CATALYST PRESS
CRACKERJACK
ISBN 978-1-946395-11-5 | trade paper | $16.00 | publication date Feb 2019
Book one of Peter Church’s Dark Web Trilogy
Young, bright and sexy, Carla Vitale has been handpicked to run Supertech, Africa’s leading independent Engineering firm. Then one Friday afternoon in Cape Town, her dream is shattered. Her boss and mentor, Nial Townley, disappears, his luxury vehicle is found in a crevice at the bottom of Chapman’s Peak, and 20 million is missing from the Supertech’s overseas accounts. Three months later and the police are no closer to solving the riddle.
No job, no car, no phone, Carla turns to the one person she believes can help: software hacker turned day-trader, Daniel Le Fleur. But Le Fleur’s maintaining a low profile in Bantry Bay and he’s in no mood to ruin the serendipity.
Reading Group Guide
Other Books in the Series
REVIEWS
“Crackerjack is a smart, cleverly plotted thriller that takes readers into the darker corners of the digital world. South African novelist Peter Church has created a great protagonist in hacker/day trader Daniel Le Fleur.” —James Lilliefors, author of The Leviathan Effect and The Psalmist
“Action, danger, a fast-pace and a really entertaining book.” —Colman Keene, Col’s Criminal Library
“All the more impressive when considering that Crackerjack is author Peter Church’s debut as crime novelist to an American readership, this impressively original and deftly crafted paperback will prove to be an immediate and enduringly popular addition to community library collections and the personal reading list.” —Midwest Book Review
“Church’s characters are strong and believable, and the plot keeps the pages turning.” —New York Journal of Books
“[A] rough-edged page-turner in a similar pacy vein to the thrillers of best-selling author Deon Meyer, and fellow Afrikaans writer Irma Venter.”” —The Herald (South Africa)
“Church piles on the thrills” Karen Watkins, Independent Newspapers
“Peter Church is back – and more thrilling than ever.” Times Live (South Africa)
“A cyber thriller to keep you spellbound.” Vaal Weekblad (South Africa)
“Crackerjack has a complex plot with unexpected twists and turns.” Sunday Times (South Africa)
“Action-packed, with great narration and compelling characters, this thriller a twisted, entertaining listen.” AudioFile (Review of the audio version)
Peter Church is a South African fiction novelist renowned for the dark and racy nature of his writing. His debut novel, Dark Video, was published by Random House in South Africa and Australia in 2008, and delved into a sordid world of online video sharing. This was followed up in 2011 with Bitter Pill, a thriller dealing with the scourge of drink spiking on the local club scene. Bitter Pill was long listed for the Sunday Times Fiction Prize in the same year. Church lives in Cape Town with his wife, the artist Paula Church, and three children. He is a member of SA’s PEN association of writers and his short stories have been published in a number of local anthologies. Learn more about Peter at his website and follow him on Facebook.
AUTHOR PETER CHURCH