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Uncensored. Uncut. Surviving the Beast – the ugly truths about state capture and why they tried to kill me. It’s all death, denial and deceit in Angelo Agrizzi’s latest book, the sequel to Inside the Belly of the Beast. He explores the failings of state capture and why so many big fish still swim free. The integration of QR codes in this book create an interactive experience for the reader, bringing to life key video evidence, articles, interviews, testimonials and documents from the Zondo State Capture Commission on Inquiry, as well as as-yet-unseen details, photographs and graphic accounts of relevant events. Truth Be Told Publishing.
State of Terror is the utterly readable thriller, which instantly jumped to the top of the New York Times Bestseller list. And why wouldn’t it? Co-written by Hillary Rodham Clinton, the 67th secretary of state, and Louise Penny, a multiple award-winning novelist, you know there’ll be inside info and expertise, which always makes for an exciting read. It’s all, obviously, American politics, with secret coded warnings, terrorist attacks, a race to develop nuclear weapons, the Russian mob and a burgeoning rogue terrorist organization. A thrill a minute. Simon and Schuster.
Good grief. You’ll just need the one book this holiday if you choose Ken Follett’s latest novel, Never. It’s a whopping 846 pages … a thrilling, action-packed drama from this author who knows how to deliver (and has sold more than 160-million copies of his books to prove it!). With drug-smuggling, human trafficking, terrorist attacks, illegal arms trading, it jumps from a stolen US army drone to a shrinking oasis in the Sahara desert, from a undercover spy working with jihadis to a Chinese spymaster to a US president … fast paced, frantic and massively enjoyable. Pan Macmillan.
“We were trained to permanently neutralise, ideas or people or institutions, on behalf of the government of the day.” Confessions of a Stratcom Hitman is Paul Erasmus’s searing, explosive account of his time as a security policeman during apartheid. In this book, in which Erasmus attempts to come to a reckoning with the atrocities he committed and was party to, he tells of the corruption and power mongering in the South African Police, names names, and ultimately asks himself how he could have done what did. His testimony before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was extensive, and allowed a view into the world of Stratcom. This book takes that testimony a step further. Jacana Media.
Dan Moyane was 10 years old when he lay on his back on a patch of grass at his parents’ home in White City Jabavu, Soweto, looking at the moon and thinking, ‘I don’t want to die unknown.’ The year was 1969, and Neil Armstrong and his team had recently achieved immortality by completing the first moon landing. It was the knowledge that the astronauts would be remembered as long as the world turned that made Dan realise that he, too, would like to be remembered by people outside of his immediate community; just as he would like to find out more about what lay beyond his horizon. In I Don’t Want to Die Unknown, Moyane tell of how he achieved his goal … from his days as a student at the apex of South Africa’s political turmoil, to his years in exile in Mozambique and his first job in media, and the trajectory of a career that would see him become one of South Africa’s most highly regarded and influential broadcasters. Described as part memoir, part legacy, the story provides the framework for his next significant question: How best to use his public profile to benefit his countrymen. Tracey MacDonald Publishers
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