Leo

by Deon Meyer

Hodder & Stoughton

A year is a very long time to wait for the English translation to come out for any new Deon Meyer book but the good news is that Leo has finally been translated from Afrikaans and it’s a cracker!

Benny Griessel – sober now for over a year – is back with this sidekick Vaughn Cupido.  As you’ll recall, they’ve been sidelined from the elite Hawks unit and are working as detectives in Stellenbosch.  They’re investigating the death of a university student when their prime suspect is found dead in such a way that the perpetrator is clearly sending out the message: “keep your mouth shut”.

We meet Flea again – remember her from Trackers?  She’s changed her name and has been recruited as a ‘honey trap’ for a massive heist.

There’s also a dead body in a golf bunker, thinly veiled political characters up to all kinds of shenanigans, state capture, dark forces trying to sabotage their work, the state of the country AND the date has been set for Benny’s marriage.  It’s all happening at once and it’s all a little too close for comfort…

“I love Deon Meyer novels. It’s global storytelling at its best, with the undeniable hallmarks of gritty realism and deep character building. If Harry Bosch had to pick someone to go through a door with, it would be his brother from another mother, Benny Griessel.”—Michael Connelly

“Deon Meyer is the monarch of South African crime novelists.”—Financial Times

“Deon Meyer is not just South Africa’s greatest crime writer, he’s up there with the best in the world.”—The Times