Present Darkness
A Novel
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4.4 • 5 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Set in the corrupt, unforgiving world of apartheid South Africa, this novel in the Detective Emmanuel Cooper series follows Cooper as he faces a test of loyalty and friendship.
Five days before Christmas, Detective Sergeant Emmanuel Cooper sits at his desk at the Johannesburg major crimes squad, ready for his holiday in Mozambique. A call comes in: a respectable white couple has been assaulted and left for dead in their bedroom. The couple’s teenage daughter identifies the attacker as Aaron Shabalala— the youngest son of Zulu Detective Constable Samuel Shabalala—Cooper’s best friend and a man to whom he owes his life.
The Detective Branch isn’t interested in evidence that might contradict their star witness’s story, especially so close to the holidays. Determined to ensure justice for Aaron, Cooper, Shabalala, and their trusted friend Dr. Daniel Zweigman hunt for the truth. Their investigation uncovers a violent world of Sophiatown gangs, thieves, and corrupt government officials who will do anything to keep their dark world intact.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Nunn's superlative fourth mystery set in 1950s South Africa (after 2012's Blessed Are the Dead), a murder case puts Det. Sgt. Emmanuel Cooper, a mixed-race Johannesburg cop, in a difficult position. A savage break-in at the house of Ian Brewer, a high school principal, has left Brewer dead, his wife nearly so. The white couple's 15-year-old daughter, Cassie, who escaped unscathed, asserts that she can identify the two attackers by their voices: black students who participated in an extracurricular program run by her father, one of whom, Aaron Shabalala, is the son of Det. Constable Samuel Shabalala of the Native Branch, a friend of the detective's. Emmanuel is convinced that Cassie is lying, but his supervisor isn't, making the search for the real killers especially urgent. Nunn's descriptions of the impoverished township where the suspects live are particularly moving, but the true toll of apartheid is conveyed effectively throughout.
