author: Dick Francis

Dick Francis writing at the peak of his powers, so you know it should be exciting, and it is. I thought it started a little slower than usual, but it soon cracks along at a fantastic rate with a breathless finish. Several of the main characters are from the film world, so are a little quirkier than usual, which adds to the enjoyment. The book is set in the apartheid years but he neither ignores nor labours that angle, doing word pictures of the rich, the media, a trip down a gold mine and a visit to Kruger National Park while the tension mounts. And mounts.

It is also, for a nostalgic South African in exile, brilliantly and completely evocative. I lived in JHB, went down a gold mine, visited a game park, and he captured those experiences vividly.

My all-time favourite Dick Francis is The Edge but this runs it a close second.

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