Bestselling crime sensation Deon Meyer has been longlisted for the 26th annual SA Book Awards in the Favourite Bestselling Adult Fiction category with SKORPIO. The awards, powered by NielsenIQ BookData and supported by the Publishers’ Association of South Africa and the SA Booksellers’ Association, strive to celebrate books written and published in South Africa, as voted for by South African booksellers.
SKORPIO earned its place on the longlist following an epic 9-week end of year run at the top of the South African bestseller lists, claiming the Christmas #1. In 2024, Deon took home not only the Best Fiction prize but also the overall Book of the Year prize at the SA Book Awards, for his previous Benny Griessel title LEO.
This year’s longlist was made up of the bestselling titles published in South Africa by South African authors, as measured by NielsenIQ BookScan South Africa in 2025, with South African booksellers invited to vote for their favourite to determine the shortlist and winners. Each category winner will be awarded ZAR 5,000.00 and there will be an overall winner, receiving the highest number of votes, who will be presented with ZAR 20,000.00. The winners will be announced at a special virtual award ceremony later in the year.
SKORPIO was first published in South Africa, in Afrikaans, by Human and Rousseau in October 2025. The English-language edition, titled SCORPIO RISING (translated by K.L. Seegers), will be published by Pan Macmillan in South Africa in October this year, and in the UK in Spring 2027, alongside Grove Atlantic in the US and Canada. Rights have further sold in France (Editions Gallimard), the Netherlands (A W Bruna) and Germany (Aufbau).
In SKORPIO/SCORPIO RISING, when two seemingly disparate investigations collide, detectives Benny Griessel and Vaughn Cupido must race against time to solve both before it is too late.
Aishah Fernandez, distinguished former Deputy Director General of South Africa’s nuclear power regulatory agency, is brutally attacked in her hotel room in Moscow. Four months later, Benny Griessel and his partner Vaughn Cupido – their rank as captains happily restored – find themselves investigating two tragic but seemingly unrelated cases: two small explosions and the suspicious death of private investigator Brandon Maarman.
At the same time, Benny is desperately trying to repair the damaged relationship with his son Fritz. As the connections between the cases become frighteningly clear, the race to save the country from an international disaster is on, with stakes higher than a father’s bond with his son.
Credit: Will Punt, Pear Tree Photography
About Deon Meyer
Deon Meyer lives in Stellenbosch. His books are sold in 31 countries, and have been awarded many prizes around the world: the Deutsche Krimi Prize in Germany, the ATKV Prize in South Africa, the Martin Beck Award in Sweden and Le Grand Prix de Littérature Policière and Le Prix Mystère de la Critique in France. COBRA was shortlisted for the 2015 CWA International Dagger, THIRTEEN HOURS was shortlisted for the 2010 CWA International Dagger, and HEART OF THE HUNTER, was longlisted for the 2005 IMPAC Prize and selected as one of Chicago Tribune’s ‘10 best mysteries and thrillers of 2004’. THE DARK FLOOD was longlisted for the 2023 CWA Dagger for Crime Fiction in Translation. His latest novel LEO, a new Benny Griessel thriller, enjoyed ten weeks at the top of the South African bestseller lists, Number One in all categories.
Adaptations of Deon’s novels have recently had great success on screen: in April 2024, HEART OF THE HUNTER topped the global Netflix film charts, becoming the first African film to do so, with over 11 million views in its first two days alone. DEVIL’S PEAK was also adapted for a miniseries by Lookout Point and Expanded Media Productions, premiering on M-Net in South Africa in 2023 before reaching audiences in the USA, New Zealand, Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg. In 2020, TRACKERS, produced by Three River Fiction and Scene 23, aired on Sky Atlantic in the UK and HBO in the USA, as well as Australia and New Zealand, and across the Nordic countries and Europe.
Praise for SKORPIO
‘Even if he writes a book where Griessel and Cupid just go on holiday without any crime to solve, I will still buy it, read it and add it to my collection… Meyer needs no introduction… I don’t even want to think what he has meant to the Afrikaans book and film industry as a whole. He showed everyone what is possible, and SKORPIO shows how everyone still listens when he speaks. In 2025, a wealth of good suspense literature was published; SKORPIO is the icing on the cake.’ – Stefan Coetzee, LitNet
‘It’s the characters, the humanity and the humour that keeps me devouring Deon Meyer’s novels.’ – Deborah Steinmair, Netwerk24
‘In terms of depth, it is Meyer’s penetrating consideration of the nature of criminality that is surprising… In Meyer we notice the necessary awareness of South Africa’s social diversity. This makes the story nuanced and credible. What is also striking is the compassion with which Meyer treats the characters. This is a novel that is marked by humanity. Even the characters and suspects do not lack the author’s compassion… Ultimately, it is the scope of the story that surprises both the detectives and the reader. The evil that is systemic corruption is strikingly exposed. With the unmistakable Deon Meyer trademark, precise and powerful, SKORPIO is prime crime fiction that captivates to the end’ – Francois Bekker, Netwerk24
Praise for Deon Meyer
‘He’s up there with the best in the world.’ – Marcel Berlins, The Times
‘I love Deon Meyer novels. It’s global storytelling at its best, with the undeniable hallmarks of gritty realism and deep character building.’ – Michael Connelly
‘Deon Meyer's name on the cover is a guarantee of crime writing at its best.’ – Tess Gerritsen
‘Deon Meyer is one of the giants of crime fiction.’ – El Mundo
‘One of the best crime writers on the planet.’ – Mail on Sunday
Visit Deon’s website