A very good post apocalyptic novel set in South Africa by Meyer, who usually writes grittily crime novels. The characters are well delineated, and the story hums along mostly. And there is a doozy of a plot twist at the end that you probably wont see coming. My complaints are two fold—the book is too long—shortening it would have made it tighter and more exciting and second the multiple pov’s were distracting and hard to follow at times. Still if you like this kind of book like I do, you’ll really like Fever.

Atlantic Monthly Press and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Fever. I voluntarily chose to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

A coronavirus kills 95% of the population. The people who are left have to struggle, not only with the elements and with dog packs, but with roving gangs that would rather pillage or kill. Willem Storm, and his son Nico, have scavenged and survived despite the odds. Will a desire to unite the populace provide needed comfort or cause more issues than it solves?

Although Fever is not a recently published book, it has implications for the worldwide trouble in which we find ourselves. I really wanted to like this book, as I was a fan of both Nico and Willem early on, but the author goes off the rails too much. In trying to tell the story of the many inhabitants, through a series of audio recordings, the progression of the plot is constantly interrupted. My biggest problem with the novel is the turn it takes towards the ending. I found it to be utterly ridiculous and overwhelmingly unrealistic. For these reasons, I would not recommend Fever to other readers.

This is an incredibly slow paced book. There are a lot of good parts to the story - I liked some of the characters, I really liked the premise - but I found the writing quite difficult to get in to. This is however a interesting take on the post-apocalyptic genre and humanity as a whole.

What an absolutely fantastic book this was. Fever begins with Nico and his father Willem, on the road after the devastating and titular fever has swept the world and carried off ~90% of humanity. Our two protagonists are making their way around South Africa, until the story makes a left turn and sets aside the travelling in favour of resettling a better world.

This is definitely more The Stand than The Road, though it doesn't use religion to separate its bad and good guys. Rather, religion, like every other potential divisive point of humanity, is something the survivors have to settle among themselves. And at the heart of it all is Nico, running a thread of coming-of-age and self discovery that somehow doesn't muddy the plot at all, but instead is masterfully used to lift things just when they're needed.

At no point does this book shy away from the truly heartwrenching aspects of survival, but it remains one of the most hopeful and beautifully written books I've read this year. Nico's father and his vision for a better, more egalitarian, more nature-friendly, more cooperative world will stay with me for a long, long time.

My very sincere thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing a copy in return for an honest review.

This book Fever by Deon Meyer is not for me. I did not finish reading it. I will not be posting a review.

Reason why I chose the book:

Deon Meyer is an extremely famous South African author and when I saw that Fever was translated (its original title being Koors) I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if I got approved for the book, being a South African?’ Unfortunately, I didn’t think much further than that and I did get approved. Fever was also my first Meyer book.

Reason why I’m not finishing it:

I just didn’t enjoy it. I don’t know if something went awry in translation (So I skimmed the Afrikaans translation and it was more interesting in Afrikaans. There was something in the Afrikaans translation that made the story fly, which was obviously missing in the English translation). That and I didn’t enjoy the narration – Nico’s narration – it just felt flat, like he was reciting a monologue and didn’t like it. I really wanted to like the book, mostly because it’s by a South African author, but it just didn’t capture my attention. And it was also a thick book, and it’s difficult to get into a thick book if it doesn’t interest me.

Any thoughts I had while reading it:

There was a scene where they braaied except in the English translation they used the word ‘barbecue’ and I just laughed because obviously they just translated it and didn’t think of researching if it’s the correct word to use. No South African would use the word ‘barbecue’. I told a friend about it and she laughed too because it's literally that - "What South African would use the word 'barbecue?"

This post apocalyptic fiction was very slow paced. The narrative was told in disjointed fashion by journal entries and interviews. It turns out that community building is very boring to read about. I don't know whether the book ever gets beyond this because I gave up at the 25% point. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

Two of the few survivors of a worldwide pandemic referred to as the "Fever", Willem Storm and his adolescent son Nico set out to find the perfect place to build a new world. Once that place has been found, the intellectually curious, ethically minded Willem does all he can to build a community, a democracy, that is truly equal and equitable. Though the community begins to grow and adopt Willem's principles, the world is not as it once was and outsiders with different ideas of how to survive in a post-apocalyptic world threaten what they've built.
In the meantime, Nico is growing up and realizing that he doesn't necessarily agree with her father's worldview. He resents the amount of time his father has to dedicate to the rebuilding of their little slice of civilization, and he turns to the town's military leader as his new idol. Nico is a natural sharpshooter, a natural soldier, and Domingo is an excellent trainer. But Nico's pursuits are so different from his father's that they begin to pull away from each other.
Eventually, the outside world catches up with them, and when it does, Nico's perspective of his father, and his life, is changed forever.

Things I love about this book:

" It's post-apocalyptic
" Despite being written from Nico's perspective, it is most definitely NOT YA (which I love, but some good adult post-apocalyptic stuff is refreshing)
" The setting is Africa not the US or the UK or Australia. It felt like visiting new territory, particularly as the author gave a lot of description of the territories they were in, using words I'd never heard or read before. It felt like I learned something, and it definitely expanded my interest in learning more about Africa.
" At 544 pages, it is a pretty deep dive into the characters and their relationships
" Though it is definitely post-apocalyptic, there is a bit of mystery as well
" The ending was surprising and brilliant
" Willem Storm had started creating an oral history of the people in the community, interviewing different people. The book is written by a 40-something year old Nico looking back, and in every chapter, parts of these oral histories are shared, a sort of epistolary approach that gave tidbits of insight into the people of Amanzi

What I didn't like about this book:

" Nothing. This character driven tale of a father/son relationship amidst the unbelievable strain and struggle caused by rebuilding some semblance of society in a post-apocalyptic world was a terrific read.

If you are a fan of post-apocalyptic stuff and you love a good character-driven story, it's worth the time investment. Wonderfully written, insightful, a pleasure to read.

Set in South Africa after a devastating sickness has wiped out billions, this story follows Nico Storm and a group of survivors as they try to rebuild. I especially liked Nico's father - a gentle, philosophical man with a vision of what humanity could and should be. I'd recommend this to readers like me who enjoy post -apocalyptic fiction - I think it was an interesting view in how a community can rebuild.

I requested this because it is set in South Africa and my partner was about to embark on his internship of three months. I like dystopian novels but this one is just so unbelievably dull and feels like it’s a lot longer than it is. I think I made it about 40% in when I put it down (on my flight back from South Africa) and just never picked it up again. It is not a bad book but just not for me. My main problem was with the main character: a young boy that feels real but thus is very annoying.

Fantastic story with great detail. This may be my find of 2017, this is not the passage novel; this is 200% better. Read on people

I am unable to give a review of this title as it was lost when my kindle was updated.

For those of you who haven't yet experienced the joy of a Deon Meyer novel, here's a warning - maybe you shouldn't start with this one.

Fever is set in South Africa in the aftermath of a deadly virus, and features Nico Storm, and his father, Willem. They're driving a truck with supplies, and there are dangers from every side - the biker gangs, the desperate souls who need them and the life they promise, and even their friends. Because in a fight for survival, can friends also become commodities, traded to the highest bidders?

They gather wonderfully interesting characters - "starting with Melinda Swanevelder, whom they rescue from brutal thugs; Hennie Fly, with his vital Cessna plane; Beryl Fortuin and her ragtag group of orphans; and Domingo, the man with the tattooed hand, whom Nico immediately recognizes as someone you want on your side. And then Sofia Bergman arrives, the most beautiful girl Nico has ever seen, who changes everything."

It’s like I woke up from a dream and discovered Deon Meyer stepping outside his comfort zone of detective Benny Griesel - is he up to solve this one, or will he get lost in the fog of his own depression and drinking - to write a futuristic thriller set in the beautiful South African landscape.


It’s bold, and paints a canvas across the beautiful Karoo. You can smell the dust, hear the rushing river, and feel the searing heat, wondering if your water will last until you reach the next ghost town.

And maybe that's why your first impression of Deon Meyer should be an amazing Benny Griesel whodunnit. Because, I fear, going back to that jaded broken well-loved cop will not be the same after having read this.

I liked the setting of this novel and the character developments. It was also greatly plotted out with surprising reveals!

There have been plenty of end-of-world novels in recent years. Most of them are dark and depressing, showing humanity at its worst as the few survivors struggle to live and fight over the remaining limited resources. While they provide a warning as to how quickly society will turn on itself, they tend to rely on scare tactics and a pessimistic outlook to make their points. In his latest novel, Deon Meyer opts to stay away from similar patterns and forges his own story about a post-apocalyptic world. That novel, Fever, is not just exciting and suspenseful, as such novels tend to be, it is also hopeful, making it one of the better novels I have read all year.

While the novel appears to be about Nico and his coming-of-age in the new settlement established by his father for survivors, we learn from the first sentence of the novel that it really is about his father's murder. Before we get to that point though, Mr. Meyer, through Nico, establishes the complete backstory so that when the event occurs, we understand the context and implications. It is a huge event in the settlement's history and in Nico's life, and Mr. Meyer gives it the careful attention it deserves. Without the established history, the murder would mean so much less to the reader. Plus, there is a whodunit factor that makes it fun to play along and test your theories.

The publisher calls Fever an epic, and it is a fitting description. The story is sweeping in its scope. Mr. Meyer takes his time establishing his characters and building the setting in which a majority of the novel occurs. Occurring over four years, we become part of Amanzi first as Willem encourages survivors to come together to build a new, better society and later as they struggle to overcome certain obstacles to the settlement's survival. These obstacles cross the spectrum from environmental to political to human, and as they battle and survive each one, we become just a little more vested in their society. The characters take on a life of their own as well, as Willem's rag-tag bunch of followers coalesces into a cohesive community. When this happens, their successes become our successes, their tragedies our own. The scope of the novel is ambitious. Under the wrong pen, the novel could easily fall apart, turning into a mess of characters and events with nothing to tie them together. Instead, Mr. Meyer deftly weaves the novel together, taking his time to develop and flesh out the details which in turn makes the story come alive.

Given everything Nico witnesses and experiences, it would be easy to say that the story is about bad people and good people fighting against each other to stay alive. The funny thing is though that as Amanzi begins to thrive, through hard work, dedication, and the talent of its citizens, that clear line between good and bad begins to fade. It is easy to vilify a group of individuals who does nothing more than scavenge, especially when their scavenging comes with violence against those who have the items they want/need. What Nico comes to learn, and later shows, is that there is a fine line between good and bad and that sometimes it all comes down to perspective. It is an interesting lesson to learn, especially as the entire globe struggles with growing ideological divides and a growing trend of dividing the world into us versus them.

Excellent novels have a way of drawing you into the story and making you forget they are fictional. Through well-developed characters and an attention to detail that is exacting and yet interesting, you become part of the novel. Fever does just that. You are standing vigil with Nico as he shares his past adventures, thoughts, and feelings during the four year period between first settling down and his father's murder. You are with him as he makes his first shot. You are beside him as he acknowledges his unreasonable teenage behavior even while it is happening. You are next to him as he learns about his father's death. His grief becomes your grief. His anger yours. To the point where you forget what is real and what is not. It takes several minutes upon halting a reading session to remember who you are as well as where you are. It takes a special novel for this to occur every time you take a break in reading, but Fever is one of the rare few that has that ability to capture and hold a reader's total attention and imagination and completely block out the rest of the world.

Suffice it to say, Fever is an excellent novel. It is fresh and exciting; the focus on strangers coming together to build something good and lasting is not just refreshing but needed. In today's political environment, we need stories that remind us that humans are good, that we can work together, that we can compromise and find common ground. Fever fills that void. An added bonus is the careful way in which Mr. Meyer builds the mystery of Willem's murder, allowing this key event to occur in chronological order rather than upfront. The lack of flashback, if you will, means that you never forget what will happen, and you begin to look at each character and every event with the air of a detective trying to solve a crime before it happens. This only enhances a reader's interest in the story at large, making it exciting and suspenseful as well as hopeful.

Fever has a little bit of everything to please a wide range of readers. It does not cross genres so much as it incorporates different elements. There is the dystopian feel from the life-ending virus that wipes out almost everyone plus the lonely landscape with few survivors. There is the sociological and political elements of establishing and maintaining a new community. There is the action and suspense that comes with defending that community. Plus you have Nico's emotional turmoil, as he tells the story from his teenage perspective. It may be hefty in length, but the story is so engrossing that the length becomes a non-issue. Fever is a genuinely good story backed up by fantastic characters and some of the best world-building one will get, making this a must-read for any who enjoy this type of story.

I really tried, several times, to get into this book but I just wasn't enjoying it and couldn't finish. I think others will enjoy it, it just wasn't for me.

This is quite an epic book! Although long,I think a lot of it was needed as it did create a whole new 'world' after a virus wiped out 90% of the world's population.I loved the character Domingo.There were a few really surprising moments that kept me interested.Overall,a good read.

Gorgeously atmospheric and smart. One of Deon Meyers' best!

Love, love, loved this book!! Very well written and researched. I was so caught up in the world the author created I finished this story and was left gasping for more! Immediately!! On the bright side it looks like there WILL be more to come. Unfortunately I have to wait!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story. It captured my attention from the beginning. I loved it.