7. SPIRIT OF THE WITCH DOCTOR — SA POLICE SERIES
In the shadow of the Magaliesberge, a rural community is plagued by a series of gruesome and inexplicable murders. The victims are literally torn asunder, and the only clue is the tracks of a single barefoot man. The case is so bizarre that the local police are left powerless, and head office dispatches their finest young detective, Sergeant Kobus Roode, to achieve the impossible. Is this the work of a bloodthirsty beast, or a human with the soul of a monster?
His investigation leads him to Orinoco, the remote tobacco farm of the affluent yet enigmatic Louis de Goede and his beautiful, fiery daughter, Helene. Kobus’s first night on the farm explodes into a nightmare of violence. A lightning-fast attack that claims the life of his faithful dog is followed by a desperate pursuit through the dark woods. He soon realizes that he is not dealing with a single killer, but with a force that seems superhuman and inexorable. In a violent confrontation, he manages to wound one of the creatures and tear a small scrap of khaki material from it. It is a clue that raises more questions than it answers, especially when it mysteriously vanishes the following morning.
As fear paralyzes the community and ancient legends of a witch doctor’s vengeful spirit begin to circulate, Kobus suspects that the true evil is far closer than anyone imagines. On Orinoco, no one is truly who they seem to be. Between the eccentric farmer with his secret experiments, the jealous visitor Andre la Verne, and the terrified farmhands, Kobus realizes he is caught in a web of deceit where the line between man and monster blurs. He is fighting not only an unseen foe of unimaginable strength, but also a cold-blooded plot festering deep in the heart of the farm. To uncover the truth, he will have to face the spirit of the witch doctor, but is this spirit supernatural, or the terrifying product of a deranged human mind?
#SAPoliceSeries
