The Mandela Plot was a window into a world that is so unstable, so discomforting, and so random in a way that it has to be real-South Africa in the 1980s was not a great place to be. No one feels like a person you want to know and some raised my incredulity hackles (the evil ones are...really evil) but nevertheless, it was all like a train wreck, I couldn't look away.

Many thanks to NetGalley and publisher for an advanced copy of this intense, propulsive political thriller. At times heartbreaking, tragic, horrifying and repulsive it was always compelling and suspenseful.

The plot takes place in and around Johannesburg starting with conditions during apartheid up to the release of Nelson Mandela and the aftermath. It focuses on the apartheid supporters, the ANC, the inequality of education along with school bullying, the disruptive influence within a Jewish family and the use of power for good or evil.

Although some of the settings and all the main characters are fictional, the story had the ring of truth, even in its most incredible passages. Despite some degree of implausibility it felt very real and was riveted to the pages while reading.

The characters were well developed and believable. They were sometimes admirable and sympathetic, others repellent, some containing both shades of good and evil. Sides were taken through age old beliefs, some coerced through fear or greed, some manipulated through sex or promise of power and riches, or forced into their roles by blackmail.

At the beginning of the book some South African vocabulary and slang, and some unfamiliar Jewish words made it a daunting read initially. The author added a full glossary of meanings at the end of the book. This will work much better in the print copy but was a time consuming task with my Kindle. Most could be figured out from context. This problem didn’t last for long, and soon meanings were often translated within paragraphs where they occurred. It did add to the feeling of authenticity and the story flowed smoothly.

An exciting, suspenseful read for those who enjoy historical, action packed political thrillers.

Life is well regulated in South Africa at the end of the 1980s. Apartheid rules and black and white only meet when the former serves or received commands from the later. Thing are only slightly different in the Jewish Helger household in Johannesburg; having survived the Holocaust, the parents developed a more humane attitude than most of their white fellows. Yet, their routines change with the arrival of an American exchange teacher. Annie Goldberg has come to teach at a primary school in one of the townships – a place none of the Helger family would ever go to. 16-year-old Martin is fascinated by the pretty and radical woman. Her political opinion drastically differs from his parents’ point of view and soon he finds himself in the middle of the struggles to fight for freedom for the oppressed peoples’ hero Nelson Mandela.

The beginning of the novel is immediately captivating. Just as Martin is fascinated by this strange American, the reader also falls for her charisma. She is a freedom fighter who can easily convince her audience with her statements on the current political situation in a way that you just have to agree – knowing that things might be a lot more complicated. The double complex of having a Jewish survivor family who went through oppression by the Nazi regime gives the novel an even more complicated background.

I especially appreciated the long debates between the Helgers and Goldberg, they gave a precise picture of South Africa of that time and the contradicting positions were thus well established. However, even though this was very interesting, it did not add to the suspense. Since the novel is promoted as “literary thriller”, I’d have expected a bit more of that.

At some point of the story, I got a bit lost. Even though I liked the protagonist Martin and his development is well motivated and largely plausible, the plot was a bit unsatisfactory. At the end, I even had the impression that there was a certain lack of idea of how to finish it at all, the solution chosen did everything but convince me. All in all, I had the impression that the novel wanted to be too much: a thriller, historical fiction, coming-of-age and also the specific aspects of the surviving Jew – it obviously cannot serve all expectations aroused and therefore to conclude, it is only partly recommendable.

This book is very important. Obviously, I knew about Apartheid in South Africa, but with all the things going on in the world, past and present, one cannot be an expert on everything. But this book really showed me and made me understand what it must have been like. The hatred on both sides, the depth of the segregation, the far-reaching propaganda, the constant threat of violence ... However, it was by no means a dry history book. There is plenty of character development, action, and even romance.

The main protagonist Martin finds himself in an interesting position in the politics of South Africa. He and his family are Jewish. So, they are white, yet also a shunned and ridiculed minority. As such, he stands between the lines in a way. That, plus I had never even considered a big Jewish community in South Africa of all places after World War II. The ever-present danger and violence mentioned above made reading this story very intense. I also enjoyed how the big national politics sometimes mirrored and sometimes contradicted the personal and family level and people just trying to survive.

In the end, even though I gave this book 5 stars, I was a little skeptical. Maybe the book should have stopped about 4/5th of the way through. That would have been fine. For the remaining chapters, "well, that escalated quickly!" is a nice description, and I am not sure how realistic it was. I did like that nothing was too convenient, yet everything was tied up nicely. One loose end for me was the backstory and motif of the villain, whose connection to and hatred for Martin's father I did not understand. Other than that, though, this is a brilliant and multifaceted novel about a very violent, highly political, and important part of South African history.

This book is a coming of age novel that explores Johannesburg in the late 1980s. This was a period of extreme upheaval. This was a difficult read for me because of the use of various languages and dialect. I’m going out on a limb by recommended not trying it on a Kindle because of the use of various languages. The author does provide a guide to the dialects at the end of the book. Flipping back and forth on a Kindle took the fun out of reading the book, which likely is a good read. I eventually decided to not completely read the entire book as it was not conducive to an enjoyable read.

Thanks to #NetGalley for the advance ebook in exchange for an honest review. I would like to read this again as a real book, and hope that I will get a better understanding of the plot.

Fascinating coming of age novel that explores J-burg in the late 1980s. For those old enough to remember, this was a period of extreme upheaval and Martin is right in the center. The back and forth of the GSA against the anti-apartheid movement is brought home within his family. This is a challenging read and I do not recommend trying it on a kindle because of the use of various languages- for which Bonert helpfully provides a guide at the end of the book. I read along without it, doing my best to understand and in some case googling. That's not a criticism because the mixture made it all the more realistic but it is something to note in advance. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me. I do not enjoy a book written in dialect, and when it is first person and a dialect I am unfamiliar with, this one was just too difficult to get into. I couldn’t find the cadence and didn’t understand the lingo.

An epic story of a Jewish teenager in South Africa during Apartheid and his run ins with a crooked cop. Martin Helter is every kid until a young American teacher gets him involved in a plot to aid in releasing Nelson Mandela from prison. The plot and the story evolves in a fast and detailed pace that comes together in the end.

Copy provided by the Publisher and NetGalley

I absolutely LOVE that this book feels authentic, complete with words that are native to South Africa. However, as an E-Reader, it was next to impossible to keep continuity as I had to constantly go to the glossary and look up the words then go back to my place in the story. So I gave up. But I plan to read this in print when I can put a book mark in the glossary to flip back to it.

So, for right now, it is a DNF just because I found it too difficult to keep in the story with the swiping back and forth all the time.