Book: From Where I Stand Author: George Rampai Publisher: Mbali Press “It is thrilling to see that an authentic ‘township boy’, George Rampai has successfully weaved together an intriguing thriller titled, From where I stand ; a work that comes close to being a world class novel. On his own admission, Rampai over the decades has been heavily influenced by euro-centric thriller writers; most especially James Hadley Chase. In fact the reader will be forgiven to think that he/she was reading one of Chase’s thrillers transplanted onto the townships, whilst reading this book. Examples of such hackneyed phrases made famous by Chase are found many times in this beautifully written book, to the point of absurdity. Cheap, melodramatic turns of action hit you. Ineluctably, for example, we do not in reality confront black people practically "blushing" as often happens in this book. Even some of the names are not rooted in the ambience of Black township life as you know it, e...