Mike Nicol’s fictional world can be brutal,
disturbing and, at times, downright scary because it is all too plausible with
the wild mix of corruption, mayhem and good and bad people that make up South
Africa, both in reality and in fiction. But because many of his characters in Sleeper are familiar from other outings,
there is, paradoxically, something comforting about it. Fish Pescado and Vicki
Kahn might have their flaws, but the reader will root for them – they are an
appealing duo, and we like them.
The plot here is complicated, but Nicol is
a skilled operator, and manages to twist and re-weave all the strands into a credible
whole. When Sleeper opens, the
Minister of Energy has been murdered, and Fish is hired by the murdered man’s
lover, Caitlyn Suarez, an international businesswoman, to find out who is the
culprit because the cops are determined to pin it on to her. She has also got a
minder, Krista Bishop – whose roots run deep in Nicol’s fiction. Then the
policeman investigating the minister’s murder, and who is also Fish’s
neighbour, commits suicide. More trouble for Fish.
Meanwhile, Vicki, who is having a problem
with her gambling addiction, is called in by her former boss at the South
African spy agency to track down a pair of Iranians who are trying to steal
highly enriched uranium, still held by South Africa at a remote location in the
Northern Cape. And just how are the director of the Department of Energy – now
without a minister – and a top nuclear scientist involved in all this?
Nicol creates a world of shady nuclear
deals with Vladimir Putin’s Russia and threats of dirty bombs. In it sinister
ISIS operatives, the CIA, South Africa’s own devious spies, crooked politicians
and a sleeper deeply embedded in local society all ply their increasingly dirty
trades. It makes for a plausible, fast-moving novel – and leaves you wondering
how much of this sort of thing is actually going on under our noses. Just one
example: has South Africa really got rid of all the nuclear material that was
stockpiled in the bad old days? And if not, where is it and who has their hands
on it?
Sleeper by Mike Nicol is published by Umuzi IBSN: 978-1-4152-0973-8 - Margaret
von Klemperer
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