Out to Score is an action-packed crime thriller set in Cape Town against the backdrop of the abalone wars along the Cape coast. It is a story of two private investigators from a two-bit agency involved in seemingly different cases. Mullet Mendes is hired by the wife of a financial consultant. Vincent Saldana is tracking a gang stealing from an abalone farm. But the two cases converge and the action moves from central Cape Town to the suburbs, from Dutch Bay east of the city to Sea Farm on the South Coast, as the detectives hone in on a Triad operator named Jim Woo.
Written jointly by Mike Nicol and Joanne Hichens, this fast and gritty thriller brings the world of the hard-boiled PI to Cape Town.
Published as Cape Greed in the USA
Publisher: Random House Struik
Reception
“One test of a good thriller is that when you get near the end you find that you have to read it all over again to see how it works – how you have failed to see what has eventually become obvious, how the world is not what it seemed to be. Out to Score passes this test – not once, but several times.”
– Janet van Eeden-Harrison, Litnet
“At last, a hard-boiled detective novel that does for Cape Town what Carl Hiaasen has done for Miami.”
– Chris Roper, Marie Claire
“Mendes and Saldana are going places, right to the top of the bestseller lists. And I can’t wait for the next one.”
– Brian Joss, Plainsman
“A truly scarifying race to the bottom.”
– Kirkus Review
“A tale of murder uncomfortably close to home.”
– Vivien Horlier, The Argus
“Gritty, fast paced crime tale captures Cape milieu.”
– Michiel Heyns, Sunday Independent