"I want to speak to Blanckenberg or I kill everyone here." Warrant Officer Karla Blanckenberg, a hostage negotiator with the SAPS, finds herself outside a women's residence in Stellenbosch. The scene is a barricade. Dead girls lie in front of the entrance. An armed young man has shot his way into the building and taken a group of female students hostage. Blanckenberg has been specifically deployed. The young man asked for her by name. They have met before. Warrant Officer Colin Menck is beside her. His own daughter is a student here, so this situation feels intensely personal. While Blanckenberg must learn to understand the young shooter, Menck digs into his past to find out what drove him to this. But the more they learn, the more unpredictable the situation becomes - and the greater the danger to the hostages. Blinde kol is an intense exploration of the dark ideas of our time and what can happen when they take root in troubled minds.