Van der Heijden's novel Mooi doodliggen is a story of deception and betrayal. Journalist Grigori Moerasjko stages his own death, but for unclear reasons breaks this deception the following day by showing up again. However, having failed to warn his wife in advance, the deceipt is the death blow for his marriage with Yulia. She kicks him out and Grigori finds refuge with his friend Natan Haandrikman. The story is not entirely chronological. It starts with Nathan hearing in New York that Moerasjko has been murdered.

Although the story is fairly simple, Van Der Heijden has written a book of more than 360 pages. In fact, many of his books are much bulkier. Much of the volume of the books is spent on describing all sorts of irrelevant details, while the whole of it is written in Van der Heijden's typical exuberant shit-sex-snot-drool style which makes his novels so sensational, i.e. give you shivers, flush and disgust while reading.

However, it is the backdrop of the story which makes the book more interesting. Van der Heijden is an unusual writer in the sense that many of his novels are part of series. These series are fairly open-ended. The book series are operatic in their conception. They are multi-volumes, designated as Volumes, but a novel designated as a "volume" can have two parts. A "part"can have its own title and be a 700+ page novel. Yet, the author also publishes small occasional works, which may thematically be related to a series, which may be published as a prologue, an intermezzo, or with a different designation. Thus, each novel series becomes an almost symphonic, and organic creature. In the overall conception, the sum of the parts is also greater.

So far, Van der Heijden has been working on two series. The first of such series had the overall title De tandeloze tijd. It was orginally conceived as five volumes, while volume 3 consists of two parts. The first four volumes were published reasonably fast, while readers had to (have been) wait(ing) for the final, fifth volume for many years. Over time, other works were added in the form of a prologue and an intermezzo. And recently, the author has shown an extended outline, and plans to add several more volumes to the series. In the other series, only two volumes have appeared, while the rest of that series seems to have stalled.

Based of the authors statements, it is conceivable that Mooi doodliggen is a volume in a new series. Mooi doodliggen was published in 2018, and the story of the novel develops against the background of the Russian agression against Ukraine. In the meantime, anno 2022, this agression has developed into fullfledged war.

The Netherlands has a closer, more direct involvement in the conflict than most other countries. On February 26, 2014 a Malaysian passenger plane, MH-17, flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down over Ukraine by Russian-backed separatists from the Donetsk region. There were no survivors, and most of the victims were Dutch, with some Australians, Maylaysians and passengers of other nationalities.

In Mooi doodliggen Grigori Moerasjko is a Russian journalist who has fled Russia. He is investigating the catastophe of the MH-17 plane. He lives with his wife Yulia in Kiev, and the his murder was staged by the Ukranian secret service to loose the Russians off his trail. However, the novel is only in auxiliary about the MH-17 disaster, which Van Der Heijden calls MX-17. It seems the author is planning to write a different novel dedicated to the MH / MX-17 case. Mooi doodliggen could be a prologue to such a novel.

Van Der Heijden's novel Arkadi Babtsjenko is a fictionalized story of real events. In fact, the story of Grigori Moerasjko is but a thinly veiled version of the lifestory of the Russian journalist Arkadi Babtsjenko who staged his own death in the same way in May 2018. Other historical, real people appear in the novel under this disguise. For example, President Putin appears as "President Czar", and Trump appears as "Trumpet".

Calling Putin a "Czar" shows the concurrent value of the novel. While Mooi doodliggen is perhaps not such a spectacular novel on its own, the way it is published now, it may take on more significance when other related stories or novels are published. ( )