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Present Darkness

de Malla Nunn

Altres autors: Mira la secció altres autors.

Sèrie: Emmanuel Cooper (4)

MembresRessenyesPopularitatValoració mitjanaMencions
9313289,144 (4.06)9
"Five days before Christmas, Detective Sergeant Emmanuel Cooper sits at his desk at the Johannesburg major crimes squad, ready for his holiday in Mozambique. A call comes in: a respectable white couple has been assaulted and left for dead in their bedroom. The couple's teenage daughter identifies the attacker as Aaron Shabalala-- the youngest son of Zulu Detective Constable Samuel Shabalala--Cooper's best friend and a man to whom he owes his life. The Detective Branch isn't interested in evidence that might contradict their star witness's story, especially so close to the holidays. Determined to ensure justice for Aaron, Cooper, Shabalala, and their trusted friend Dr. Daniel Zweigman hunt for the truth. Their investigation uncovers a violent world of Sophiatown gangs, thieves, and corrupt government officials who will do anything to keep their dark world intact"--… (més)
Africa (104)
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» Mira també 9 mencions

Es mostren 1-5 de 13 (següent | mostra-les totes)
A prostitute is kidnapped. A white couple is critically beaten, and their daughter names two black students as the attackers, one of whom is the son of Detective Sergeant Emmanuel Cooper's good friend Detective Constable Samuel Shabalala. Cooper quickly realizes that the crime is simply too neat and decides to disobey his police boss by investigating on his own, especially since he owes Shabalala his life. His investigation takes him back into the mixed-race slum, where he was raised as a "white kaffir." Cooper is a superb and complex character, who seeks justice for those whom apartheid law has abandoned. His mission is complicated by the need to hide his private life: a mixed race, common law wife (of a wealthy white man) and their daughter. Cooper's partnership with the Zulu constable and their Jewish doctor friend is terrific.

I particularly like the South African setting and Nunn's descriptive writing, which is often cinematic: the tension between the races, the disparity in living standards, scenes in the city and the veldt, the corruption of the authorities. Even the words spoken by characters seem very real. Eagerly looking forward to book #5, but start at the beginning of the series. 4.5 stars.

( )
  skipstern | Jul 11, 2021 |
It’s Southern Cross Crime Month at Reading Matters, and my choice of Present Darkness by Swazi-born, Sydney-based author, screenwriter and film-maker Malla Nunn is an apt choice, if I do say so myself, because it’s set in South Africa where (except in Spring) they too can see the Southern Cross in the night sky!

I don’t often read crime but I like Malla Nunn’s Detective Emmanuel Cooper series because it’s also an historical novel, offering a deft and devastating portrayal of apartheid in South Africa in the 1950s. Present Darkness, No #4 and last in the series is set in 1953, just as rigid geographical controls were being legislated to ensure residential separation based on skin colour.

The novel begins in Johannesburg, 1953, with the abduction of a young prostitute and then the action shifts to Detective Emmanuel Cooper’s arrival at a major crime scene. There has been a break-in at a property where the husband and wife have been very badly beaten. The husband dies that night, but the murder investigation takes on personal significance for Cooper when the son of his best friend and colleague Shabalala is one of two Zulu boys accused of the crime. And as if institutionalised racism and the peculiarities of the crime were not enough to deal with, Cooper is very soon taken off the case by a senior officer called Mason, and not because of his personal connection to the accused’s family. Cooper keeps his associations with people of colour very private, including his relationship with Davida and their daughter.

It’s a familiar trope in crime fiction, the ostracised, alienated detective working outside the system and deprived of any available resource. Cooper has to rely on his own powers of observation, deduction, networking, knowledge of human nature and his intuition. As in previous novels in this series he is also aided and abetted by the inner voice of the sergeant with whom he served during WW2, and by Shabalala and Zweigman, a doctor who survived the Nazi death camps but lost his entire family. These three survive various encounters with the malevolent Mason and his thugs while slowly the pieces come together, as they do in crime fiction.

For me, it’s the book’s dual identity as a crime-and-historical novel which makes it interesting to read. Subtle attention to detail and light sarcasm brings the evils of apartheid to grotesque life.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2021/03/01/present-darkness-detective-emmanuel-cooper-4... ( )
  anzlitlovers | Mar 1, 2021 |
It is a few days before Christmas, 1953 and Detective Sergeant Emmanuel Cooper is at his desk at the Johannesburg major crimes squad, ready for the holidays. A call comes in reporting that a white couple has been brutalized and left for dead in their bedroom. The couple 19s teenage daughter identifies the attacker as Aaron Shabalala, the youngest son of Zulu Detective Constable Samuel Shabalala, Cooper 19s best friend and a man to whom he owes his life. The Detective Branch isn 19t interested in evidence that might contradict their star witness 19s story, especially so close to the holidays. Cooper is also wary of his boss, Lieutenant Walter Mason, who seems far too interested in what Cooper does in his off time. Emmanuel is determined to prove Aaron's innocence so he, along with Shabalala, and their close friend, Dr. Daniel Zweigman hunt down the truth. Cooper 19s inquiry leads him from the violent slum in which he was raised to a dusty farm on the outskirts of Pretoria. He encounters thieves, corrupt cops, pimps, murderers and an abducted prostitute. Full of twists and turns, complicated by Cooper 19s need to avoid alerting Mason to his unsanctioned investigation and his desire to protect his family, the plot is fast-paced and tension filled. Cooper, as always, follows the evidence wherever it leads him, no matter the threat or danger.

This is a series that could be read out of order but will work much better if you can follow them in succession. The progression steers the reader through the stark and vicious apartheid regime. In 1953, Cooper 19s relationship with Davida, a mixed race woman, is illegal and he is conscious that she is a vulnerability his enemies could easily exploit. The author does a great job of pulling the reader into the African townships, the dust, and the tension and fear. You can see and feel Cooper's guilt at his own complicity in getting his family involved in a dangerous situation and feel Shabalala's quiet pain and dignity in the face of his son's fate. This is a great mystery series that just keeps getting better and better.
( )
  Olivermagnus | Jul 2, 2020 |
Present Darkness is Malla Nunn’s fourth entry in the Detective Sergeant Emmanuel Cooper series and is an excellent continuation of the series.
It’s the 1950’s in South Africa and Apartheid has taken its vicious hold. Detective Sergeant Cooper has managed a temporary transfer from Durban to Johannesburg for personal reasons. The price he must pay is reporting to the angry, religiously fanatic Lieutenant Mason who applies the Apartheid rules with a vengeance.
Cooper is called to assist in the investigation of the savage beating of a well-to-do white couple. The couple’s teenage daughter identifies Aaron Shabalala as their attacker. Aaron is the son of black Detective Constable Samuel Shabalala, Cooper’s friend, and a man who has once saved his life.
Cooper’s superiors are satisfied that they have the guilty party and break off any further investigation. However, Cooper believes the evidence doesn’t support the daughter’s story. He’s determined to uncover the facts and free his friend’s son, even though the young man won’t speak up for himself. Cooper, Shabalala and their friend, Dr. Daniel Zwiegman set out to discover the truth and their search takes them into the underbelly of Johannesburg and the worst it has to offer: drugs, gangs, prostitution and abject poverty.
Malla Nunn’s previous Cooper books were stark portrayals of the darkness of Apartheid and its dehumanizing effects. In Present Darkness she succeeds again in wringing drama from that terrible scourge.
Money and power allow some to flout the laws, while applying them with a heavy hand when they choose. To combat these people, Cooper and his friends must occasionally go outside those same laws, and rely on unsavory types to gain an advantage or discover information. Nunn does an outstanding job illustrating how Cooper and his friends serve justice by delving into these areas and living with the consequences of their actions.
Nunn writes with a sure hand. Her portrayal of Apartheid, the insidious way it turned people against one another, and the manner in which some found kindness in spite of it is entirely authentic. Her characters are multi-dimensional and complex, and even angry Mason reveals some humanity. Present Darkness flows smoothly with plenty of drama and culminates in a satisfying climax. It should leave Nunn’s fans watching excitedly for the next Cooper novel.
Rating: A-
( )
  MugsyNoir | Oct 27, 2017 |
It is a few days before Christmas, 1953 and Detective Sergeant Emmanuel Cooper is at his desk at the Johannesburg major crimes squad, ready for the holidays. A call comes in reporting that a white couple has been brutalized and left for dead in their bedroom. The couple’s teenage daughter identifies the attacker as Aaron Shabalala, the youngest son of Zulu Detective Constable Samuel Shabalala, Cooper’s best friend and a man to whom he owes his life. The Detective Branch isn’t interested in evidence that might contradict their star witness’s story, especially so close to the holidays. Cooper is also wary of his boss, Lieutenant Walter Mason, who seems far too interested in what Cooper does in his off time. Emmanuel is determined to prove Aaron's innocence so he, along with Shabalala, and their close friend, Dr. Daniel Zweigman hunt down the truth. Cooper’s inquiry leads him from the violent slum in which he was raised to a dusty farm on the outskirts of Pretoria. He encounters thieves, corrupt cops, pimps, murderers and an abducted prostitute. Full of twists and turns, complicated by Cooper’s need to avoid alerting Mason to his unsanctioned investigation and his desire to protect his family, the plot is fast-paced and tension filled. Cooper, as always, follows the evidence wherever it leads him, no matter the threat or danger.

This is a series that could be read out of order but will work much better if you can follow them in succession. The progression steers the reader through the stark and vicious apartheid regime. In 1953, Cooper’s relationship with Davida, a mixed race woman, is illegal and he is conscious that she is a vulnerability his enemies could easily exploit. The author does a great job of pulling the reader into the African townships, the dust, and the tension and fear. You can see and feel Cooper's guilt at his own complicity in getting his family involved in a dangerous situation and feel Shabalala's quiet pain and dignity in the face of his son's fate. This is a great mystery series that just keeps getting better and better.
( )
  Olivermagnus | Jan 17, 2016 |
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"Five days before Christmas, Detective Sergeant Emmanuel Cooper sits at his desk at the Johannesburg major crimes squad, ready for his holiday in Mozambique. A call comes in: a respectable white couple has been assaulted and left for dead in their bedroom. The couple's teenage daughter identifies the attacker as Aaron Shabalala-- the youngest son of Zulu Detective Constable Samuel Shabalala--Cooper's best friend and a man to whom he owes his life. The Detective Branch isn't interested in evidence that might contradict their star witness's story, especially so close to the holidays. Determined to ensure justice for Aaron, Cooper, Shabalala, and their trusted friend Dr. Daniel Zweigman hunt for the truth. Their investigation uncovers a violent world of Sophiatown gangs, thieves, and corrupt government officials who will do anything to keep their dark world intact"--

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