THE DIAMOND HUNTERS revolves around the mining of beach and offshore deposits for diamonds, and the rivalry and jealousy of two "brothers" involved in this mining. The detailed and accurately depicted diamond mining methods described will be unfamiliar and informative to most readers. Wilber Smith's novels are characterized by hard edged characters in harsh, unforgiving environments and situations, against implacable foes. When one of Smith's "heros" succeeds, his victory is usually pyrrhic-as is often the case in the real world. This gritty pioneer mentality is appropriate to South Africa. I imagine that many readers will conclude that many of the characters in Smith's novels lack dimension. But that's a failure of people, not of the author. There ARE nasty, vengeful people in the world who are NOT complex, and Smith describes such people accurately. Smith does not attempt to explain such people-which I appreciate (in contrast with most modern novels filled with dreary shallow pop-psychology). Smith's heros are men who manage to exceed the sum of their heredity and environment-as is often the case in the real world. In my opinion, the plot is a bit more complex than it could be, and characters could be filled-in a little more, and more numerous and more detailed descriptive passages would have been appreciated. Even so, THE DIAMOND HUNTERS is a good read.