Rian Malan
Jonathan Ball. R225

Malan first rose to prominence as the author of the autobiographical novel My Traitor's Heart, which, like the bulk of his work, deals with South African society in a historical and contemporary perspective and focuses on racial relations. His collection of journalism, Resident Alien, was launched last week in Johannesburg, at one of the biggest book events of the year. As a physical object, the volume is an impressive specimen: it runs to a bulky 336 pages; it's got a cover shout from The Times (London) that marks the author out as 'South Africa's Hunter S Thompson'. At first, I thought it was going to be a book I wasn't going to get too excited about. But then I read Malan's introduction, and I knew I'd have to carry on all the way to page 336. Sampson calls it correctly in her blurb: Malan is a dangerously good writer.
- Ben Williams