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Title: Outsider in Amsterdam by Janwillem Van De Wetering, Janwillem Van De Wetering ISBN: 1-56947-017-0 Publisher: Soho Press, Inc. Pub. Date: October, 1994 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.57 (7 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Winning pair
Comment: The outsider of the story is Papuan. DeGier and Grijpstra are Dutch police officers. At the scene of a crime or at the scene of a suicide the pair come upon a letter from an Eastern religious society. There is an altar of sorts in the room. DeGier has an idea that he has seen the man previously. Then he realizes that the long hair and the heavy mustache remind him of a portrait in a museum. The man resembles a portrait of a Dutch statesman in the sixteenth century. There is a bruise. The man was hit by a stick or possibly by a fist.
Another victim is found, a woman. This was turning out to be an unusually busy shift. The pair decides that because perpetrators of homicide are scarce in Amsterdam, the matters are probably related to each other. Suicidal people lose their self-discipline. This man has a neatly trimmed beard.
They interview a small man about forty years old, a Papuan. He relates that he has been in Holland for eight years. In 1965 he could choose to be Indonesian or Dutch. He decided to claim Dutch citizenship. VanMeteren had been a policeman in New Guinea.
The doctor's report becomes available. There is a trace of opium in the stomach of the hanged man. The deceased man, Piet, had a sort of religious society and a bar. The bar made money. At the time of his demise two drug whole sale sellers were in the bar.
Returning to the scene of the incident, DeGier and Grijpstra learn that there has been a break-in during the previous evening. Some of the inhabitants are moving to a houseboat. It is ascertained that the man, Piet, was hit in the head with a dictionary by one of the members of his household. One of the girls present tells the officers that the hook in the ceiling has always been present.
Concerning his characteristics, the officers are told that Piet said that nothing really exists. Everything is an illusion. He spoke of the Japanese samuri. Piet's neurotic mother is removed by the city's health service.
Grijpstra plays drums, DeGier plays a flute. VanMeteren enters playing a wooden instrument. His instrument is a wooden drum from the forests of New Guinea. He has been stymied in regaining his status in the Netherlands. Much to his frustration, he is only a traffic warden.
VanMeteren has a 1943 Harley motorcycle. One of the officers recalls the machine fondly as the means of transportation of the liberators in World War II. There is money missing. Piet had just taken out a mortage on the building in which his society and bar are located.
It is not necessary to go further in delineating the plot. I do not want to interfere with the readers' enjoyment. The book has both excellent characterizations and excellent story-telling. The series is a real hit.
Rating: 5
Summary: Quirky Dutch cops. Smell of Amsterdam. Charming novel!
Comment: This book follows two Amsterdam detectives, as they investigate a hanging, reflect on their lives and other matters, make fun of each other, and try to keep hard drugs off Amsterdam.
The fine line between hash and heroin is explored, and this might make the book interesting to readers from the U.S. or other countries where marijuana is criminalized like hard drugs.
The construction of the dialog and the characters' thought-trains is outstanding. De Gier's jokes at Grijpstra by themselves make the read worthwhile. Both characters are drawn as very, very human. You follow their thoughts and simple motives and ordinary lives, and you can't help loving them.
The only character that doesn't ring quite true is the Outsider himself, the person from Papua New Guinea; he seems somewhat superhuman. However, this character is drawn with great respect, from the author, as well as from the detectives' point of view. I found it quite charming, the European author and his European characters dealing with an extraordinary character from their former colony.
Before ending the review, I can't resist quoting some of the thoughts of our cop friends.
Hiding in a bush in dog poop waiting to catch a good-looking drug dealer, de Gier thinks to himself: "I hope he attacks me. I'll trip him up and break his nose. That beautiful nose in the handsome face. He can bleed a little this time." Then he catches his errant thoughts and thinks: "but I'll only go for him if he provokes me."
Explaining why he's leaving a beautiful woman, de Gier says to his three superior officers, in a dejected voice: "She wants me to leave my cat." The superiors laugh.
Grijpstra the family man, talking to his superior on the phone and looking at his wife's head, says "Yes sir" on the phone and thinks: "Why do curlers have to be pink? Why not brown? If they were brown they would blend with her hair, I wouldn't notice them so much, and I would be less irritated. I wouldn't have such a foul taste in my mouth. My stomach wouldn't cramp. I wouldn't have to worry about ulcers. My wife wouldn't forget to buy medicine for me because I wouldn't need to take medicine. I would be a happier man."
(My evil self thinks: Ha! Any man who lived with a woman will understand that one!)
Grijpstra, at a Chinese restaurant looking at a nervous Chinese waiter, probably an illegal immigrant, thinks: "I wonder what he's hiding? No papers, that's for sure. And a friend of the criminal Lee Fong. Perhaps I should drop a hint at the Aliens department." And then he thinks: "Perhaps not. There's enough trouble in the world."
Vivid and realistic characters, very pleasant novel!
Rating: 5
Summary: A Great Start to a Great Series
Comment: A thoroughly engaging and well-written mystery. The first in a series of mysteries pairing Amsterdam detectives Grijpstra & DeGier, this novel enchants and hooks the reader from the very beginning. The story is first class and will be enjoyed by lovers of the genre, but it's the interaction and dialogue between the two protagonists that makes this book such a gem. At times philosophers and often humorous, these characters are a welcome addition to the readers' life and the good news is: there's more where this comes from. Check it (them) out and you won't be disappointed. Highly Recommended for those who enjoy mysteries and top-quality literature in general.
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Title: The Corpse on the Dike by Janwillem Van De Wetering ISBN: 1569470499 Publisher: Soho Press, Inc. Pub. Date: November, 1995 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Tumbleweed by Janwillem Van De Wetering, Janwillem Van De Wetering ISBN: 1569470189 Publisher: Soho Press, Inc. Pub. Date: October, 1994 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: The Blond Baboon (Van De Wetering, Janwillem, Grijpstra & De Gier Mystery.) by Janwillem Van De Wetering, Janwillem Van De Wetering, Janwillen Van De Wetering ISBN: 1569470634 Publisher: Soho Press, Inc. Pub. Date: October, 1997 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: The Perfidious Parrot by Janwillem Vandewetering, Janwillem Van de Wetering ISBN: 1569471304 Publisher: Soho Press, Inc. Pub. Date: October, 1998 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Hard Rain by Janwillem Van De Wetering, Janwillem Van De Wetering ISBN: 1569471045 Publisher: Soho Press, Inc. Pub. Date: October, 1997 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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