Irma Venter is a bestselling South African crime fiction writer and journalist. She writes books about strong women, interesting men, and the fascinating space between right and wrong. Her debut in North America, Red Tide, is out from Catalyst Press. Deon Meyer commented, “Red Tide proves it again – Irma Venter is world-class.”
Jaap Reyneke has retired as a detective, but the unsolved murder of his goddaughter on a Karoo farm three years before still eats at him. Everyone else is ready to move on. Not only are they emotionally exhausted by the past events, but they’re afraid other issues that should remain hidden will come to light. They’re right. However, with the assistance of computer whiz Sarah Fourie, Jaap can reopen the case.
The Big Thrill caught up with author Irma Venter to discuss her new book.
Why did you choose to have Jaap outside the police but inside the family for this investigation?
I have always believed that every good thriller works through opposites. The detective versus the criminal; younger versus older characters; those who have given up hope versus those who persist; insider versus outsider, and so forth. This keeps it interesting, not only for the reader but also from the writer’s perspective.
I wanted Jaap to be familiar with the case and its inhabitants, so to speak, but also to battle the case and all of the people attached to it as he continues to seek the truth.
Placing Jaap on the outside of the police force, retired, forces him to ask Sarah for help. Someone like Jaap would never have considered this in his career as a decorated detective.
Placing Jaap inside the family gives the two of them access to much-needed information that allows the case to move forward, despite the family fearing the cost of these efforts.
In both instances, this creates tension and friction.
© Tosca De Villiers
Sarah Fourie’s brilliant computer skills allow her to operate on both sides of the legal line, and she can expertly drive anything with wheels. On the other hand, she has difficulty with human relationships. In Jaap’s case, because he’s a policeman and she’s been convicted of hacking, that’s doubly true. She’s multifaceted, which makes her so interesting. Where did she come from?
The 1995 movie Hackers provided the first spark—a very young Angelina Jolie, also the video game Tomb Raider, with its heroine Lara Croft. I’m also a big fan of breakthrough female protagonists as seen in Alien, Terminator 2, and Sara Paretsky’s V.I. Warshawski crime series. I like to think of Sarah as an amalgamation of all the great female characters I have consumed in media of all sorts. And by great, I don’t mean beautiful and docile, but rather capable and questioning. I don’t believe in the concept of the ‘100% good girl’. In places where women are allowed to exist fully, that stereotype/mould is quickly vanquished.
© Tosca De Villiers
Jaap and Sarah tell the story in alternate sections, each contributing to the plot development but also seeing each other from their different viewpoints. It works extremely well for both plot and character development. What motivated you to develop the book in this way?
As a journalist with about 25 years’ experience, I have learned that there are always, at least, two sides to any story. The same is true in any work of fiction. Writing Red Tide in this manner allowed me to provide insight into how two very different characters from very different backgrounds would approach, and act on, the same information – the same ‘truth’.
Your novels have a powerful sense of place. The Karoo is a very special part of the world, and much of Red Tide is set there, but you also visit Namibia and the North-West in this novel. Is setting important to you for your writing?
Setting is as important to me as any character. It anchors a book in a specific time and place. It is also infused with history, which is especially important in South Africa, with its layered and often unspoken past. The setting also influences the characters and how they behave in a significant manner. In this case, the arid, open Karoo has created good, honest people who know how to survive, but also someone who has reacted differently to that same set of stimuli.
Visual art is a strong theme in the novel. Right from the start, we realize that the killer has staged the murder scene for a reason. What drew you to this subject as a passage into the murderer’s psyche?
I am not a great fan of exalting the criminal. I think South Africa has too much crime for that to ever be the focus of my work. Explaining and magnifying the villain, yes; building an out for them through a torrid past, or long descriptions of their actions, not so much. My books never focus on the criminal. However, it’s important to give the killer some airtime and to speak to their character and ambition. In this case, visual art allows me to do all that without placing the killer on a pedestal.
