Blood Safari

Simon Vance provides an assortment of authentic-sounding Afrikaans accents (think Scottish with a Germanic edge) for this first-class thriller that manages to include South African history and musings on apartheid and the environment without losing a beat of its feverish pacing. Meyer’s novel is essentially one relentless chase across South Africa, with hard-boiled bodyguard Martin Lemmer and his beautiful client, Emma le Roux, on the run from a team of paramilitary killers possibly hired by her brother. For Lemmer, the book’s narrator, Vance uses a tough, terse delivery that nails the character as a South African version of Jack Reacher. And he’s just as on target in crafting variations of that accent for the rest of the cast. Men, women, white, black, friends and foes, Vance has their vocal number. An Atlantic Monthly hardcover (Reviews, July 13). (Sept.)