Mixed Blood is set in South Africa. This makes its setting the fourth country visited in my quest to read twelve books sent in different countries. So far I have read books set in Canada, Russia, and Australia and now Mixed Blood by Roger Smith set in South Africa. South Africa is by far my least favorite place to visit of the four! Mixed Blood (book 13 of the year) is a gritty book filled with murder, drugs, crooked cops, poverty and despair! The story opens with Jack Burn his wife Susan and son Matt on the run in South Africa after Jack becomes involved in a bank robbery which goes bad leaving a policeman dead. One night two black gangstas climb into their rented home. To save his family, Jack kills the two men and his life goes downhill from there.
The book is a real page turner The characters include: Benny Mongrel a harden each con working as a watchman in a neighboring house under construction witnesses the thieves going into the Burn house. Rudi “Gatsby” Barnard the crooked cop who rules by killing and Disaster, Rondi, the good cop. Each of the characters is well developed.. As I wrote earlier the book is gritty and not for the faint of heart. There are references t o drugs, abuse and prostitution. As a result I found that there weren’t a lot of good guys in the book to cheer for. However, that did little to detract from the overall enjoyment of the book.
Overall, I liked the book four stars out of five and will look for more by the author. But I will stay away from South Africa at least the Cape Flats!
