The Dark Flood

April 1, 2022
In Cape Town, South African Police Service (SAPS) detectives Benny Griessel and Vaughn Caputo face harsh consequences for refusing to drop a controversial investigation amid South Africa's corruption scandals: they're stripped of their elite Hawks team status and transferred to the 'burbs. In Stellenbosch, their expectations of absolute boredom are upended with their first case, the high-profile disappearance of a student hacker. At the same time, cash-strapped realtor Sandra Steenberg struggles to keep her wits about her as she goes head to head with a seemingly untouchable white-collar criminal and absolute lech, Jasper Boonstra, in a land deal. When Boonstra also vanishes, Griessel suspiciously picks through Sandra's carefully constructed lies. Absorbing procedural details lead to an explosive confrontation with a ruthless street gang and a police-corruption scheme that links SAPS to the country's devastating political scandals. It's a grim period for South Africa, but Griessel and Caputo remain loyal to justice and to each other. A gritty but surprisingly hopeful installment in Meyer's immensely popular series.

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Starred review from May 9, 2022
In Meyer’s stellar seventh thriller featuring South African police detective Benny Griessel (after 2019’s The Last Hunt), Griessel and his partner, Vaughn Cupido, members of the elite Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation, have embarrassed the brass by pursuing an inquiry into an apparent suicide that exposed the culpability of agents of the State Security Agency. They’re demoted and reassigned from Cape Town to Stellenbosch, where they expect to handle routine matters while awaiting a hoped-for reinstatement. Instead, they become involved in a missing persons case—the disappearance of college student Callie de Bruin, whose hacking skills enabled him to alter records of criminal convictions. Meanwhile, their ever-present concerns about high-level corruption in the police are heightened when Griessel gets an anonymous message stating: “I can only trust you and Captain Cupido. There is an adder in our bosom. Be careful of phone calls.” Meyer adds a Madoff-like financial fraudster and a homicide as he toggles between story lines and keeps things moving toward the wholly satisfying conclusion. This is the best work yet from this gifted author. Agent: Richard Pine, InkWell Management.