Jan Seghers

READ IN DUTCH

This was the first book I read by the German author Jan Seghers. I had seen it a few times before in the bookstores, but when I had a long train journey to make, I finally had a excuse to buy it.

I enjoyed the story. For me, it felt like I was reading a Scandinavian thriller, with a lot of room for psychology and social-cultural problems. Luckily, that's the kind of book I like to read. Unfortunately I haven't seen a lot from Jan Seghers after this one, but haven't (for reasons unknown) really looked for them either. I should really do so.… (more)

Like I said in one of my updates: a very unusual book.
Slow-paced and in the translation the very German way of addressing one another (not 'dutzen', but 'Siezen' at work) is preserved. On the one hand I like that, because it is how things are done in Germany, where the action takes place. On the other hand it doesn't make the book easy to read.
It has been quite a while since I read (or spoke for that matter) German, so it took me a while to figure out why they were so formal.

I liked the book, apart form the notes above. It showed very thorough police work, performed by average German police men and women, with all their flaws and prejudices. These make the job of finding 'who did it and why' harder than it should have been, but gave me as a reader a very realistic view on how things are done 'for real'.… (more)