Un turista alemán es hospitalizado tras sufrir una agresión en la calle y muere. Seguidamente, una bomba destruye la estatua de un famoso poeta belga en el centro de Brujas. Las autoridades no excluyen que se deba a un atentado terrorista de los independentistas valones. El comisario Van In, que se encuentra en una situación económica apurada y con problemas de pareja y alcoholismo, se verá involucrado en lo que, en un principio, parecía un caso sencillo pero que salpicará a constructores influyentes de dudosa moral, jueces con orígenes familiares nazis, prostitutas, etc.

I can't remember the last time I gave a one star review. I read the first book in the Commissioner Van In series, The Square of Revenge, last year and enjoyed the interesting characters and the mystery set in Bruges, Belgium. I was excited to see a new offering by the author.

The story begins at a nightclub called the Villa Mafia, where a Dutch tourist named Adriaan Frenkel overhears a strange conversation between a Belgian businessman and a German associate. The following morning, the German is found beaten and near death in a public square. Shortly afterward, Frenkel is found dead under similar circumstances. At about this time, terrorists blow up the statue of Guido Gezelle, a 19th-century Flemish poet and national cultural icon. The unknown culprits threaten to bomb other historical and cultural landmarks, further undermining the tourist industry. These apparently isolated incidents eventually intersect. That investigation is led by Deputy Commissioner Van In, along with an assortment of bizarre secondary characters.

What can I say about this book. It's dull. It's poorly written. It's completely derogatory to any woman character. The women who pass through these pages are described as “hot chicks,” “dolled-up bimbos” and “lissome wenches” with “pert bosoms.” The investigation itself is rambling and confusing. I'm going to give the author the benefit of the doubt that this book, written in 1995 and recently translated, is an aberration to what might be a really great series. At this point I can't think of a single person I could possibly recommend this book to. ( )

Too many buffoonish characters set in Maybury on the Continent to sustain interest, A disappointment! ( )

Pfft... Van In werkt soms duchtig op mijn zenuwen ( )

One gets an idea of European angst with the present economic morass and the WWII past are all present in this well constructed story. A series of seemingly unrelated event coalesce into a story of the past and the present and is wrapped up nicely in the end. A good read. ( )