READ IN DUTCH

This book was written by David Baldacci as 'Office Hours' in celebration of The Month of the Suspense Novel (June) in 2000, when people would receive it for free if they bought a book. I don't think the English version has been released.



It's a novella, only about 90 pages long. I normally don't like short stories, because there is no room for character development. This book was not different, unfortunately. It was not too bad, though, and the fact that this book wasn't written by any of the Dutch crime writers, probably helped. ( )

Een lekker vlotlezend verhaal voor onderweg. ( )

Vlot geschreven kort verhaal, waar wel met veel losse eindjes maar dat zal wel komen door het format. De schrijver maakt er een klassieke "who dunnit" van en probeert op het eind per halve bladzijde een andere dader in ons hoofd te plaatsen. Op pag 58(van de 91) had ik door wie de dader was, maar op het eind toch een paar keer even getwijfeld. ( )

This little book has been sitting on my TBR shelf since I got it as a free gift during national thriller month (maand van het spannende boek) in 2000. Having read it, I can see why they had to give it away free. It hasn't tempted me to go out looking for any more of Baldacci's work.

It's a fairly straightforward suspense thriller, with a serial killer who seems to be stalking a young, attractive and successful businesswoman. The characters are pure cardboard, the story as implausible as anyone could ask for, and the narrator seems to get a tremendous kick from describing the killer's violence. To be fair, this isn't the sort of book I'd ever go out and buy on my own initiative. And he may be better in the original American than in this Dutch translation. If this is the sort of thing you like, then you're nine years too late to get a free copy, but you can probably find it in De Slegte... ( )