The book is a factual account of the life of an average English speaking white South African male born into a poor to a middle-class family. A boy who had a very good upbringing in a loving, Christian family left home at the age of 17 to join the South African Police.

The horrors that he encountered at such an early age forced him to grow up very quickly and to change most of his worldview. The emotional and spiritual bombardment he experienced was difficult to shake off, making it virtually impossible to assimilate into society once he had left the force behind.

There are quite a few examples and exciting encounters that are there for the reader to grasp what it was like to be a policeman in South Africa at the time. The book is written with brutal honesty often times at the expense of the writer.

The writer makes no excuse for not being politically correct and relays information and accounts as they actually were. Interesting foresight is given regarding the behavior and general life as experienced through the eyes of a policeman.

He was recruited to the Security Branch who was responsible for fighting terrorists. His first deployment was at a clandestine unit, the only Intelligence unit of its kind in SA and was trained in all manner of surveillance.

Some very fascinating accounts with a hint of humour are described to the reader. Again, this gives the average South African as well as any international reader a rare insight into the world of spies, deception and intrigue.

Personal tragedies drove him into a very different kind of intelligence work in a notorious black township. Carrying a lot of baggage into this volatile and violent environment and being used by the powers that be to do “Third Force” operations give rare and unheard-of insight into the history of SA as well as its effect on a young man.

The attempt to escape his situation failed because he found himself asked and doing the same kind of operations as before. He was arrested and betrayed by his friends and mentors.

Attempts were made to silence and kill him. His was a hopeless attempt to fight against a powerful and influential machine within the state.

He went to prison and eventually appeared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission who gave him indemnity. The purpose of the book is to explain and enlighten the average South African to the fact that there are many stories with much pain and anguish that was suffered by unnamed people who, to this day bare the wounds of political expedience.

While the book gives insights into our collective past, it gives honest, sad and humorous insights into a typical South African boy who became a man in the armed forces. I believe that this book gives a very unique and different angle in describing our tumultuous past with brutal and straightforward insight into the present as well as the future of the “Rainbow Nation”.

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