School of the Assassins (ePub)

The Ghost Writer meets A History of Violence in this evocative thriller about a half-American, half-South African refugee pitted against an international gauntlet of obstacles while seeking justice for his murdered and displaced family. When Pieter Durant's American-born mother is killed during an invasion of their South African farm by rebel Govan Seme, he vows to avenge her murder. But his sister, Jessie, is leaving for her freshman year at Princeton, and he must shoulder her costs. He joins the exodus of South African mercenaries heading to Iraq in 2007 for lucrative security jobs. Three years later, and now an expert in the Israeli commando defense system of Krav Maga, he arrives at the home of his Los Angeles relatives to recover from an injury. His plans for a swift return to South Africa are quickly complicated by his deepening relationship with a neighborhood woman, Sidney. He also becomes increasingly concerned by his cousin Danny's involvement with a brutal Los Zetas cartel cell laundering money through marijuana clinics. A week before Pieter's departure for South Africa, Detective Joe Palermo executes a sting on a Northridge clinic that employs Danny. Los Zetas retaliates with a full-scale assault and a devious escape. The cell's kingpin, Ernesto Macias, suspects Danny provided incriminating information to the LAPD and orders him to pay an "e;account adjustment"e; of $500,000. Knowing Pieter made a killing in Iraq as a security contractor, Danny begs him for the money. Pieter refuses until learning that Macias has kidnapped Danny's sister, his sixteen-year-old cousin Kenlyn. When the men arrive at Macias' estate in Encino, Danny is beaten and sequestered. Macias offers Pieter work with Los Zetas funneling weapons across the border. Pieter feigns interest. During his bizarre initiation into Los Zetas, seizing on opportunity, he triggers a turf war coup that leaves the cartel cell neutralized and his family free. Pieter at last returns to Johannesburg, where he is immediately arrested for anti-government activities and harshly interrogated. Only the intervention of an indebted FBI ends his imprisonment, and a loyal childhood friend helps him to execute the harrowing recapture of his farm and rescue of his adopted Zulu sister, Cassidy. With justice for his mother finally realized and Govan Seme dead, Pieter secures his family farm and prepares to return to L.A. and the arms of his lover, Sidney. Relevant and thematic with 21st century global realities, School of the Assassins fuses the best classic elements of L.A. crime fiction with the political intrigue of an international action thriller, forging a powerhouse story with knockout impact and appeal.