Why a Booktrail?
2000s: A plastic-wrapped corpse amidst the sand dunes north of Cape Town
Icarus (Benny Griessel 5 )
What you need to know before your trail
A young photographer discovers a plastic-wrapped corpse amidst the sand dunes north of Cape Town. Finding a body at any times is never easy but to find it close to Christmas is particularly hard.
There’s not much to go on as the body seems devoid of clues. They do find an iPhone but it’s not working. However they manage to trace it and so find that the dead man is one Ernst Richter—the tech whiz behind MyAlibi, an internet service that provides unfaithful partners with sophisticated cover stories to hide an affair.
Meanwhile, Benny Griessel is called to the scene of a multiple murder involving a former colleague, causing him to fall off the wagon yet again.
He thinks he has to quit but his new boss wants him on this case.
The King of South African Crime pulls another punch
Travel Guide
Crime fighting in South Africa
There is a storm gathering over South Africa:
“A blue-black billowing monster that thundered in from the Atlantic Ocean just north of Robben Island”
“The massed clouds shot spectacular white forked tongues down to sea dnd land, dragging a dense curtain of rain behind them”
And that storm only starts to get worse as the rain covered sand reveals its first dark secret. This is the hot, humid and dark landscape of South Africa oppressive and clammy.
Benny Griessel – the main protagonist – has a serious drinking problem and when you consider the crimes and the gruestome discoveries he has made throught the course of the books, you realise what he is drinking to forget.
He has a tough job and the crimes in and around Stellenbosch and Cape Town are as shocking as they are unique.
This is the face of post Apartheid South Africa with the advent of technology – a phone has been found on the victim and the owner of the App which allows you to cheat with less chance of getting caught certainly shows how different things are now and not just in Africa.
Streetview Maps
A) Stellenbosch - Stoffel Smit Road
C) Cape Town - Otto du Plessis Drive
Booktrail Boarding Pass Information: Icarus (Benny Griessel 5)
Author/ Guide: Deon Meyer Destination: South Africa, Stellenbosch, Cape Town Departure Time : 2000s
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