"Smith is Charles Willeford via James Ellroy – proof that noir is alive and flourishing." KEN BRUEN THE GUARDS & LONDON BOULEVARD
"Wake Up Dead is both horrific to read and impossible to put down."
Martha Woodroof – National Public Radio "Books We Like"
"The Cape Town setting recaptures all the blood and menace that time and nostalgia have effaced from Raymond Chandler’s mean streets – and redoubles them."
Peter Rozovsky – Philadelphia Inquirer
"A top-
"Smith's writing is astonishing. Read this only if you don’t flinch."
The Cleveland Plain Dealer
"[A] stellar thriller. Bad choices, not bad luck, drive human depravity in this brutal fable. " Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"From the terrific first sentence, the reader is firmly hooked in this dark South
African thriller of murder, drugs, corruption, and revenge. Highly recommended for
those wanting their noir as hard-
"An intricate Robert Altman–like narrative that, when the pieces finally connect, forms a terrifying portrait of the Cape Flats. " Kirkus Reviews
"Racial tension, gang warfare, prison life, and witchcraft – with a nod to cannibalism
– will make this thriller a prime destination for readers who like to detour from
crime-
"If you are a fan of George Pelecanos or Dennis Lehane, give Roger Smith a close look." Bruce Tierney – BookPage
"Smith takes the multiple strands of his broken, tragic characters and weaves them into a complex, cinematic tapestry, which keeps you turning pages at a machine gun fire pace." Keith Rawson – Spinetingler Magazine
"A pitbull of a book . . . full of incredible characters."
Antje Deistler – WDR 2 (Germany)
"An intoxicating book. " Peter Henning – (Germany)
"The most brutal book of the spring. A milestone in noir thrillers."
Andreas Ammer – German radio
"Roger Smith from South Africa is the shooting star of the crime scene."
Ulrich Noller – Radio Europe
"A gallop through hell." Sylvia Staude – Frankfurter Rundschau (Germany)
"Shows what is going on in Cape Town behind the posh facade."
Jobst-
"Smith’s merciless and precise voice is the equal of James Ellroy and David Peace." Gunter Blank – B Magazine (Germany)
"Wake Up Dead is the kind of novel other tough-
"Roger Smith is the Elmore Leonard of South Africa. " Mike Ripley – Shotsmag
"The devastating effects of poverty, exploitation, gang and prison life are explored
up close with a tone of compassion and moral outrage without ever slackening the
pace of break-
"If you like a thriller that rides like a rocket, if you like unsympathetic characters that get under your skin like a dirty needle, go get a copy of this book right now."
Naomi Johnson – The Drowning Machine
"Wake Up Dead is one of the most violent books I've read in recent months, but also one of the most compulsively readable." Glenn Harper – International Noir Fiction
"Smith's Cape Town slums are as grim as any steampunk Victorian hellhole, and none
of his characters -
"Violent, uncompromising, unflinching, Wake Up Dead grabs you by the throat and will
haunt you long after you've finished its last blood-
Dave Zeltserman, author of Small Crimes & Pariah
"With his second novel, Roger Smith reaches another level of unrelenting noir, with all the elements of the genre given homage yet wonderfully mutated. Dark and brutal, the novel has a focused poetic style that stays with you long after you finish reading." Ken Bruen, author of The Guards & Once Were Cops
"Wake Up Dead could wake up the dead. It barrels forward at the temperature of molten steel [with] fresh descriptions and taut plot twisters. The pages seem like they’re soaked red with blood. " Dennis Haritou – Three Guys One Book
"A thriller supreme." John A. Broussard – I Love A Mystery
"Pitch black noir with a body count to rival James Ellroy.i" SeeMyReview.com
"There's nothing quite like when an author really nails that first line: "The night they were hijacked, Roxy Palmer and her husband, Joe, ate dinner with an African cannibal and his Ukrainian whore." If that doesn't keep you reading, you may in fact be dead." Paul Hochman, Barnes & Noble Book Clubs
"Wake Up Dead nails everything I want in a thriller." Mack Captures Crime
"A riveting thriller. Stark, brutal and real." Luan Gaines – Curled Up With A Good Book
"A gripping thrill-
"Piper makes Hannibal Lecter look like a guest at high tea." Men Reading Books
"All the ins and outs make for one exciting and unforgettable story."
Life Happens While Books Are Waiting
"A prison shank of a novel." VinceKeenan.com
"If there’s a category for Cape Town noir, I’m willing to nominate Roger Smith as its king for his second novel." Mystery Lovers
On a blowtorch-
Disco and Godwynn, the ghetto gangbangers who sped away in Joe's convertible, will stop at nothing to track her down. Billy Afrika, a mixed-
As these desperate lives collide and old debts are settled in blood, Roxy is caught in a wave of escalating violence in the beautiful and brutal African seaport.
"The night they were hijacked, Roxy Palmer and her husband, Joe, ate dinner with an African cannibal and his Ukrainian whore."
NEWS FLASHES
Wake Up Dead released in the UK by Serpent's Tail. (more ...)
The German TV program "Aspekte" interviewed me out on the Cape Flats. Broadcast
30 April 2010
Q & A with Library Journal
Wake Up Dead one of Deadly
Pleasures Magazine’s best of 2010
When I was in Germany in March, I was interviewed by German national TV about
WAKE UP DEAD (Blutiges Erwachen) Broadcast
10 April 2010
I interview an ex-
Mixed Blood nominated for a Spinetingler Best Novel Award
Wake Up Dead #1 in Germany (more ...)
NPR ( U.S. National Public Radio) reviews Wake Up Dead
3Guys1Book interview
Mixed Blood #1 crime novel of 2009 in Germany
Mixed Blood wins German Thriller Award 2010 (more ...)
Variety, Hollywood Reporter & Screen Daily write that Phillip Noyce is on board to direct the Mixed Blood movie. Rights optioned by GreeneStreet Films (NYC) with Samuel L. Jackson attached to star and Kelly Masterson adapting
Rights to Mixed Blood & Wake Up Dead (published in the U.S. by Henry Holt & Co) sell to the U.K., Germany, Japan, France & Italy (more ...)
Mixed Blood is featured on the PBS Masterpiece Mystery: Spotlight on World Mysteries website.
