Deon Meyer says writing his new book, Fever, was eighteen months of ‘pure joy, and intense enjoyment’.

Fever is something of a departure for Meyer, being a post-apocalyptic thriller rather than the crime novels he has become famous for.

Writing in a blogpost for legendary independent bookstore Foyles in the UK, Meyer explains why he had such fun writing the book:

The strange thing about writing Fever was that it happened to be the most fun I’ve ever had in working on a novel – almost eighteen months of just about pure joy, and intense enjoyment.

I don’t know exactly why this book was such a pleasure to write. Perhaps because I had to wait so long? My wonderful agent Isobel Dixon said “Wait,” when I told her about my need to write the book four years ago. “You can write it, but not now,” she said. “You still need to establish yourself as a crime author in several countries first.”

So, I wrote two crime novels during that period, with Fever simmering in the back of my head. Which allowed me to collect more ideas, and contemplate more possibilities than any book before it.

Perhaps it was the freedom of writing something outside the conventions and structure of crime fiction, the freedom to paint on a larger, more adventurous canvas, that was so much fun?

There was also the fact that the research was so different, and utterly fascinating.

To read the full post, click on the link above.

For more about the book, click here!

Categories Fiction International South Africa

Tags Deon Meyer Fever Jonathan Ball Publishers