Other websites that provided essential information were Kalshnikov (www.kalashnikov.guns.ru), Valery Shilin?s Gun Club (www.club.guns.ru), the U.S. Marines (www.hqmc.usmc.mil), Denel (www.denel.co.za), Heckler & Koch (www.heckler-koch.de), Frikkie Potgieter?s rich source on the SADF and SANDF (http://members.tripod.com/samagte/index. html), Frans Nel?s Griekwa Afrikaans (www.ugie.co.za), the Intelligence Resource Program (FAS) (www.fas.org), and the Central Intelligence Agency (www.cia.gov).
To my agent in London, Isobel Dixon: thank you for not giving up on finding a U.S. publisher. To my American editor, Judy Clain: thank you for believing and for this incredible opportunity.
And to the world?s best copyeditor, Stephen H. Lamont: thank you for that magic blue pencil.
Finally, to my wife, Anita: without your love, support, and faith, this would not have happened.
Deon Meyer
Melkbosstrand
March 2004
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Deon Meyer is a freelance strategic consultant in Cape Town, South Africa. He started his career as a newspaper reporter and worked at the University of the Free State, in advertising and Internet strategy, before starting his own company in 2000. He lives in Melkbosstrand with his wife, Anita, and their four children. His Afrikaans novels have been translated into English, French, German, Dutch, Italian, Czech, and Bulgarian. He has won the ATKV literary prize twice, the French Le Grand Prix de Litterature Poli-cicre in 2003, and has been shortlisted for the Sunday Times Fiction Award and M-Net Literary Award. He is passionate about Mozart, cooking, Free State and Springbok rugby, and BMW motorcycles.
