Jef Geeraerts (1930–2015)

'De goede moordenaar'(1972)is het tweede boek van het autobiografische vierluik waarin Jef Geeraerts zijn traumatiserende verleden amputeert als een door gangreen aangetast been.Met monumentale durf,nietsontziende eerlijkheid en overrompelende virtuositeit brengt hij de bloedige ondergang van het koloniale bestel in beeld.Kort voor de onafhankelijkheid overwoekeren wrede stammenoorlogen Belgisch Kongo:De kolonialen intervenieren en maken het bloedbad alleen maar eindeloos veel groter.Eens te show more meer blijken seks en geweld de ommekant van dezelfde medaille:de jacht gaat dag en nacht door,seks en moord wisselen elkaar almaar beestachtiger af.De lectuur van 'De goede moordenaar',nog heftiger dan 'Black Venus',is een sensatie die soms naar adem doet happen.En als de lavastroom van geil- en wreedheid eenmaal voorbijgetrokken is,rest de vraag wat het allerzwarts is:de huid van de vele nutteloze slachtoffers,het cynisme waarmee blinde macht regeert.Of de hier beschreven pagina uit de Belgische geschiedenis. show less

So this was outside my usual reading wheelhouse. This is a Belgian political thriller about the Public Prosecutor, a corrupt functionary who is targeted by an even more corrupt shadowy Catholic organization called Opus Dei. Savelkoul is not a sympathetic guy, what with his mistress kept in a property given to him by a development company in exchange for a ruling, and the pleasure he takes in the "gifts" he receives. His wife has taken refuge in religion and in obtaining titles for her two show more sons. Opus Dei is out to bleed as much money from the family as they can, taking advantage of the wife's religious fervor and Savelkoul's easy ability to fall prey to blackmail.

It's basically a bunch of people double-dealing and lying as they try to grab the advantage for themselves. They eat in very nice restaurants and drink a lot of wine and then plot for ways to destroy Savelkoul or, in Savelkoul's case, try to maneuver around the traps while finding a way to get laid. Belgium, Jef Geeraerts tells us, is a aristocracy-obsessed kleptocracy, although he does make the point that corruption is present everywhere. Also, the Opus Dei are weirdos.

All in all, it was interesting, but still not my thing. show less

As much as I love Liam Neeson as an actor, this is a weak movie. The acting is fine. The writing and storytelling are simple and cliché. The writing is weak; motivations are not established. The story is conveyed in choppy scenes that jump around. This seems to follow the style of movie that I see more often recently, where the story tries to be interesting by being mysterious, and that doesn't work with this type of story. Motivations and backgrounds need to be established to build the show more viewers interest in caring about the characters. I stopped in the middle and came back the next day—the movie was more tolerable / interesting. In the closing credits I saw that this was based on a book about an Alzheimer's character, and in my experience, the character development and details in a novel never fit in a movie, and I see that here.
— Rebecca show less

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1980607.html

A rather nasty thriller about a senior Flemish legal official whose estranged wife is being exploited by Opus Dei, filled with cynicism about the Francophone gerontocracy which supposedly runs the country, boosted by authentic flashes of local colour (notably the expensive restaurants which are all real). None of the characters is at all attractive, and the author gives no indication that he does not share their sexual and ethnic chauvinism.