Gun Dealing

The Ryder Quartet #2

by Ian Patrick

This sequel to the action-packed ‘Devil Dealing’ depicts the ongoing search by detectives Jeremy Ryder and Navi Pillay for the evil gangster Skhura Thabethe, dealer in stolen weapons, drugs and murder. The secondary plot shows the detectives uncovering a link between stolen weapons and the local trade in drugs. The two main plots unfold in strictly-organised chronological sequence over ten days until a climactic ending when the two narrative-lines coalesce in a spectacular confrontation between the detectives and the two main villains.

Against a background of delicate emotional exchanges between victims of crime and the police, 'Gun Dealing', like its predecessor, explores the moral and ethical choices made by the detectives in their day-to-day confrontation with rampant and brutal crime in contemporary South Africa.

312 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 4, 2015

About the author

After working as an actor, director and teacher in theatre, film and television, followed by a long academic career, Ian is now a full-time writer. His years as an actor, director and scholar play a modest part in his writing, he says. 'My fiction is based to the best of my ability on research and field work. I have to believe every word my fictive characters say, every action they undertake,' he says. Which explains why he has accompanied detectives to the front line, interviewed forensics investigators, taken courses on forensics, crime scene management, and DNA analysis, and spent many hours scouring actual locations for his crime scenes: many of them based on actual events.

'I endeavour to make my fiction plausible and authentic. It takes me up to a year to write an eighty thousand word crime thriller. In my view, although it is clearly desirable to arrive at one's destination by bringing a work to publication, it is the journey that is the really exciting and enjoyable part of writing. I can only hope that readers will also enjoy the journey of discovering my characters and their foibles, their actions and their experiences. I hope, too, that they will inform me about and forgive me for any lapses in my work or any errors of detail.'

Reviews

[Roxanne Grenville · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant. I rated his first book Devil Dealing at only four stars but I wondered if that was fair, seeing I had liked it very much. I thought, on reflection, that maybe I had just been churlish. Anyway, this sequel is even better, so now I feel OK about it. I read Alan Paton's Cry the Beloved Country years ago, and as I started reading this book I thought 'Wait a minute...' but then I realised exactly what this author was doing. He's deliberately subverting Paton's idyllic description, in his opening lines, of a paradise land. But at the same time he's paying homage to Paton. So clever. So he describes a country that is anything but a paradise. There's something lurking in the hills. There's violence. There's potential danger. And there's not much lyrical singing in the hills this time. And then...Wow! He hits you between the eyes with the most brutal crime. But I'm not going to give any plot spoilers. I just love this. It's a page turner and a five-star thriller.

[Joy Wags · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was reminded to read Gun Dealing when I saw it listed as "Book of the Day" on the front page of the "Readers in the Know" website. I really enjoyed it. Better than Devil Dealing, I think, because the writer seems to have now got into his stride, and the political background is a little more subtly woven into the story. I loved the ironic homage he pays to 'Cry, the Beloved Country' in the opening lines. Very sad, actually, when you then see what happens immediately after this. There are some lovely characters. The old grandmother is fabulous. In fact the TWO old grandmothers are both fabulous. The gender sensitivity in the book is altogether great. I feel entirely comfortable with this author. The problem I had with the first book - as much as I loved it as a thriller - has disappeared here. It's well-knit and beautifully observed. The language is great, too. The glossary at the end is helpful. Especially for foreign readers. Pity it can't be embedded in a way that allows us to get an instant translation without having to click to the glossary and click back again to the text. But it's great having all the local lingo words. Adds colour and life. And I know people who speak just like that. Must get the third book in the series, now...

[Tertius Delport · Rating 5 out of 5]

A friend in the SA police recommended this to me. Told me it was so true to life and so brilliant. She was right. Amazing. I didn't read the first book, because in dipping into each of the three of them I saw that in this case the author had experienced murder in the family. So, identifying with that (what South African can't?) I decided to read it. Mind-blowing. Although the book is not about that specific experience - he only mentions it in the dedication - it is clear that this writer knows what he's talking about. But its not all doom and gloom. There are some really brilliant moments - including sad passages and really funny passages, too - and the action scenes are just like the Robert Ludlum movies starring Matt Damon. This is a really nice length, and very fast-paced reading all the way. The characters are fantastic, and the language is so well-observed. Foreign readers won't have a problem. There's a glossary, but you only need that for a couple of the words because the context always gives the meaning.

[Peter Bishop · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read somewhere that this second book in the series was better than the first, so I decided to read number two rather than number one. Not a mistake. This is a really, really good thriller, and has lots more, too. In fact, it’s so good I think I’ll get the first one anyway. Can’t be at all bad, if this is the quality the author can produce. Man, this is good! Also got a few tears from me, I have to tell you. There’s a scene in there that is heartbreaking, man. And then the cops go out to deal with it… Not going to spoil it for anyone, but once they got going after the mean guys they really had me on the edge of my seat. My wife had to tell me to stop screaming out ‘Oh boy!’ every few minutes in the middle of the night while she was trying to sleep. Only one problem, really: the glossary at the end of the book is great, because it translates all the slang words and the few other-language words. But it would have been good to have footnotes instead of having them at the end. Anyway, that’s a minor point. Now I’m gonna go off and get number one in the series. And then number three, I suppose. Hey, so I can’t count. So what.

[Michael Oakley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh boy. This is good. I responded to a recommendation from Goodreads which said that the second book in this series was better than the first. So, after dipping into the ‘Look Inside’ facility on Amazon where I read that the four books were all independent of each other while also forming a quartet, I decided to go ahead and buy the second one instead of the first. Damn, this is good! Brilliant page-turner with beautiful emotionally moving pieces in between. This is original and exciting and beautifully structured. The closing moments, echoing the opening, are atmospherically brilliant. And the narrative’s inexorable forensic quest for evidence is totally absorbing. I love the forensics women! This feels like five stars. I’ll hedge my bets, though, and assume that the series gets even better. So my four stars are tentative. I feel I should give five, but let me first see more of the quartet. UPDATE: READ IT AGAIN, TO REMIND MYSELF BEFORE READING THE NEXT ONE. IT'S EVEN BETTER THAN THE FIRST TIME. NOW FOR THE NEXT ONE.

[Suzie Whyte · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so blown away by this one. It starts so lyrically. There's a wonderful, deliberate, Alan-Paton-like opening that lulls you into a gentle and tranquil state of mind. Then all hell breaks loose. Oh goodness, what a shock. And so much like the real world that we so often see, so tragically, on our television screens or on the front pages of newspapers. Brutal crime, horrendous murder, spectacular action. Thank goodness for some really good detectives. I'm really intrigued to find out more about what the author says in the dedication to his book. Looks like he's had real experience of real murder. No wonder he can write the way he does. This is such a good thriller. I'm still having dreams about it. I'll read this one a couple more times, I'm sure. Now I'm not so sure that I was right in giving the author's first book only four stars. But this one is a five star knockout, without doubt. I was so sad at one point for a family... but I won't give anything away.

[Robert Storey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent read. I got delayed, and this sat next to my bed for weeks. But boy, when I got to it I couldn't put it down. These characters are so compelling. They are so entertaining, gritty, witty, tearful, and REAL in every way. I love the language. I love the way that there's a gradation in language: some of the characters speak perfect English, some speak less-than-perfect English, others speak really poor English, some of them speak rich and colourful dialects. The idiolect is so very carefully managed. I'm really impressed. I wish they'd make an audio book of it. Brilliant stuff.

[Ronald Gumede · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a word - brilliant. Page-turning. Brilliant conclusion, bringing us full circle back to the ... but no plot spoilers from me. I'm going to read it again.

[Kobus Koopmans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally brilliant. Even better than the first one.

[Carolien · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my favorite South African crime series at the moment and an excellent example of Sunshine Noir set in subtropical Durban. It's an interesting cast of characters with a fast moving plot, lots of action and completely believeable to any person exposed to South Afircan crime. My main concern at the moment is what I am going to do when I get to the end of this series as it is completely addictive.

[Isobel Weeks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to the audio version of this book, in the car, and really enjoyed it. It was a long journey so we also stopped to munch and have tea and coffee a few times, while continuing to listen. I made a couple of notes, too, when I wasn't the one doing the driving. There are some really lovely things in this book. Round about 35 minutes into chapter three there is the most brilliant grandmother spewing off in an angry monologue. So very funny. Reminds me of my old Nan. And then another grandmother doing the same kind of thing in chapter six at around 40 minutes. I just love the women characters in the book. There's a wonderful interrogation of constable Monaco by the detective Pillay woman. Gee whiz. Terrifying but quiet and menacing. I'd hate to be questioned by her. She's a really tough cookie. Oh, yes. There is the funniest, funniest scene about rugby, and it's about my favourite team, the Sharks. When the terribly teasing Koos von Rensburg man telephones Detective Ryder in chapter 7 at about 45 minutes into that chapter, it is just so funny. Teases him about his team just like my sister teases me all the time about what she calls my obsessive loyalty to the Sharks. We all just burst out laughing in the car. Really got the giggles. The scene was so good.

Anyway, I really liked this book. I think it could have been better if it was read by three people, because there are so many characters, but the narrator is actually very good. He does the villains so, so well. He doesn't caricature the Afrikaners and the Africans and the crook. He does their voices accurately, I think, and with lots of attention to detail in the accents and the different dialects. All of those people speak exactly like I hear that kind of person speak every day all around me. But the women should be played by women actresses. Especially Ryder's wife. The author has created such a lovely relationship between the detective and his wife. Mature intelligent couple. Very loving and respectful of each other, and thank goodness there's no gratuitous sex. The couple have a lovely relationship and she is a top professional intelligent woman, and her husband - the tough detective - is highly respectful of her and they have an intelligent relationship. How nice. Most crime thrillers - especially by male authors - either have detectives with silly wives or silly assistants. This is really nice and different.

I thought that the dinner party scene was very, very good. I know people like all of those characters. Anyway, I could go on. This was enjoyable to listen to.

[Rodney Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first book this series was a thrilling four-star read, and was intriguing mostly because of its authentic feel. But this one is even better, though not as good as the fourth one (which I read two weeks ago, and out of sequence in this series). Four and a half stars for this one, if I were allowed to do that. Whereas the first had a few moments too many of information-imparting dialogue, this one rolls on energetically through climactic moments of action and really beautiful and touching scenes of companionship and mature partnerships. The key detective and his wife display a Beatrice-and-Benedick intelligence and charm (they’d be great company at a dinner party – as long as they didn’t bring their favourite criminals along), and the same detective and his detective partner display the kind of action-packed excitement that one expects from a police thriller set in the midst of heinous crime. There are some really touching scenes depicting the victims of crime, and there are some truly delightful scenes displaying the author’s refreshing maturity regarding
problems of race, class and gender. Nothing is overstated but everything that needs to be said is there. One feels entirely at home in the writer’s careful analysis of relationships. But the driving force is the action and the massive conflict between good cops and bad criminals. It’s not all plain sailing for the cops, and I’m not giving away any plot-spoilers here, but the book ends with a satisfying resolution of the immediate action coupled with giving the reader a desire for more. I would have wanted the glossary – which is useful – to have been embedded in the text, because it’s hard to page back and forth. I see one reviewer suggests have the book open in two windows, which might be an idea. Anyway, maybe I’m making a mountain of this – the context usually gives the meaning anyway. And there are not many impossible-to-guess-at-the-meaning-words. The main thing is that it adds real colour to the characters when they speak slang. A
bit like Clockwork Orange…

[Tshepo Mkhize · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked the first book so much - especially after hearing the audio version. When I read this one, the second in the series, I thought at first that it was just going to be a repetition. But how wrong can you be. I read it twice, actually. It was only the second time - after I had read someone else's review, to be honest - that I realised that the author was very deliberately playing on Alan Paton's 'Cry the Beloved Country' in his first page. It's brilliant, now that I see what he was doing. It's sad, too. Paton was writing about the beauty of the country and the fact that there are bad eggs in the middle of it. This writer is writing about the same thing, hut a little more realistically. The country is not that beautiful, after all. It has the potential to be like paradise, but there are evil people lurking in every damn bush that prevent it from being the paradise it should be. The poor police have to try and make people safe. But evil is everywhere. Much more realistic, I think, than what Alan Paton was doing. There are such sad moments in this. I think the scene with the grandmother, the father, and the mother of the murdered constable is the saddest thing I have ever read. I cried non-stop. But, strangely, the book is also very uplifting. You get a lot of hope and optimism from the fact that there are some really good cops out there, just doing their jobs and hunting down the bad eggs. I am really enjoying this author. I'm writing this only after my second reading. Maybe I'll even read it a third time.

[Carol Faulds · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the story and the characters very much. I thought the narrator was excellent, too, but I think the female voices should be done by a woman. Having experience, myself, of voice work, I thought that it would be good to have a balance between male and female voices. There are so many characters that it's hard for one actor to play all of them. I suppose it's not the convention to have a cast of actors, and that it's supposed to be a single voice reading the narration and also doing the characters. But I think it would add something to have both male and female voices. Anyway, having said that, I think he has a lovely crusty voice and adds great colour to the characters. I don't think he gets the women characters, though. As for the book itself, well I think it's really good. Rough police action, terrible villains, lovely personalities. Brilliant mix of gender, race and culture (shame, the poor Afrikaner detectives get it in the neck, but they're such sweet characters). Very funny in parts. The grandmother of the twins (or was she an aunt?) is such a character. There is also a really sad scene with the other grandmother and the parents of the murdered policewoman. I really enjoyed listening to this in my car as I drove into the Drakensberg.

[Patricia Cuffley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this quite lot. I heard the audio version in the car on a really long journey. Firstly, I thought the narrator's voice was really nice. Deep and resonant and very good speech (I hate it when I struggle to hear and understand readers in audio-books). Having said that, though, I would have preferred a woman to read the women's roles. I know it's not a recording of a drama, but, still, it would have added more light and shade. He does the narrator very well indeed, and he plays the three or four main male characters well, too. But it's hard to know when the women characters are speaking because the voice is too similar. I liked the book itself. The story is great. Moves along at a rapid pace. Interesting characters (especially the women characters, which is why, I suppose, I wanted more in the reading of the voices). The really good thing about it is the way the book reflects real life. I know the local scene pretty well, i think, and he gets it right. One thing is particularly good. Here's a book where men and women are equals. No machismo here. In fact, there is a truly delicious scene where the author gets it right on the nail about male attitudes to gender. I really loved that. Will get more of this author.

[Dianne Coultridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was great. Very pacy, very lyrically beautiful in parts, and some beautiful characters. Witty repartee between the detectives, and tender moments that make one's eyes moist. Perhaps a little too much swearing - although I know that cops and crooks are more realistic if they use the language of the street. I saw another review which said they really liked the speaker's voice and diction but that they wished there were some actresses playing the women's roles. I hadn't thought of that. But I think it's a good point. Nothing wrong with the guy's acting - in fact it's very good - but the women's voices should be played by women. The bad guys are really brilliantly portrayed. Those accents are very good and the voices very scary. The story is riveting in many ways. Bad choice for my Christmas reading, I think. There are such exciting but such scary scenes. It was totally gripping and I couldn't put it down. I loved the different accents, and I think it is all so beautifully racially and genderly (?) and culturally sensitive. Very nice and different from the norm, and the sound quality is very good.

[Deborah Nielsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was every bit as good as the first one I read last year- Devil Dealing - (I also got hold of the audio version of that one, and loved it). The action is just like the Bourne Identity, which I have read again very recently. The characters and dialogue are probably even better!

I just love the women characters. So OK, we have an all-action male hero - a great guy - but what is even better is that he is a non-sexist, intelligent guy who needs his women to get him out of a scrape each time. What a refreshing change. I can't bear it when I see a movie and the guy and the gal are running from the evil guys and the good guy then takes the good gal's hand to help her escape! Pu-leez! Give me a break. But in this book, none of that crap ever happens.

Here's a real down-to-earth genuine thriller with intelligent characters (and some evil ones). I loved the dinner party scene. What a pleasure - just like real life dinner parties in the suburbs!

Got to get the next one in this series.

[Tammy Bonato · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this and also heard the audio a couple of months back. It's really good, although I was so blown away by the fourth book that I can't rate it as highly as that. But what is really nice about this one is the way in which the women come to the fore. Exciting and dangerous and thrill-making. It's a really good read. And the audio version really adds lovely color to the accents and the characters.

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really compelling read. Gun Dealing picks up the story of detectives Jeremy Ryder and Navi Pillay as they continue their hunt for the arms dealer Skhura Thabethe, and it doesn’t let up for a second. The plot moves fast, with two main storylines (guns and drugs) that twist together in a really satisfying way by the end. There’s lots of action, but what surprised me most was how emotional and thoughtful the book is.

The writing can be lyrical and almost poetic in places; the opening especially reminded me of Cry, the Beloved Country (I didn’t catch it at first, but after seeing another review mention it, I totally see it). The country itself feels like a character: beautiful and damaged, full of potential but scarred by violence. And that tension runs throughout the whole book.

The emotional beats really hit. There's a scene with a murdered constable’s family that honestly gutted me. But it's not all heavy; there's a real sense of hope, too, especially through the relationships. I loved the dynamic between Ryder and his wife, and the female characters in general are smart, capable, and never sidelined. That’s refreshing in a genre that usually leans on macho tropes.

Only reason this isn't a full 5 stars is that sometimes the book explains a bit too much; especially the tech stuff and some of the cultural/religious background. It didn’t ruin anything, but it did slow down a couple scenes. And I wish the glossary terms were easier to reference; flipping back and forth got a little annoying, though context usually helped.

Overall, a strong, layered crime novel that gives you more than just thrills. Really glad I read this one (even if a bit out of order). Definitely continuing the series.

[Janet Shapiro · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's more than a year since I read the prequel to this book. Well, not so much a prequel as simply the first in a series of four books. I loved this. It was very different and the villain is just as bad as you can get them. The narrator played the roles well, and the nasty hombre is a match for the hero detective. A clash of titans, this is.

The forensic detail was good, too. I liked the whole thing about the weapons and how to trace them. It was entertaining as well as thrilling. I'll get more of this author.

UPDATE: I heard the audio version too, and re-reading it with the audio was good.

[Beatrice Cooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been meaning to read this ever since I read the first book in the series a couple of years ago. It is brilliant. I gave only four stars to the first one but if I were to re-rate it I would give it five, now that I see the larger picture unfolding (and now that I witness even more of the horrific things going on in South Africa). The characters are wonderful. The drunken villains are hard to understand until you realise they are stone-blind-drunk and spewing nonsense half the time. Then they become ever-so-familiar: the macho men fuelled by booze and on the path to villainy.

The writing is really good and I thoroughly enjoyed this.

[Rodney Haines · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good. The drunken gangsters were hard to understand at first but then I realised that it was the drink and drugs talking through them, and I relaxed into it. The characters are very well created and the action is - well - incredible. The writing is wonderful and the pace never lets up. Ryder is like a Jack Reacher character. He is wonderful. So is his wife. And the dog. And the other detectives. All of them are very funny (i.e. sense of humour among the darker side of police work), and believable, too.

[Richard Heywood · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read a couple of this author's books five years ago and loved them. This one is very good, though I preferred the other two. Maybe the drunken language of the three villains didn't get through to me. One scene was difficult to follow. But it was just that one scene. Anyway, what is outstanding is the main villain Tabette. What a character. Scary as hell. And Ryder and his team are brilliant detectives. Lots of fun, too, especially when they tease each other. But, mainly the authentic feel to all of the criminal activity, was great. Lots of research here, and it makes it all plausible.

[Gillian Schoeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was very exciting. The first book in the series was a humdinger and this one follows in its footsteps. Detectives and villains - all totally believable characters, on the hunt, one group for villainy one group for moral justice. Lovely. The scene with the drunk villains in the bush was perhaps too difficult to render into clear dialogue - both because of the second language thing and the drunkenness. But nothing detracts from the power of the story.

[Stephanie Jonkers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've had this on my shelves for years but dusted it off and read it. Wonderful. A really violent thriller. Years back I read - and listened to - Death Dealer, another in the series. It was also wonderful. This one, perhaps, is less good than the other audio version because the accents are slightly off. But there's no doubting the dramatic effect of the action and the characters and the dialogue. It's a very good novel about crime anmd policing in South Africa.

[Frank Swart · Rating 4 out of 5]

As good as the first in the series, if not better. In fact, yes, better. It starts off with a tranquil scene and then returns to that tranquillity, but in between there is action and very nice counter-pointing lyricism. I enjoyed the charactesr - especially the women - and the plot is very well created. Lots of fun, too, amidst the action and trauma.

[David Lackey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finally got to this one in the series. It was good, though not as good as the others I've read. I found it hard to understand what the drunken gangsters were talking about in one scene (I was listening to the audio version). But the action is amazing and the plot is very good. The central villain continues to be as evil as anyone you ever met.

[Clive Holder · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read two of this author's thrillers some time back and really enjoyed them. This one fits the bill too, though I took a bit of time to realise that the strange dialogue between three villains was simply because they were drunk. Then all hell broke loose and the action took off and I never paused. Read the book through in one night. Brilliant police thriller.

[Charles Cummings · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as Devil Dealing - maybe because the three gangsters were a little like clowns rather than vicious thugs - but still, very enjoyable. Fast and furious and very sad at times (the young woman constable). The detectives on top form.

[Mary C Platter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Boolk 2

I found this story and the characters actions not as interesting as book 1. It did not hold my attention.