Snag Your Copy Icarus (Benny Griessel, #5) Conceived By Deon Meyer Accessible From Digital Format

en Cupido: een gouden duo
Dit boek, Icarus van Deon Meyer, heb ik gesigneerd gewonnenjaar geleden via een prijsvraag van A, W. Bruna Uitgevers. Voor De Week van het Vergeten Boek van Hebban heb ik het eindelijk uit de kast gepakt,

Icarus is alweer het vijfde deel in de serie met rechercheur Bennie Griessel in de hoofdrol,
De vertaling uit het Afrikaans is van de hand van Martine Vosmaer en Karina van Santen, Zij ontmoetten elkaar op de opleiding aan het Instituut voor Vertaalkunde in Amsterdam, Inmiddels vertalen zij als ruimjaar samen boeken uit het Engels en Frans, en sindsook uit het Afrikaans, Zij vertaalden al eerder boeken van Deon Meyer,
Het ontwerp van de prachtige omslag is weer van Studio Jan de Boer, een grafisch ontwerpbureau voor het boekenvak,ontwerpers maken alles voor boeken van omslagen tot websites, Ze bestaan inmiddels ruimjaar, Ze maakten o. a. ook de boekomslag voor Koudvuur van Cilla en Rolf Börjlind, Enter van Willem Asman, Tik Tak van Chris McGeorge en ook andere boeken van deze schrijver.


Je kunt dit boek lezen zonder de eerdere delen te kennen, maar je mist dan wel achtergrondinformatie over de personages en hun onderlinge relatie,

Er wordt een lijk gevonden in de zandduinen bij Parklands, Het is Ernst Richter, internetondernemer en oprichter van Alibi, co. za, een controversiële website waar mensen alibi's kunnen regelen als ze iets willen verbergen, Vaak gaat het om affaires,
De zaak wordt toegewezen aan de Valken, de speciale eenheid binnen de politie, omdat geen enkele afdeling zijn handen wil branden aan zo'n high profile zaak.

Tussen de hoofdstukken door lezen we over de familiegeschiedenis van Francois du Toit, En langzaam wordt duidelijk wat zijn rol is in dit verhaal,

Deon Meyer geeft ons een prachtige inkijk in de levens en gedachten van verschillende leden van het politieapparaat in Kaapstad,
Kapitein Bennie Griessel, de briljante rechercheur met een alcoholprobleem,
Zijn partner Cupido Vaughn, die voor hem door het vuur gaat, Rechercheuradjudant Jamie Keyter, die zich graag wil bewijzen, Persvoorlichter John Cloete. Mooiwillem 'George Clooney' Liebenberg, die bijna iedereen kan laten praten door zijn bedside manners, Reginald 'Flif' Davids, het technologische genie, Frank Fillander, die zeer geliefd is vanwege zijn geduld en mensenkennis en Vusumuzi 'Vusi' Ndabeni, die een onverstoorbaar humeur heeft en het grootste deel van zijn salaris altijd aan zijn moeder stuurt.


Door plaatsen en straten op te zoeken via Streetview waan je jezelf deel van het boek, Je ziet voor je waar ze zijn en hoe alles er uitziet, Dit geeft het lezen een diepere laag, Het landschap van Kaapstad is een extra personage in het geheel,
Via korte hoofdstukken wisselt het perspectief snel en dat houdt de vaart erin, De auteur zet ons met wat kleine twists op het verkeerde been, waarna een spannende ontknoping volgt,

Deon Meyer heeft het idee voor dit verhaal gekregen nadat hij de documentaire Red Obsessionwaarin chateau Bordeaux worstelt om aan de monsterlijk gerezen vraag uit China te voldoen heeft gezien.
Als tweede noemt hij een artikel uit Fortunemet de titel With technology, an easier path to infidelity in France, Hierin wordt een bedrijf beschreven dat alibi's regelt voor mensen die overspel plegen,

Icarus is vooral een verhaal over vriendschap, collegialiteit, jalouzie, onmacht en prachtige driedimensionale personages tegen de achtergrond van een moord en het mooie ZuidAfrika, Great read and gripping story, I would have finished much faster, but Bennie's relapse with alcohol was just too hard to read and too depressing for me, He did so well in previous books and it was really sad to see how all his hard work ended in one drink after another one, And it was drawn out for quite some time, Don't get me wrong the writing was phenomenal! How he started again and told himself, see, I can do it, I can drink without any problem and then we, the readers, followed along and saw quite clearly that it didn't work at all.
That all was written so realistic that I could only read on for a few pages at a time,

And the whole crime took a back seat, at least for me, But today there was the scene, when it changed to the positive and suddenly the solving of the crime gained pace and I couldn't stop reading,

So, great writing, captivating story and I can't wait for the next book in the series!
Deon Meyer op sy beste! Ek is altyd verstom oor hoe goed hy elke karakter kan vasvang met die manier van praat en maniertjies.
Bennie en Cupido maak 'n fantastiese span, Having waited in anticipation for each book by sitelinkDeon Meyer, I admit I was somewhat disappointed by sitelinkIcarus, I suspect it was because I simply do not have a lot of interest in the emphasis on newer technology such as SMS text messaging and cell phones and databases and bizarre web sites such as Alibi.
This novel did not "grab" me and hold my attention, When I wander off and do other things rather than read, such as changing the oil in our ATVs, then I know I am loosing interest, My antipathy to the new technology is ironic because I spent overyears implementing computer technology in schools as a manager and consultant, Having read every translated novel by Deon Meyer, I still plan on reading any future book, but for me it took some effort to finish his latest.
I am not a regular reader of the police procedural so my comments have to be understood in that context,

I chose this title in part for fun, and in part because of the setting and the translation from Afrikaans, I read a lot of South African lit and visited the country for the first time this year, The incorporation of many Afrikaans words and expressions into the text retains the local flavour whereas so many translations into English are cleansed of these elements, Apart from the timely topic the release of a book about the murder of the founder of a site that assists those who wish to be unfaithful to their spouses could not have been been better placed as the Ashley Madison scandal broke, Icarus also touches on the topics not always understood by many outside the country, for example the impact of affirmative action on black, white and coloured members of the police force.
Intelligent, enjoyable and recommended for a change of pace, or for an escape to the Cape Town and Stellenbosch region,

Thank you to Grove/Atlantic and Netgalley for the review copy,
Tried this South African author but could not invest in deciphering Benny Griessel and his antagonistic coworkers, Perhaps

too late in the series to pick up on the many tensions that seemed to outweigh the murders, I received this book as an Advanced Reader Copy from Goodreads giveaways it is an uncorrected proof of the book, and the book may have significant changes between the copy I read and the finalized version that is published and released.


That being said, I found this book very difficult to get in to, and fairly boring, The characters aren't particularly likeable, and some of the details just seem incredibly unnecessary such as the one cop being an alcoholic, Why does it matter It just prolonged the book with unnecessary clutter, There were also a significant amount of words and phrases in Afrikaans, as well as references to things that only someone from South Africa or with a good understanding of the culture/ area would get or understand.
I came across phrases that I could figure out, but most of them I couldn't, I didn't realize until I'd finished the book that there's a reference in the back with translations for the Afrikaans, . . there were no indications that the reference was there! Some sort of indication next to the phrase would have been nice,

The plot was kind of intricate, but you weren't able to guess at who the murderer was, you were completely dependent on information supplied, Part of my reason to read mysteries such as this are so that I can guess along with the detectives, or try to solve the crime as I'm reading.
Can't do that with this one,

The writing style was good, and it was an interesting story, . just not my cup of tea, Deon Meyer is South Africas preeminent mystery/thriller writer and something of a wonder, His books have a richness and specificity that bring South Africa and crimes committed there vividly to life, This installment of the Benny Greissel series braids several strands of mystery into a single bloodred cord of baling twine from the wine country of Stellenbosch,

Meyer often sitelinkposts on his website photos of the locales, restaurants, buildings he uses in his novels, and he did in the case of Icarus as well.
The site of the action is South Africas western Cape near Cape Town,



A large storm in December reveals the body of an internet entrepreneur buried in the sand of Blouberg Strand, Ernst Richter ran Alibi. com, a South Africanbased website based on the success of AshleyMadison, com, a company promising discretion when arranging infidelities, The manner of his death ties him firmly to the wine country in Stellenbosch, but in the weeks leading to the Christmas holidays, we are turned in many directions, often away from the truth.


Meyer often has several threads working at once in his novels, and this book is no exception, Deliciously, Meyer shares the personalities of the police and how their prejudices, weaknesses, and particular skills influence an investigation, Benny Griessel struggles with alcohol addiction and falls off the wagon when a colleague dies tragically, The description of his everpresent desire and of his failure is agonizingly real,

Griessels colleague, Jamie Keyter, will do just about anything to be in the limelight of newspaper reporting, even if it means selling his team down the river.
Another colleague, Vaughn Cupido, falls hard for someone he questions during the murder investigation,

While the murder investigation plays itself out, we are treated to a plausible explanation of the unreasonably high subscription numbers of Alibi, com and by association the AshleyMadison, com, and a realistic scenario for the sites growth and financial requirements, Finally, we also get a fascinating short history of wine production in South Africa,

Meyer keeps readers offbalance throughout the novel with rapid and abrupt shifts between strands: the quiet droning of a man relating his familys genealogy the drunken stumbling of Benny Griessel on the edge of losing everything the startstop of an investigation where so many have things they wish to hide.


If you havent already enjoyed Deon Meyers oeuvre, feel free to start here, It is often years between novels, and to discover a new Meyer book is an event, Add Meyer to your list and get a whole different outlook, This book will be published October,by Grove Atlantic, but I am telling you about it now because it is being offered as a giveaway currently on Goodreads.
I definitely recommend you sign up,
.