More than a decade ago, an Elgin man set out to document his experiences working as a crime reporter in South Africa.
But after Marius Louw lost his laptop in a break-in, he had to get a replacement and start writing the book all over again.
Disaster struck once more when this second laptop was irreparably damaged, putting his manuscript back to square one.
His perseverance has now paid off however and his third attempt, Adventures of a Crime Reporter in South Africa, has finally been published.
The book is a catalogue of adventures experienced by Mr Louw during some of his media assignments working for daily newspapers in South Africa over a period of nearly 20 years.
One episode takes the reader into street riots incited by drug barons while in another chapter, the author recalls feeling the wind of passing bullets as he fled for cover during civil unrest and xenophobic attacks in the townships.
He recalls his interview with a glamorous, evasive millionaire couple listed on the FDA/FBI’s most wanted fugitives list, and the particularly harrowing experience following an investigation into a missing child.
The book features the stories and experiences of real people in the wider context of the country’s political and societal unrest and is available online.