Spoorloos through other eyes:

Leoné Tiemensma:

In the prologue to SPOORLOOS (Without a trace) two murders set the scene for a mystery, and the dark cloud of these events becomes the thread that runs throughout the story. Tension builds from the first line: “Midnight is always the best time to strike.” The prologue is brought to a close with “You’ll pay for this.”

The lead character, Alex Cloete, had a brilliant future, but he has become a spineless drunk. Alex was a member of a special unit in the defence force. ‘Where did it start? It is the blood on his hands. Blood calls for vengeance.’

Just before her car accident, Mercia had deposited a huge sum of money into his account and he has no idea what this means.

A strange visit leads Alex to believe that Zander is still alive. Alex follows the trail. He is prepared to risk all to get his son back. His adversaries know this, and use it to their advantage.

The story becomes a nightmare. The power-play between and greed of two Greek magnates, Tsiakos and Stavropoulos, become part of the narrative. Major fraud and black-mail underscore the action. The unexpected denouement is truly creative.

Arno Levin:

The average reader wants key elements in a novel. Solid but realistic linguistic skills, structure and credibility are the things at the forefront of one’s mind. Bur it is the story, the relevance, structure and rhythm that fically clinch the novel for the reader. Hennie Aucamp hits the nail on the head when he calls this ‘the naked story’.

These days Afrikaans fiction too often seeks to address the depths of emotion and the soul by emphasising everything but the intrigue. The result becomes a loosely woven collage of the author’s thought images.

The story captures the reader’s attention from the starting blocks and maintains the sort of realism one has come to expect of a Hollywood action movie. Besides one or two spelling errors right in the middle of the book, its language is spot-on and obscenities, that so easily overpower the genre, are used sparingly and accurately.

Perhaps one should conclude that SPOORLOOS (Without a trace) provides a balance between an easily read thriller and a potential prize-winning novel. Riana Mouton successfully satisfies both the experienced critic and the layman. This is not easily achieved.

Irene van Staden:

From within the dark cocoon of his past, Alex Cloete finds an ordinary day-t-day existence difficult. But this is not his worst problem; he is flat broke, everyone regards him as a failure and to crown it all, his ex-wife Mercia has custody of his child, Zander.

Things are complicated even more when his ex-wife dies and his son disappears. The result is a chain reaction of events and emotions that unfolds as a skeleton emerges from just about every closet.

Riana Mouton’s book entertains the reader through the love of a father for his child, and it presents a clear example of the conflicts and secrets that can haunt a family. It is an exemplary element in a story that captures the reader to the last sentence.