••• The International Writers Magazine: Short Review

ICARUS by Deon Meyer Hodder &Stoughton (Hardback) ISBN13: 9781473614383 • Sam Hawksmoor

Benny Griessel is in trouble. He's back on the sauce. A cop has been killed, and a body has been found in a sand dune in Blouberg Strand. Deon Meyer is South Africa's premier thriller writer and understands the Cape well. The plot that involves a company aping Ashley Madison in the USA with a website that provides Alibi's for indiscretions in a very on point and most people who have never been to South Africa won't realise they are quick to pick up on trends and implement them.

Our detective Benny is out of it, drinking himself to oblivion, his partner is trying to cover for him and the case looks so open it's bewildering. Who wouldn't want to kill the owner of a website that wrecks marriages? There's a beautiful girl, a great backdrop in Stellenbosch, one of the prettiest towns in the world and thousands of secrets about to be spilled out onto the web. Can Benny get sober to be of any use at all? The tale a man falling off the wagon after 600 days sober is very poignant and realistic - Meyer understands the need for a drink and the power of self-destruction well.

I love the Deon Meyer books. God knows how he keeps Benny Griessel alive, let alone employed by the Hawks, the elite police unit, but if you have never read one of Meyer's books, it wouldn't hurt to start here.
© Sam Hawksmoor June 2016
author J&K 4Ever

 

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