Sonja van der Westhuizen

Sonja van der Westhuizen: Top five books of 2021

14 December, 2021

Each year it gets harder and more strenuous to choose just five favourite crime fiction novels, it seems. I’m not complaining, it’s a wonderful dilemma to have. It’s also a clear indication that the crime fiction genre is bursting at its seams with talented writers…

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Turf Wars by Olivier Norek

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

24 November, 2021

Translated by Nick Caistor — It’s been almost a year since we’ve reviewed the first of Olivier Norek’s The Lost and the Damned. The French author’s debut in English was one of our top crime fiction novels of 2020. The question is can he match…

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Midnight Hour: A Chilling Anthology of Crime Fiction from 20 Authors of Color

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

12 November, 2021

Edited by Abby L Vandiver — Abby L Vandiver is the bestselling author of more than 25 books and short stories and in Midnight Hour she has assembled stories by writers of colour with one common theme – the events taking place in each occurs…

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Psychopaths Anonymous by Will Carver

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

4 November, 2021

Will Carver’s writing is like tequila, or Marmite, perhaps. He produces a hot and abrasive brand of crime fiction that makes readers uncomfortable. For some this is delectable and it leaves you wanting more. For others, the approach is… challenging. If you dare to read…

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When Things Get Dark – Stories Inspired by Shirley Jackson

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

21 October, 2021

Edited by Ellen Datlow — In 2018, when Netflix released The Haunting of Hill House, a whole new audience was introduced to renowned American horror and mystery writer Shirley Jackson’s work. Although the series is based on one of Jackson’s six novels she was best…

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April in Spain by John Banville

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

20 October, 2021

Until recently John Banville published his crime novels under the pseudonym Benjamin Black to separate them from his more complex fiction. According to the author, he could write a crime fiction novel in three or four months while his more literary work took up more…

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Chasing the Boogeyman by Richard Chizmar

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

23 September, 2021

From the founder and publisher of Cemetery Dance Magazine, a publication specialising in horror and suspense, comes a spine-chilling story about a serial killer terrorising a small town in the state of Maryland. A metafictional retelling of events that took place in 1988, Chasing the…

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Heatwave by Victor Jestin

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

6 September, 2021

Translated by Sam Taylor — French author Victor Jestin’s short yet forceful debut novel is part dark coming-of-age novel, part morality tale. Set over the span of a weekend, it tells the story of a 17-year-old who witnesses another teenager dying and chooses not to…

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