The fact that Deon Meyer isn't widely read in the UK is nothing short of criminal: his Cape Town-set series featuring Benny Griessel are consistently brilliant, with fast-paced plotting that blends police procedural with thriller. Following the events of The Last Hunt, The Dark Flood finds Griessel and his partner Vaughn Cupido demoted from the elite SAP Hawks and exiled to Stellenbosch (a leafy university town in wine country, north of Cape Town). But, inevitably, where they go trouble and intrigue must follow, as a missing persons case turns out to be more complicated than expected.

Once again a 5 star read from Meyer.

I'm always excited when a new Deon Meyer book comes out, especially when Benny's back. I wasn't disappointed.

So, to the book...Benny and Vaughn barely escape being fired - they're busted and sent to a kind of "hick" police station, where they've got to work mundane cases - not the sexy stuff that the Hawks do. Their first case is a missing persons case - a student's gone missing and his mother's very worried. As the duo investigate, they realise this isn't just a student away for a drunken weekend, it's far more serious.

Then the parallel story...Sandra the real estatge agent is suffering financially - no property sales = no commission = no money! She's nearly bankrupt - and she's desperate. Sandra's then approached by a disreputable and disgraced (alleged) fraudster, who wants to unload one of his properties. If only it were that simple, he's a sexual predator and he wants more than the sale from Sandra

And then...a policeman's shot dead in a gangland style killing...but there's more to it than appears because....

....well, that's enough teasing. You'll have to read the book and find out. No spoilers here!

What I thought - Meyer's writing is excelllent. He's an artist that brings together realistic and believable characters, strong plots, well paced writing and such a strong sense of place - you can close your eyes and believe you're in Stellebosch, it's that good. He's also on the mark with contemporary themes in South African society, particularly State Capture, where corrupt politicians pillage the economy for their own financial gain. I suspect he hasn't made many friends with these themes, but carries on doing it!

Final verdict - I think I may have written this about a previous Deon Meyer book, but I feel the same about this book - Don't wait - just get this book as soon as you can!

I would like to thank Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for a review copy of The Dark Flood, the seventh novel to feature Captain Benny Griessel of South Africa’s Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation’s Unit for Serious and Violent Crimes, otherwise known as the Hawks, based in Cape Town.

After the events of The Last Hunt Benny and his partner, Vaughn Cupido, are demoted, suspended and then sent to work in Stellenbosch as a punishment. On their first day they are asked to work a missing person case, Callie de Bruin, a twenty year old genius student, has not been seen for almost three days. Benny and Vaughn uncover enough oddities in the situation to find it worrying. At the same time estate agent, Sandra Steenberg, is facing ruin due to the tanking of the market, caused by the illegal activities of Jasper Boonstra who employed many of the town’s inhabitants before his fall. Now he wants Sandra to sell a vineyard that can’t be traced to him.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Dark Flood, which is the first novel from Mr Meyer that I have read. Firstly I will say that it works well as a stand-alone and I didn’t feel that I had missed much by not reading the previous novels, except, perhaps, how the characters developed their relationships, but, even then, that’s a would like rather than a necessity for reading the novel. I liked the fact that the author references the title of the novel concerned when mentioning past events, it’s a classy touch.

The plot never stops. The narrative switches between Sandra and her dealings with Boonstra and the police investigation into Callie’s disappearance and further related matters. Sandra’s narrative is initially quite repetitive, money worries and fending off Boonstra, but it’s constantly tense and seems very realistic to me - she has to keep him happy to earn the commission that allows her to live her life. It’s a sad indictment of life for many women. I love the turn her story takes and, especially, the sting in the tail at the end, which is quite delicious. The investigation is, to a point, a standard police procedural, but with state capture (me neither, I had to Google it, but basically it’s wholesale state sponsored corruption) a constant feature of life in the South African police service distrust is the currency of the moment. The question, therefore, is how do you investigate when you can’t trust your fellow officers? Benny and Vaughan’s method is to get the head down and charge.

The investigation held my attention from start to finish, but that’s not all there is to the novel. I’ve mentioned Susan and her problems, but there’s also that trust issue. It’s clever how the author manages the reader’s perception of the supporting characters and situations as the novel progresses. Nothing and nobody are quite what they seem so there are several twists and surprises, not least the unexpected humour in the novel.

The Dark Flood is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

I thought The Dark Flood was excellent. I have enjoyed all of the books I have read in this series but I think this is the best so far. This works as a stand-alone, but it would probably help to have read some previous ones – especially its immediate predecessor, The Last Hunt.

In the fallout from The Last Hunt, Benny and Vaughan are threatened with dismissal, but escape – just – with demotion and banishment from the Hawks to a provincial posting. There, they work on a puzzling Missing Person case; in the meantime disgraced millionaire Jasper Boonstra is involved in some shady property dealing and eventually the two become linked in a tangled web of deceit and corruption.

It’s brilliant. I was hooked from the start; the pacing and structure are excellent and there is a lot of genuine excitement (including a climax which is actually both plausible and thrilling). The background of South Africa in the last days of the Zuma presidency is excellently and subtly done in both the social set-up and the dreadful corruption of “state capture”. The relationship between Benny and Vaughan is realistic, touching at times and humorous at others, as is the progress of their personal lives.

I thought this was an exemplary police procedural. I was convinced by and completely engrossed in the story and I can recommend it very warmly.

(My thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for an ARC via NetGalley.)

It is always a joy to see the latest addition to Deon Meyer's superb South African based crime series featuring Captain Benny Griessel fighting his addiction to the demon drink and his partner, Vaughan Cupido, of the elite Hawks police unit in Cape Town. This novel opens with an unbelievably chaotic in-transit heist police operation that is mirrored in the mess that is the police operation in the concluding finale of this story. The consequences of not following orders, in a case involving the State Security Agency that highlighted 'state capture' and the political corruption blighting the country from the previous book, can be seen here with Greissel and Cupido facing the stress of disciplinary procedures that could end their careers. The results lead to their demotion to Warrant Officers, their suspension from the Hawks, and having to join the Stellenbosch police force instead.

The only crumb of comfort to an angry and despairing Griessel is that the repercussions could have been so much worse as he worries over an anonymous note he receives warning of there being an adder in their midst and to be careful of phone calls. He and Cupido have to adjust to their reduced status as they are allocated their first case, that of a gifted 20 year old computer student, Callie de Bruin, a gifted IT student, reported missing by his anguished mother. Facing huge pressure from the political and police hierarchy and the media, it is an investigation that struggles to secure any leads but which pushes Griessel to try and reconnect with his estranged son, Fritz. 32 year old estate agent, Sandra Steenberg's dire financial straits have her agreeing to sell a lucrative property for the disgraced billionaire corporate swindler, Jaspar Boonstra, a man with a reputation for sexual harrassment. This thread eventually begins to connect with the missing Callie case, and the murder of a police officer.

One of the highlights that elevates this marvellous crime series by Meyer is how he incorporates a social and political commentary on the troubling state of South Africa, the kleptocrats, the corporate, political and police corruption, the lack of accountability, and personified here with Griessel and Cupido being targeted for their integrity in trying to do their jobs. This is a wonderfully riveting and suspenseful addition to the series, and there is a great sense of location. It was wonderful to see Sandra's resilience in the face of the debts that threaten to overwhelm her and in dealing with her monstrous employer, Charlie Benson, and the sexual predator that is Jaspar Boonstra. I am eagerly looking forward to the next in the series! Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.