Dead at daybreak - Deon Meyer (Mat Joubert #1.5)

THE PAST IS NEVER DEAD

An antiques dealer is burned with a blowtorch, then killed, execution-style – a single shot to the back of the head with an M16. The contents of the safe are missing and the only clues are a scrap of blank paper and the unusual weapon used, a gun that’s generally the preferred choice of mercenaries, not burglars. Now ex-cop Zatopek “Zed” van Heerden has seven days in which to solve the case – a task made even harder when he discovers that up to a few years ago there is no record that the victim even existed.

Dead At Daybreak is a brilliant and provocative South African thriller set in a damaged society coming to terms with new freedoms – and new dangers.