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    Power Play
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    Power Play
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    Power Play
    Ebook352 pages3 hours

    Power Play

    By Mike Nicol

    3/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Krista Bishop runs a security agency. For women only. Until she gets a call she can't refuse from the Secret Service, to guard two high-profile Chinese businessmen. What Krista isn't told is the Chinese are mopping up the richly rewarding abalone poaching business. They want it all. From shore to plate. A takeover that will kick three Cape Town gang lords -- known as the Untouchables -- out of business and destroy their luxury lifestyles. Abalone means power, money, drugs, guns. No longer untouchable, gang boss Titus Anders fears for the life of his daughter and calls in Krista Bishop to protect her from the madness as the gang war destroys his world. Krista's the best. She's young, tough and a long way from the violence of the streets. But now the war is everywhere. Even in her own backyard, where a secret agent is waiting for her, a gun in his hand'
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOld Street Publishing
    Release dateJun 16, 2015
    ISBN9781910400227
    Unavailable
    Power Play

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    Reviews for Power Play

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    • 3/5
      ‘one of the best crime writers around’ according to the publisher. The usual hyperbole, I'm afraid... What I like about Nicol’s stunted writing is the setting of Cape Town (though it is clear he prefers action in the CBD and touristy zones and not in the Cape Flats, where most of his characters are likely to live). The plot is fast and reasonably predictable. And if you like. Stunted. Quick sentences. From the POV of five different characters. Spot on. You like. Most characters are emotionally rather stunted, and prefer hard, raw sex (all heterosexual, with stereotypical big titted beauties and BBCs, no worries!). Lots of people die a violent death and there is a clear distinction between ‘good and bad’ guys n girls. The plot engages basically with a set of ‘gang lords turned businessmen’ called the Untouchables, whose illicit value-chain on abalone is taken over by a combination of ANC chefs and their government spooks and a group of Chinese businessmen. To facilitate the transition one of the three untouchables sells-out; one gang gets hired to do the dirty job (involving one Russian hired gun who keeps spraying bullets, but killing no one; and several gang members who engage in gang rapes, torture, bodily mutilation and public shoot-outs, testimony of which is provided by one hard-assed McDonald burger); and one government spook cleans up those who are somehow left behind and kills those in a clinical manner. So far for the baddies. On the good cause side there is a 'deep throat' kinda person (the Voice) who runs an ‘invisible’ spook (Velaze) who bears witness and helps the reader unravel what is going on (and occasionally he also helps the real plot a bit) and there is Krista and Tami, who run a private security outfit. I think this thriller writer is exceptional in the sense that he provides good insight into the psyche of a male, coloured, South African inhabitant of Cape Town both in lingo, mind-set, popular (masculine) culture and political views (the ANC government is rotten and sells-out SA’s assets to the Chinese). This thriller is heavily populated with coloured characters and a few black guys and girls (Tami, Gumede) and only one whitie (the unfortunate hired gun from Russia). That is refreshing compared with Deon Meyer, the other crime thriller writer who situates his stories in CPT but mainly operates in an environment populated by whites.