KAROO DUSK

Johan Vlok Louw Umuzi

THERE’S a haunting, dreamlike quality to this journey of dark spaces and half obscured faces.

The writing evokes the parched, simmering Karoo and sets the stage for the collision of its characters – and the care given to little details draws in the reader deeply. To strangers you feel you’ve met. Or at the very least seen.

Billy’s burgeoning youth is meaningfully contrasted with his mother’s weak wilting, with wine in one hand – and the high drama of gangster Ou Joe’s roadside brothel, the cackle of the old Ooms of the dorpie – and Billy’s dad, the new police colonel intent on cleaning up in the town.

It’s a story best told by the author through his characters’ flaws. Johan Vlok Louw is the author of Eric the Brave, and he captures the colloquial expressions of his characters adeptly. – Karen Kotze