Mine thriller worth a dig
STEAL A FEW CENTS Rupert Smith Loot.co.za (R225) Roundfire
REVIEWER: JENNIFER CROCKER
MPHO Mamela is a young accountant going places at a dusty coal mine in Middelburg. So it comes as something of a mystery when his mangled body is found on a conveyor belt in the middle of nowhere.
Mamela is a white-colour worker who looks after his family and has no reason to be anywhere near the deadly conveyor belt.
The mine managed by chief executive Thuli Mpongose, does not relish the hearing that will follow.
One of their most senior directors, Stephen Wakefied, the inhouse lawyer, is called in to try to find out what happened. Or more precisely and somewhat cynically, to make sure that the mining company has itself covered and will not be forced to close – or be sued.
Rupert Smith, himself a retired attorney who worked in the mining industry, is well placed to lead the reader through the story of a mine that seems to be a pit of secrets.
He has created authentic characters without turning them into caricatures, which could very easily have happened.
Wakefield begins his investigation and as he learns more about Mamela he becomes increasingly involved in wanting to know exactly what happened at the mine, and not just in protecting the company’s interests.
It’s a shift in his focus that angers Mpongose. This gives the author the chance to introduce the realpolitik of race identity and how cards get played – sometimes, although I would argue not that often, to protect the new elite.
The characters in the story will be people who readers feel they know. Smith’s understanding of the mining process and the grimness of mining towns and smalltown office politics rings true.
As Wakefield gets nearer and nearer to the truth, the stakes are raised, allowing him to introduce the real power behind the chief executive, a man who Smith likes and trusts. Two of the characters, the Reverend Robert Ncube and Wakefield’s ever-so-Houghton wife, Lisa, are particularly delightfully drawn, and Lisa’s life forms a sharp contrast with the sad reality of Mamela’s very complicated life.
The solving of the crime will involve revelations of layers of entitlement and hatred that still exist in places in South Africa.
Well-plotted, perhaps a little word-heavy at times, this is a satisfying crime novel. Any clumsiness in the narrative is saved by the humanity of the story and the clever plot.
If you need a moral in a crime thriller, then perhaps it is this: we never really understand the lives of those we think of as successful until we know as much as possible about their whole lives, and not just the version that they show in polite company.