Adder by Christelle van Rooyen-Wessels

Adder Reviews

• 
  Salomé Kotzé

  Wow... n uitstekende debuut, ek het dit baie geniet. Nogal wreed en beslis nie vir sensitiewe lesers nie maar nogtans a good read.
• 
  Christelle Rooyen-Wessels

  Een oggend het ek opgestaan met 'n paar sinne wat in my kop oor en oor bly speel het. Ek is werk toe en het voor die rekenaar gaan sit en dít wat in my kop was, getik. Die sinne het 'n paragraaf geword, toe twee. Ek kon nie ophou nie. Elke paar minute wat ek vry gehad het, is ek terug na die storie op die skerm toe. Ek het aanvanklik geen idee gehad wát ek van plan was om te doen nie - is ek besig met 'n kortverhaal? Is dit 'n liefdesverhaal? Is dit 'n riller? Sal enigiemand dit ooit lees? Toe ek die aanvaardingsbrief van Penguin af kry, was ek oortuig iemand is besig om met my die gek te skeer! As ek nou baie eerlik wil wees: ek kan steeds nie glo dat dié grootste voorreg my ooit te beurt geval het nie. Aan een en elk wat my droom help bewaarheid het - ja, dit sluit elke leser in - sal ek nooit genoeg dankie kan sê nie.
• 
  Allissa

  Trigger warnings for graphic (domestic) violence, rape, violence against animals and trauma.
  
  A novel about a sociopath who physically, emotionally and psychologically abuses his wife and son, Adder is a terrifying depiction of domestic violence in its most extreme forms. Johan, the sociopath, is an irredeemable piece of filth who hides a bubbling, oozing hatred against women under the smiling facade of a successful, handsome and loving provider. His violence does not stop at the door of his opulent home but extends to unsuspecting girls and women who remind him of someone in his dark past. Through multiple points of view, including those of the detectives who are investigating the rape and murders of badly-burnt females and trying to find a missing girl, this novel delves into how the demons of one's past, whether it be a verbally abusive mother or a physically abusive father, can and will affect one's present and future. If we do not face them head-on, we will simply end up feeding them, until they are writhing things within us that manifest in the most horrendous ways.
  
  Christelle van Rooyen-Wessels' debut novel had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I was transfixed and horrified by the unyielding evil of Johan, Klara's husband; his character is misogynism incarnate and embodies the gender-based violence issue which continues to metastasise in South African society. I was engrossed in Johan and Klara's story, how both of them had complicated pasts, but while his helped mould him into a sadistic sociopath, hers took away her will to enact her own agency. And in the middle, we have their son, David, who witnesses his parents' increasingly toxic relationship each day and is by no means unaffected by it. The reader will wonder why Klara does not simply leave her marriage, but van Rooyen-Wessels sensitively and authentically shows why most victims and survivors of domestic violence feel trapped under the weight of the violence they suffer as well as their own insecurities. Meanwhile, badly-burnt women are found in and around their small town, and one goes missing. We end up following the investigation of two detectives who will stop at nothing to find the guilty party and bring them to justice. Their investigation is realistic, full of tension and builds enough anticipation to set fire to an iceberg. Van Rooyen-Wessels also shows how domestic violence can be enacted by people of any gender in a shockingly sickening scene that may cause the most hardened heart to halt in horror and crumble in sympathy.
  
  All in all, Adder is an engrossing, well-written thriller that doesn't pull any punches. It shows that true evil does not just manifest in over-populated hubs of commerce, greed and over-priced pastries, but in tiny towns filled with gossipy neighbours and biscuit-toting grandmas. Aside from the discomfort I experienced reading from a different perspective almost every single chapter, as well as the annoyance I felt reading a romantic subplot devoid of a believable build-up, and being a bit disappointed by how justice is served at the novel's end, I found this read to be one of the best I've read in a while. I can't wait to read another of van Rooyen-Wessels' contributions to the crime/thriller genre.
  
  
• 
  Karin Behrens

  Goeie storielyn, vloeiende dialoog en karakterontwikkeling. Goeie debuut. Sien uit na opvolg of nog boeke deur Christelle van Rooyen - Wessels.