It's hard to believe that a mystery author of this caliber is not better known in the U.S. Or that this new book of his does not come up on the first page when you search for the title on Goodreads. Deon Meyer has written another gem.

Benny Griessel and his police partner Vaughn Cupido are called to a murder scene, where a body buried in sand has been discovered after intense rain. The victim Ernst Richter is a playboy entrepreneur of an Internet company called alibi.com that creates bogus paperwork to cover cheating spouses. The company is losing money, and the suspects range from religious nuts to employees to aggrieved spouses. Meanwhile, after two years of sobriety, the slaughter of his own family and suicide of a colleague, sends him into a downward spiral, with his partner trying to cover for Benny. The other main storyline is told via a lengthy lawyer-client interview about a West Cape family in the wine business, with a pathological member. Besides the murder mystery, there is an excellent overview of the development of the fine wine industry in South Africa. The only problem is having to wait another couple of years for Meyer's next book. Highly recommended, doubly so for oenophiles. ( )

And now I've also finished this book from the series. What a pity! I enjoyed it very much.

I realized that it is one of the few thrillers in which the protagonist evokes so much sympathy, that I felt for him when he reached for the bottle again after many sober days. It touched me. Very extraordinary, because normally I don't like people who use means to relieve their grief or worries.

Furthermore: this is an interesting book. It got me thinking: what if such an alibi service really exists? How much damage can it do to the legal system?
Everything is solved with money, or is it? Apparently not when the Falcons are on the case :-)

A good book. Too bad my stock of Bennie Griessel books has run out! ( )

Un très bon policier, très bien construit, et qui évité l’écueil de l’enquêteur alcoolique... (presque) ( )

This is not the first book by Deon Meyer that I've read and enjoyed. One of his standalone thrillers, Blood Safari, is very good, and I distinctly remember reading one of his Benny Griessel mysteries-- but evidently, it was one in which Benny was on the wagon. You see, I have very few "buttons" that can be pushed when it comes to my reading. Due to personal experiences, the major button is main characters who are alcoholics. I don't like reading about alcoholics. In Icarus, Benny Griessel falls off the sobriety wagon big time, and I came extremely close to saying goodbye to this book. It says a lot about Meyer's strength as a storyteller that I decided to ignore Benny as best I could and read another page. Then another page. Then a chapter... all the way to the end.

There are two timelines in this book. One takes the form of a rambling legal disposition that begins a few days after Richter's corpse was found. The second is the one of the investigation itself that starts as soon as the dead man is found. It was a bit slow going until the two timelines began to converge. Once that happens, the book picks up speed until its conclusion. It was fascinating to watch the investigation progress and to see the life and personality of the dead man (and others) unfold.

Yes, I learned a lot about the history of winemaking in South Africa and about many other things. Meyer has created a strong story, but even though I did, in the end, rather grudgingly enjoy Icarus, I think I'll stick to his standalones. Sorry, Benny! ( )

ICARUS is the latest of Deon Meyer’s intelligent, accessible thrillers set in South Africa, offering his usual mix of local colour and universal themes.

The core mystery involves an investigation into the death of Ernst Richter, a young man whose chief success in life was the creation of a website providing alibis to cheating spouses. This provides an ample suspect pool, especially when it appears that hackers have accessed the firm’s client data and are prepared to release the names of high profile customers.

The investigative thread of the story features Meyer’s recurring characters that make up the Hawks; an elite team within the police force. I like the way Meyer depicts the whole team and its various personalities and doesn’t concentrate entirely on a single detective. In this outing Vaughan Cupido is in charge of the investigation while the usual lead, Benny Griessel, is struggling. At the outset of the novel he is called to a scene where a fellow officer he knows has killed himself and his family. This leads to Griessel losing his sobriety (again) and his investigative focus. I must admit to groaning a bit at this turn of events as I am a bit tired of reading about people battling addiction in the middle of my crime fiction but to be fair Meyer does handle this aspect of his character’s life very realistically.

At the same time as the police investigation is unfolding a local wine farmer is talking to his lawyer and the transcript of that conversation offers some of the story’s twists and turns. At first it is not clear how – or even if – the two threads are connected but the parallel storylines do eventually draw together. Meyer is a master at this complex, multi-pronged approach to storytelling and in ICARUS he proves it once again.

For audio book fans some author/narrator combinations become more than the sum of their parts and for me this is never more true than when Deon Meyer’s writing is paired with Saul Reichlin’s narration. Both bring their particular talents to the art of storytelling and I love that I get to hear all the dialects and idioms Meyer’s books are sprinkled with. At which point I should also mention the excellent translation from Afrikaans by K.L. Seegers who always seems to know just how much of the local language can be left in the text without confusing woefully monolingual readers such as myself. I know we tend to think of writing as a solitary profession but it’s always good to be reminded that the production of a finished novel – especially a good one – is a collaborative effort.

ICARUS is not my absolute favourite of this wonderful series: Benny Griessel falling off the wagon and a smidgen too much exposition about the history of South African wine were my stumbling points. But even when he is ever so slightly off his game Deon Meyer is still a top tier author. The book is fast-paced, packed with terrific characters and topical at both a local and international level. I’m already looking forward to Saul Reichlin reading me the next adventure in this series.