Like an expertly paced symphony in words, this novel seethes with sexual tension and barely suppressed violence. Set against the relentless, daemonic beat of Africa's dark heart, it tells of two groups - one white and fun-loving, the other black and fleeing persecution - who meet by chance in the Transvaal's Kruger National Park. The outcome is brutal and brief. But the long-term effects on Rodrigo's refugee band, and on Afrikaner Tom, his English visitor, Rick, and their girlfriends, is devastating. Following a climactic scene of astonishing sexual volte-face - soon to be mirrored in South...