Hard Rain: The Rogue Series #1

South African Venter makes her English-language debut with an implausible thriller. While on assignment in Tanzania, South African reporter Alex Derksen meets stunning photojournalist Ranna Abramson, with whom he soon ends up in bed. When the pair come across the corpse of billionaire Billy Jones on a beach, Ranna, who admits to having known the dead man, becomes a suspect, even as the cause of death remains a mystery. Alex learns that the time of death coincides with a night when he saw bloodstains on her. Even after she admits being less than truthful with Alex and that she got the blood on her after a violent encounter with Jones, Alex keeps her secrets from the police. That choice becomes even less believable when the investigating officer reveals that Ranna’s a suspect in two other murders. Shifting between the perspectives of the main characters doesn’t generate much suspense. Readers interested in crime fiction set in contemporary Africa will be better served by Deon Meyer. (Apr.)