Mike Nicol’s last book, Hammerman – A Walking Shadow, concluded a five-book series featuring the surfing private investigator Fish Pescado and lawyer Vicki Kahn. With his latest novel, the South African author starts afresh and introduces a police officer as his protagonist. However, this is no standard police procedural and many of the officers depicted here are not exactly the good guys.
In the harbour town of Saldanha in the Western Cape, a police officer commits suicide after killing his family. Captain Zara Dewane and Warrant Officer Wynston Adams of the Internal Crime Unit (ICU) are dispatched to investigate, only to discover a massive cache of weapons, including Russian automatics and various handguns. These firearms appear to be confiscated stock, raising a troubling question: why were they being stored at the officer’s home?
As their investigation progresses, their suspicions are confirmed. Unlicensed firearms surrendered by the public during a police amnesty were being resold to the criminal underworld. Captain Alicia Hendricks, station commander at Saldanha, seems unconcerned about the discovery and has little time for Zara because he’s scrutinising her force. The feeling is mutual and Zara is convinced Hendricks is part of a corrupt network reaching deep into the police hierarchy. Rooting it out is Zara’s job but it puts a target on her back and endangers all those close to her.
Zara is 39 and balances heading up the ICU with motherhood. She cares for Kyle, who is her son by Ashton, her emotionally unstable ex. Their relationship is strained by her high-risk job and Ashton’s constant threats to seek full custody. To cope, Zara either takes her kayak out to sea, blares Linda Perry from 4 Non Blondes from her car stereo, or uses her favourite, unique expletive, ‘My lewe fok!’ which translates roughly to ‘For fuck’s sake!’ This phrase alone appears at least 50 times and there’s plenty of other swearing too.
Supporting Zara are the suave Wynston Adams and Josephine ‘Jo-Jo’ Lanski, the resident attorney for the ICU. On the side of the villains, we have Colonel Kaiser Vula, a former spy and current police intelligence official, now wheelchair-bound after saving ‘the robber president’ from an assassination attempt. Vula is driven by the ambitions of his wife. A Lady Macbeth-like character, she will resort to anything to ascend the social ladder in the new South Africa. Her nefarious schemes lead to a descent into madness, where she claims to smell blood and compulsively washes her hands in Dior perfume.
What’s admirable about Nicol’s writing is that nothing is black and white here. Despite the setup, the men are not predominantly villains and not all the women are heroic. Characters like Hendricks and gang leader Tamora Gool are just as unscrupulous as Vula and his minions. Nicol also introduces unconventional figures, such as Luna Maplewood, a white sangoma, a sort of traditional African healer, who treats Captain Vula and Janet, the charismatic homeless person who becomes Zara’s lodger and right-hand woman.
The majority of Falls the Shadow is set in the Western Cape, specifically the Cape Flats, which is notorious for gang-related shootings. The dialogue is a melting pot of South African slang and local vernacular. Fortunately for international readers, a glossary of these colourful terms is included at the back of the book.
It comes as no surprise that Nicol’s style and tone are inspired by some of his favourite American noir writers like Hammet, Chandler and Ellroy. The sentences are short and choppy, which perfectly suits the narrative. If you enjoy gritty, noir-influenced crime fiction exploring institutional corruption and the judicial process within a complex and diverse society, this South African political thriller will appeal to you.
For some even darker South African crime fiction set in the Cape, try Roger Smith.
Catalyst Press
Print/iBook
£21.95
CFL Rating: 4 Stars
