What a read! I was in the middle of Adam Nicolson's 'The Mighty Dead, why Homer matters' when Into Dark Water was delivered. I immediately put the Adam Nicolson book aside and plunged into Jeremy Vearey's tale of his transition from ANC military cadre to almost the top of the police force. Extraordinary story. But he never lost hold of his inner rebel. Insubordination was written on many disciplinary hearing sheets. Another veteran of the Struggle, Ben Turok, once told a conference that he watched from his seat in Parliament the young lions of the Struggle morph into fat cats. And Jeremy Vearey didn't like that. To assuage his inner struggle, he took Jack Daniels as his best friend. Until Bernice, his stalwart wife, called him out. And now he's dry and out of the police force - and writing wonderful books. It won't surprise you that I think this book is Homeric. All the ingredients are there: heroic adventures, battles, the longing for home. I read the last chapters late into the night and, when I came to the end, I felt - physically - the vulnerability of the bodies of Jeremy, Bernice and their boys. So many challengers of the system have been taken out. If South Africa had been tried to Madiba's dream, Veareyvwould have been top cop. And I wish the knife and gun that Jeremy carries could be beaten into a ploughshare. But that, please God, is all still to come. I look forward to his next book, a third in this engrossing trilogy.