cover image Those Who Love Night

Those Who Love Night

Wessel Ebersohn. Minotaur, $24.99 (304p) ISBN 978-0-312-65596-9

In Ebersohn’s pulse-pounding second crime novel starring South African public prosecutor Abigail Bukula (after 2011’s The October Killings), Abigail travels to neighboring Zimbabwe to represent seven political prisoners arrested by the repressive government, one of whom is a male cousin she’d never heard of before. The authorities, in no hurry to grant her a date in court, refuse to even confirm that the inmates are in their custody. A tragic shooting, which makes clear that her own safety is far from guaranteed, ups the ante. Evidence that Abigail’s beloved husband may have a wandering eye complicates her relationship with Jonas Chunga, a high-level official in the Central Intelligence Organization, Zimbabwe’s secret police. Yudel Gordon, a prison psychologist who shares her commitment to justice, again lends his support. Ebersohn clearly conveys the uncertainties of life under Mugabe’s capricious dictatorship while also illuminating the complex inner life of his flawed but admirable protagonist. (Jan.)