Hello series

Hello is a thriller based on a true story that happened in Thembisa. After reading this first volume, observant readers will immediately make the connection between this story and the decuples hoax story the so-called Thembisa 10 in 2021, because the common denominator in both tragicoms is one and the same woman who nearly fooled the nation to believe she had birthed 10 babies in one morning then the next day cried foul claiming that in the cover an unknown hand of darkness had virtually disappeared her babies. In the virtual world, this was virtually true but in our real world it turned out to be a bad drama played out by an unrehearsed actor. Modi played the same card to the unsuspecting father of the triplets when one Friday morning in September 2018 snatched TAM from Steve Biko Academic hospital in an effort to block the father from joint custody. The character portrayed by Modi is presented as conniving, scheming, deadly but gripping in its intensity. A tragedy worthy of fiction, crafted from documented facts and reconstructed from memory. In Hello Stranger, the author presents a backstory, the heart of the tale unravelling its intricacies bringing to light five years of high search and rescue. Camouflaging the macabre details with a forest of nifty interesting titbits, the author has succeeded in circumventing the horrifying to broach the philosophical.  At its core, this is a story of loss, tenacity, and hope. A story of compassion and forgiveness connecting with the readers at a deeper emotional level. Topics such as child trafficking and the impact of estrangement on parents adds depth and relevance to the story making it more relatable in a contemporary culture of child-trafficking and infanticide.Hello is a thriller based on a true story that happened in Thembisa. After reading this first volume, observant readers will immediately make the connection between this story and the decuples hoax story the so-called Thembisa 10 in 2021, because the common denominator in both tragicoms is one and the same woman who nearly fooled the nation to believe she had birthed 10 babies in one morning then the next day cried foul claiming that in the cover an unknown hand of darkness had virtually disappeared her babies. In the virtual world, this was virtually true but in our real world it turned out to be a bad drama played out by an unrehearsed actor. Modi played the same card to the unsuspecting father of the triplets when one Friday morning in September 2018 snatched TAM from Steve Biko Academic hospital in an effort to block the father from joint custody. The character portrayed by Modi is presented as conniving, scheming, deadly but gripping in its intensity. A tragedy worthy of fiction, crafted from documented facts and reconstructed from memory. In Hello Stranger, the author presents a backstory, the heart of the tale unravelling its intricacies bringing to light five years of high search and rescue. Camouflaging the macabre details with a forest of nifty interesting titbits, the author has succeeded in circumventing the horrifying to broach the philosophical.  At its core, this is a story of loss, tenacity, and hope. A story of compassion and forgiveness connecting with the readers at a deeper emotional level. Topics such as child trafficking and the impact of estrangement on parents adds depth and relevance to the story making it more relatable in a contemporary culture of child-trafficking and infanticide.

In Hello brave the attention shifts to the antagonist, Mastandi the father of the triplets narrated from the antagonist point of view. Mastandi a handsome, middle-age, unmarried man, his handsomeness had only intensified over the years. The hair at his temples has begun to turn grey and has grown a thin salt‑and‑pepper moustache that made him look like Omar Sharif. Like a film star, he wore sunglasses everywhere. But it wasn't only his bronzed face, his square jaw, the white teeth that he flashed on the rare occasions when he smiled. It wasn't only this that made him handsome. His manliness had matured like a fine wine. His movements were smoother, his voice deeper. His emotional stiffness seem like self‑control, and his humourless expression made him look like some beast, slumped in the sand, apparently listless, but that can, with a single bound, descend upon its prey with ferocity and devour it. Mastandi presents a sensitive, patient, analytical, unpretentious but deadly character who plays a long game when dealing with Modi. Although Mastandi has the resolve and determination to find TAM, he displays a remarkable lack of anger and urgency in doing so even when he faced abuse and mistreatment at the hands of Modi. Despite the grave subject matter and a mournful voice that is pervaded with a terrible feeling of premonition, Mastandi realises the interiority of his character through digression and deferral by using lyricism and lofty tones.

Shifting from the protagonist and her antagonist to the central character about whom the fight for custody seems to be raging brings its own drama. Rightly, the author centralises the voice of TAM in the story. In Hello beautiful ones the book is light, irresistibly warm, strangely consoling and ruefully mordant. With no care in the world TAM are growing as well as any children would. They are happy. Rowena and Mastandi spared no cent to provide a cushy life for the three Hebrews compensating for the abandonment they suffered earlier formative years. They were trying to remove the stigma of fatherless/motherless by engineered the kind of life that would give TAM love, unfortunately, they ended up erasing the memory of Modi from her children - an unintended consequence. What will happen to TAM when they reach young adult age? Will they forgive Modi when they learn what she did to them when they were innocent and vulnerable, or will they turn the tables on their stepmom when they learn of her plot to erase Modi's from their memory? The reader is invited to take a leap into the future and imagine what life might be if TAM were to reunite with one parent only to lose the other permanently. this is a riveting story, a collection of palimpsests that make for a satisfying read. Readers will find the novel relatable as much as it is absorbing.