Bait: To catch a killer

​Author: Janine Lazarus
Publisher: MF – Melinda Ferguson Books
Reviewer: Hazel Makuzeni
This book is about more than just The Norwood Serial Killer’s reign of terror in a suburb in Johannesburg. It’s also about its author: Janine Lazarus. A maverick South African investigative reporter also known as The Queen of Sleaze due to her love for exposing stories that were sensational and truly horrific in the early 1990’s.  
It all begins late 1992 when Janine is a crime investigator for the Sunday Star. Chastised by her editor, Dave Hazelhurst, for not reporting 

on a spate of rape attacks taking place right at her front door, Janine is devastated. How could she miss such a breaking news story? How could she disappoint Hazey, her editor and mentor? The man she worships. And so begins her relentless search for the story, and her obsession with the perpetrator. An obsession that will linger with her for almost 30 years.
This book is riveting from start to finish. Janine is living in a flat on Iris Road in Norwood when the suburb becomes the epicentre of rape and murder. Two women are raped in neighbourhood apartment blocks and the following month, another two are raped and then killed. Working closely with the Norwood Police Station and the hardened detectives from Brixton Murder and Robbery Squad, Janine learns that the killer is of blood type O and prowls on his victims between 10pm and 3am while they’re in their bedrooms. Norwood is gripped with mayhem. Terrified single women move out of the suburb to stay with loved ones.  
A deadly game of cat and mouse ensues. A psychopath is on the loose and our investigative reporter is consumed by what she calls “the biggest crime story of my life.” So determined was she to get the man now dubbed The Norwood Serial Killer, and be the first to break the crime story of the year, Janine agreed to let the Brixton Murder and Robbery Squad use her flat as a surveillance point. I’m hardly surprised that she didn’t hesitate to act as a decoy when asked by the detectives.  
Always drawn to the darker side of life, she has covered gritty stories including: a political assassination, an infamous paedophile, and a sensational crime of passion. A toughened newshound, Janine was never afraid to get her hands dirty. She went to any length to get her story – even posing undercover as a prostitute while working for the Sunday Star. That story left me in stitches.
She left the newsroom in April of 1994. She left in a state of deep trauma.  Bait takes you on the roller-coaster ride that is Janine’s life. Her mother wanted her to study law and settle down with a good Jewish doctor or accountant but that was not to be. Janine is a free spirit. I’m in awe of the things she has done and what she’s been through. There are some chapters in the book that will leave you in disbelief. The Girl Cop chapter is one. I just wanted to weep after reading this – our country is so very violent. I’m not at all surprised then that after all the brutalities she has witnessed, including scenes of decapitated and dying victims of crime, Janine crashed. The diagnosis: severe depression and anxiety.
Bait is a great crime story. The fact that it’s based on someone’s personal encounter with a serial killer makes it even more fascinating - and such a worthwhile read. I’m glad and relieved that Janine Lazarus is still here with us and free at last. ​