Looking for Devil's Peak

You may remember that I have been desperately looking for the TV series adaptation of Deon Meyer's Devil's Peak. I love his crime thrillers and of course I want to see all the adaptations of his work on the screen, whether they are movies or series. South Africa is such a great atmospheric setting for crime dramas and seeing it on screen adds a new perspective to the experience, like an extra layer. I thought it would screen on the BBC, eventually, but apparently it never did. I recently did a Google search and thought I could find it on Tubi, but again, no: it's available in the US and Canada, but not in the UK. I have started to wonder whether I should just subscribe to a streaming service that has it.

The Hunter

Sometimes, there are dreams that I don't have that come true. So a few days ago, I learn in this Variety article that the crime novel The Last Hunt by South African writer Deon Meyer will be adapted into a TV series. But that's not all: Israeli scriptwriter Noah Stollman, who is also one of the scriptwriters of the spy thriller series Fauda, will do the adaptation. And you know how much I love Fauda. So for me, it is like the meeting of two great creative minds, from two cultures I love. Now Meyer has been adapted before and I have rarely been able to find these adaptations on streaming or on television, but it's good news all the same. The article says it is a spy thriller, which is true of this novel and many other works of Deon Meyer. Anyway, the adaptation is titled The Hunter (working title?) and I will be on the lookout for it. If you are interested, watch this space.

Leo (crime fiction in a local shop)

There are times I am just happy to see that my favourite writers' novels are available locally, and in the most unexpected places. It happened a few months ago: I went to a local gifts shop and lo and behold, I saw Deon Meyer's Leo, in paperback format. I was very surprised: it usually only sells children classics, travel guides and the odd whodunit. But this proper gritty crime fiction. I should not have been surprised: it's the same gift shop where I found another dark thriller. Still, if I hadn't have bought it already, I might have had done it then. And I can always buy it as a present to a friend or family to encourage a local business.

Skorpio

 Here is a reminder to myself and others among you who love crime fiction: South African  Deon Meyer's latest novel Skorpio should be released translated at some point this year. I saw this new cover (paperback?) on social media. A great cover, giving some idea of African heat and merciless light. It's sober, simple, but it says so much. There's just something about a vehicle driving fast on a dusty road. I have been eager to get back to the world of Meyer's novels. I cannot wait to buy the translation, hopefully soon. I encourage you to do the same.

Tracking Trackers

 I am finishing for the second time South African crime writer Deon Meyer's novel Blood Safari.It is just as good as I remembered it and it made me eager for more. The hero appears in another novel, Trackers, which was adapted into a TV series of the same name (and not to be confuse with this one, same title except without an s). So yeah, I have beend esperate to find it. It's not on Netflix, but apparently (as far as I understand from the researches I made) it's on Sky TV, on Apple TV and on Amazon Prime. Just not the streaming services I am subscribed to. This is really frustrating. I was hoping to find it on BBC iPlayer, but no luck there either. This is very frustrating. I am kind of tempted to get Prime, but not sure it is worth it. I will be patient.

Safari Outfits in South Africa

At the moment, I am rereading South African crime writer Deon Meyer's novel Blood Safari. I know I have a huge pile of TBR, however I was in the mood to revisit this novel as it features one of my favourite characters of Meyer, troubled bodyguard and sort of private eye Martin Lemmer. And sometimes rediscovering novels you enjoyed years ago (more than a decade for this particular one) is just what you need. Anyway, so rereading Blood Safari, I discovered that one of the characters, a middle aged barmaid who is attracted to Lemmer, makes an observation about tourists in South Africa, the very same another character of Meyer made in another novel (more details in this post from 2016). She notices that among tourists, "(...) the foreigners wear safari outfits." Ouch. If I ever visit South Africa, which I hope to do one day, I swear I will not commit that faux pas.

Skorpio for Noirvember

I have the perfect book to read for this year's #Noirvember: South African crime writer Deon Meyer's latest novel Skorpio. It's being released this month, for all I know it might be out already. The only problem is that it's in Afrikaans. So I will have to wait until it's translated. But hey, if there are any Afrikaans readers among my readers (you never know), buy it, lucky you, and enjoy it. Thankfully I have a big TBR list (well of course I do), so it's not like I have nothing to read at the moment. But there's just something about Meyer that just fits Noirvember perfectly.

Skorpio, the South African Scorpion

Great news for me, who loves crime fiction and who really enjoys the work of South African crime writer Deon Meyer: there is more news about his new novel: it will be released in Afrikaans in November 2025, then translated at some point in 2026. It will feature Benny Griessel and Vaugh Cupido. Furthermore, from what I understand of this cover, explosives will be part of the plot. Its original title will be Skorpio, which I guess will be Scorpion. Although with a k and wihtout the n, it sounds more menacing. I'm excited.

Blood Safari/The Invisible

I learned some very exciting news from the newsletter of South African crime writer Deon Meyer: there will be a TV series adaptation of his novel Blood Safari. Incidentally one of my favourite novels of his, with maybe my favourite character, Martin Lemmer. Except that he will not be named Lemmer. I don't know much about it, except some of the confirmed casting (promising) and that it will be called The Invisible, as per the original title of the novel in Afrikaans. I must confess, I prefer the English title, which ismore violent, nasty and well, bloody, but hey. Now I just hope when it will be released, I can find a it streaming somewhere here. In any case, it is something to look forward to, crime fiction wise.

Tracker VS Trackers

You may remember that I got excited when I learned that a they had made a TV adaptation of  the novel Trackers by South African crime writer Deon Meyer. It was a great novel, mostly crime fiction, but partly spy thriller. I have been desperate to watch it since its release in 2019. I haven't had the chance yet. Well, I recently discovered (as in: I found out today)  that there is another drama titled... Tracker, without an s, an American one this time and totally not related to its almost namesake. And it's also crime fiction. I'm not sure if I will like it, but I am curious to watch it. Apparently, it's quite popular. Which actually is not good news for Trackers, as both can easily be confused for the other. I'd rather watch the South African drama, but hey, let's see what the other has to offer.

Benny Griessel will be back

For the crime fiction afficionados among you, I received some good news from South African crime writer Deon Meyer's Newsletter: he is writing another Benny novel. The tenth one featuring Griessel and the ninth one festuring his partner, Cape Coloured detective Vaugh Cupido. It should be released in Afrikaans in November 2025 and in English at some point in 2026. I don't know much more about it, but check or subscribe to his Newsletter. The working title is Scorpio. So scorpions might be featured in one way or another. I hope they keep this title, or at least the word scorpion in the title. It sounds both devious and menacing.

Quais du polar (2025)

Bon, comme à chaque année, j'ai appris via Deon Meyer que Quais du Polar avait eu lieu. Comme à chaque année, je l'ai appris après coup. Bon, c'est à Lyon, pas la porte à côtée, et nous étions occupés de toutes façons. Mais sinon, parmi mes lecteurs, y a-t-il quelqu'un qui y a assisté? Et c'était comment? Sinon, ils ont vraiment de superbes images promotionnelles.

Dark Flood in the Library

Yesterday, Wolfie and I went to the local library to return some books. We spent a few minutes checking the shelves and was happily surprised to find Deon Meyer's The Dark Flood in paperback edition, proudly standing among their latest acquisitions in the genre. Now, I already own a copy since its release, so I didn't need to borrow it, but it's nice to see it all the same. It makes for a welcome change from the usual UK/US stuff. I don't need to borrow it, but I love my local library all the same.

The arsenal in crime fiction

 Okay, so I don't ave a gun fetish, or a weapon fetish, but there is one little thing I like in crime fiction: it's how some weapons reveal something about characters, whether they are good guys or badguys. I love signature weapons in crime fiction. South African crime writer to Deon Meyer is keen on this trope, as I blogged here. He does it again with Leo, when police officers Vaughn Cupido and Benny Griessel do the inventory of the arsenal of a murder victim, a mercenary with a shady past. I love Cupido's connoisseur appreciation: "Number two, the cute but deadly little Heckler & Koch 416. (...) This time the elegant but deadly G36, in mint condition.(...)the very sexy bad girl of assault rifles, the AR-15. (...) Glock 17. Impeccable taste." It's a least a page of exposition, but Meyer reveals a lot about the victim and Cupido and makes it engaging. I found it really neat storytelling. So yeah, read the book.

Rooikat (word of the day)

The things you learn when you read crime fiction, particularly crime fiction from a different continent. So as you may know, I am currently reading South African  Deon Meyer's last novel, Leo. So I learned the existence of a wild cat called caracal or, in Afrikaans, rooikat. Which sounds darn cool. It's also the name they give to a South African tank. Now I love all cats, including wild cats, and I just love the name rooikat. I don't remember hearing about them before reading the novel, maybe I did, but did not notice, but anyway, I feel more cultured now. And rooikat (or caracal) is the word of the day.

Leo (#Noirvember)

I have been wanting it for at least a year, now I got it: South African crime writer Deon Meyer's latest novel,  Leo. Its English translation was released in October, I got it then, just on time for #Noirvember. I have been reading it at a fairly slow pace, not because I am a lazy reader, but because I really want to savour it. So far, so great. I should come back to it soon, because there is a lot of little things in it I want to blog about, aspects of African and South African life and so on. But for now, suffice to say that this is my book for November and Noirvember.

Assegai

For today's post, I come back to Deon Meyer's Heart of the Hunter and its Netflix's movie adaptation. A minor details that I found cool: in both the film and its source material, the main character (whose name changed in the adaptation) wields an assegai among his arsenal. I would even say that is his weapon of choice. And, well, I find it cool. I think iconic characters, whether they are heroes or villains, should have a signature weapon. James Bond has his Walther PPK, Tarzan his knife, King Arthur Excalibur, it makes sense that Zuko (Thobela in the novels) has his assegai. It gives the character a neat African twist. Anyway, assegai is the word of the day.

Heart ofthe Hunter (#1)

So I finally watched Netflix's movie adaptation of South African writer Deon Meyer's Heart of the Hunter. I enjoyed it a lot, even though it was freely adapted from the novel, which I was expecting anyway. The source material is a lot about the ghosts of Apartheid, so it had to be updated. All the same, it is solid crime fiction and a spy thriller just as much, with some top quality acting and a solid plot. Which I think was also partially inspired from other Meyer's novels. And according to Deon Meyer: "Heart of the Hunter has achieved the incredible feat of clocking No. 1 in English-language films on the Netflix Top 10 weekly rankings - the first African film to do so!" Deservedly so, I must say. I hope there is a sequel to it, or that it become the first films of a franchise. One can hope.

Heart of the Hunter soon

You know I love crime fiction, you know I love crime fiction set in South Africa, having a wife who is half South African. As I mentioned last month, Deon Meyer's Heart of the Hunter has been adapted into a movie. It will be released on Netflix this month. I can hardly wait. I watched the teaser trailer and it seemd solid. I suspect it will be a fairly lose adaptation, as a lot of the original novel, published about 20 years ago, needed modernising to make sense in this day and age. But I don't mind: they do the same for James Bond. And as I said, it seems solid. I suggest you watch it too, or read the novel. I might take my copy out of the bookshelves and refer to it as I watch, just for fun.

Heart of the Hunter

Some good news for the crime fiction addict that I am: one of Deon Meyer's novels, Heart of the Hunter, has been adapted into a movie. Well, it's not the first time that it happened, in fact a lot of his novels have been adapted, faithfully or not, in a film or a tv series. And that is not counting the original screenplays he wrote himself. But the difference here is that it will be available on Netflix in March. So I will be able to watch it. Unless there is some kind of stupid regional restrictions, which might happen, who knows. I hope this will not be the case. I have a lot of screen time to catch on when it comes to Deon Meyer's work, but at least it means I will have the pleasure to rediscover it.