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Before writing novels, Max Annas worked as a journalist and renowned film critic. He lived for many years in South Africa but currently resides in Berlin. His fiction was included in Berlin Noir, edited by Thomas Wörtche (published by Akashic Books). The Farm is currently under film production in South Africa. Rachel Hildebrandt Reynolds, founder of the Global Literature in Libraries Initiative (GLLI), is the translator of multiple novels from German to English, including Annas’ The Wall, which World Literature Today listed as one of the 75 notable translations in 2019.
PRAISE FOR THE WALL Annas works like a film director, bombarding us with shot and counter-shot. The reader races to the explosion... an actual shootout. The Wall is a fantastic, yet very funny, novel... Fast, hard and dangerous. A cheetah in book form. Die Welt (review of the German edition) Fear and distrust of anyone who counts as 'the other.' [...]...jam-packed with action, thrills and suspense. A brilliant success! Deutschlandradio Kultur (review of the German edition) Ducking, hiding, running - these are what drive the novel's dynamics, its minute-by-minute choreography. Instincts dictate behaviors. In this case: prejudice, aversions, and racism. Suddeutsche Zeitung (review of the German edition) This novel unspools at a sprint: split seconds decide over life and death, twists and turns are plotted with an author's stopwatch, multiple strands entangling, separating, knotting up--with fateful, in the end also fatal consequences. The Wall is a portrait in black and white of the new South Africa, with fully realized characters--even the police dog has psychological depth--drawn from across this dynamic country's fragmented society. The Wall is also, as the title suggests, an allegory of both enclosure and separation: characters locked in their gated communities, locked inside their lives--or locked out. What a romp! --Jeff Garrett, librarian and co-owner Bookends and Beginnings bookstore Max Annas deftly weaves together suspense, humour, and social commentary in a fast-paced story about class conflict and survival. The Wall is a taut, captivating thriller. Highly recommended. --Sam Wiebe, award-winning author of Invisible Dead and Cut You Down. The Wall keeps the reader running alongside the protagonist who goes searching for help in the wrong place at the wrong time. Set in South Africa, this movie-like thriller is a must-read for anyone who loves fast-paced action. Anja Gutbrod-Pollitz, Towne Center Books, Pleasanton California Sometimes a crime novel comes along that hits pay dirt. The Wall is one of those. It takes you up and rushes you through to the mad-cap ending and leaves you wanting more. The characters are wonderful, their antics more so, and, to top it all, the story is laugh out loud hilarious. Long have I suspected that this is how life plays out in South Africa's gated communities. If you like your crime fiction fast and funny, then The Wall is your book. Mike Nicol, author of Agents of State and Sleeper The Wall was a thrilling chase through an unusual and surprisingly frightening setting: a well-to-do gated community in South Africa [...] Moses is a compelling every-man protagonist, caught up in a case of mistaken identity, and the cinematic quality to the story telling takes you running right alongside him as he eludes capture. --Natalie Draper, Richmond Public Library (Virginia) [Annas] turns this cat and mouse game into a life and death struggle that catches you up in its drama and suspense. --Lively Arts magazine The Wall is a breathless, irrepressible thriller that packs a punch. --NB Magazine [A] refreshing snappy crime caper --The Herald (South Africa)
