Deon Meyer is an extremely famous South African author and when I saw that Fever was translated (its original title being Koors) I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if I got approved for the book, being a South African?’ Unfortunately, I didn’t think much further than that and I did get approved. Fever was also my first Meyer book.

I just didn’t enjoy it. I don’t know if something went awry in translation (So I skimmed the Afrikaans translation and it was more interesting in Afrikaans. There was something in the Afrikaans translation that made the story fly, which was obviously missing in the English translation). That and I didn’t enjoy the narration – Nico’s narration – it just felt flat, like he was reciting a monologue and didn’t like it. I really wanted to like the book, mostly because it’s by a South African author, but it just didn’t capture my attention. And it was also a thick book, and it’s difficult to get into a thick book if it doesn’t interest me.

There was a scene where they braaied except in the English translation they used the word ‘barbecue’ and I just laughed because obviously they just translated it and didn’t think of researching if it’s the correct word to use. No South African would use the word ‘barbecue’. I told a friend about it and she laughed too because it’s literally that – “What South African would use the word ‘barbecue?”