Part of our African Crime Reads Series
ISBN 978-1-946395-14-6 | trade paper | $16.00 | publication date May 2019
The Pines, a gated community in the South African city of East London, protects homeowners from crime. But nobody’s going to protect the young man trapped behind its walls.
Moses wants one thing: to get home, where his girlfriend and a cold beer are waiting for him. But his car breaks down on an empty street, not a single human being in sight. Moses slips into The Pines, a gated community, in hopes to find help from a university classmate who lives there. Over there, in the “white” world, everything seems calm, orderly, safe. But once inside, he feels like more of an outsider than ever. And he makes a terrible mistake.
Mistaken identities, racial profiling, and class politics form the backdrop of this intense thriller. Winner of the 2017 German Crime Fiction Prize, The Wall (translated by Rachel Hildebrandt) tackles the issues of gun violence, racism, and exclusion in contemporary South Africa—problems that are equally relevant to the United States.
Read an excerpt from The Wall at CrimeReads
Praise for The Wall
“75 Notable Translations of 2019,” World Literature Today
“The story takes place over just two short hours — filled with twists and turns and non-stop chases along the way. The Wall is an intense thriller, with second-by-second near misses […] An exploration of racial profiling, class, exclusion, and chance.” Shelf Unbound Magazine
“This novel unspools at a sprint: split seconds decide over life and death, twists and turns are plotted with an author’s stopwatch, multiple strands entangling, separating, knotting up—with fateful, in the end also fatal consequences. The Wall is a portrait in black and white of the new South Africa, with fully realized characters—even the police dog has psychological depth—drawn from across this dynamic country’s fragmented society. The Wall is also, as the title suggests, an allegory of both enclosure and separation: characters locked in their gated communities, locked inside their lives—or locked out. What a romp!” —Jeff Garrett, librarian and co-owner Bookends and Beginnings bookstore
“Max Annas deftly weaves together suspense, humour, and social commentary in a fast-paced story about class conflict and survival. The Wall is a taut, captivating thriller. Highly recommended.” —Sam Wiebe, award-winning author of Invisible Dead and Cut You
Down.
“The Wall keeps the reader running alongside the protagonist who goes searching for help in the wrong place at the wrong time. Set in South Africa, this movie-like thriller is a must-read for anyone who loves fast-paced action.” Anja Gutbrod-Pollitz, Towne Center Books, Pleasanton California
“Sometimes a crime novel comes along that hits pay dirt. The Wall is one of those. It takes you up and rushes you through to the mad-cap ending and leaves you wanting more. The characters are wonderful, their antics more so, and, to top it all, the story is laugh out loud hilarious. Long have I suspected that this is how life plays out in South Africa’s gated communities. If you like your crime fiction fast and funny, then The Wall is your book.” Mike Nicol, author of Agents of State and Sleeper
“The Wall was a thrilling chase through an unusual and surprisingly frightening setting: a well-to-do gated community in South Africa […] Moses is a compelling every-man protagonist, caught up in a case of mistaken identity, and the cinematic quality to the story telling takes you running right alongside him as he eludes capture.” —Natalie Draper, Richmond Public Library (Virginia)
“[Annas] turns this cat and mouse game into a life and death struggle that catches you up in its drama and suspense.” —Lively Arts magazine
“The Wall is a breathless, irrepressible thriller that packs a punch.” —NB Magazine
“[A] refreshing snappy crime caper” —The Herald (South Africa)
“Annas works like a film director, bombarding us with shot and counter-shot. The reader races to the explosion… an actual shootout. The Wall is a fantastic, yet very funny, novel… Fast, hard and dangerous. A cheetah in book form.” Die Welt (review of the German edition)
“Fear and distrust of anyone who counts as ‘the other.’ […]…jam-packed with action, thrills and suspense. A brilliant success!” Deutschlandradio Kultur (review of the German edition)
“Ducking, hiding, running – these are what drive the novel’s dynamics, its minute-by-minute choreography. Instincts dictate behaviors. In this case: prejudice, aversions, and racism.” Süddeutsche Zeitung (review of the German edition)
About Max Annas
Before writing novels, Max Annas worked as a journalist. A renowned film critic, his first novel, The Farm, is currently under film production in South Africa.
About Rachel Hildebrandt Reynolds
With degrees in art history and historic preservation, Rachel Hildebrandt worked as a historical consultant and academic editor before transitioning to literary translation. A recipient of several translation grants from both the Goethe Institut and the Austrian Ministry of Culture, she has published both fiction and nonfiction works in translation, including Herr Faustini Takes a Trip by Wolfgang Hermann (KBR Media), Collision by Merle Kroeger (Unnamed Press), Fade to Black by Zoe Beck (Weyward Sisters Press), and The Happiness Bureau by Andreas Izquierdo (Owl Canyon Press). Her translations have appeared in journals such as Europe Now, Anomaly and Trafika Europe. Rachel is also the founder of Weyward Sisters Publishing, which focuses on bringing contemporary works of crime and noir fiction by women authors from Germany, Austria and Switzerland to English readers.
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