hooksforeverything's review
fast-paced
2.0
A standard-issue neutral plot that would have gone with anything.
If the original writing was shoddy, the translation is excellent. If the original writing was good, the translation is surprising. I really can't be bothered to identify which.
If the original writing was shoddy, the translation is excellent. If the original writing was good, the translation is surprising. I really can't be bothered to identify which.
eiencafe's review against another edition
3.0
This is the first book of Pieter Aspe’s book series featuring Inspector Van In. This is a very old book, published first in Belgium in 1995 (it still has Francs as currency, I couldn’t understand the money!) and translated in Italian in 2009 and in English in 2013.
In this book, Van In meets the Deputy Public Prosecutor Hannelore Martens and they investigate a robbery in a jewelry store owned by Ghislain Degroof, the son of the powerful and wealthy Ludovic Degroof. However, this is not the usual robbery, because the gold is dissolved in aqua regia and the details suggest a personal motive. When Ludovic Degroof’s grandson is kidnapped, the case gets more difficult.
Full review here
In this book, Van In meets the Deputy Public Prosecutor Hannelore Martens and they investigate a robbery in a jewelry store owned by Ghislain Degroof, the son of the powerful and wealthy Ludovic Degroof. However, this is not the usual robbery, because the gold is dissolved in aqua regia and the details suggest a personal motive. When Ludovic Degroof’s grandson is kidnapped, the case gets more difficult.
Full review here
sdramsey's review against another edition
3.0
Some people don't like reading translations, but often I find them interesting...it's an intriguing look into a different culture, just to see that the writing "conventions" we set such store by do not necessarily apply everywhere.
This was a quite decent mystery and although some of the characters acted strangely by our standards, I don't think that means it was poorly-written in its native tongue, or poorly-translated, either. It's just different. I did enjoy it and the narration was very well done.
This was a quite decent mystery and although some of the characters acted strangely by our standards, I don't think that means it was poorly-written in its native tongue, or poorly-translated, either. It's just different. I did enjoy it and the narration was very well done.
andreiitasc's review
2.0
I don’t know what I was expecting, but certainly not this. I have read my fair share of weird detectives and police investigators, but to be honest, Van In got on my nerves: he spent half the book drinking and smoking, did basically nothing at all, and still, the answer came at him like it fell from the sky. Nope, don’t believe it. Also, he was insufferable.
And I hate to say it, but it’s clear the book is written by a man: the young and pretty Deputy (this was reinforced all the time: that she was very pretty, had a great body, etc, was at least mentioned once every three pages) , Hannelore, somehow decided that a forty-plus, smoking, and rude police officer (or whatever his position was, I don’t care) was exactly what she wanted. Um, let me doubt that. And I repeat: I don’t know how they resolved the case, seeing as Van In spent more time thinking about what she was wearing than about his work. Yuck.
About any other characters, they were basically names and positions, nothing else, and even the two main had the personality of a rock, so I can safely say I was zero invested in the characters.
The plot was okay-ish, nothing special. I saw most of what would happen a mile away, but I have to admit there were a few plot twists I did like, and the resolution wasn’t really that bad. But it was quite boring at times, and most of the plot was rushed in the last hundred pages so the pacing was really off.
The narrative was weird and not well written: POVs changed, people thought the most ridiculous things, and details that had absolutely zero importance were remarked. Furthermore, the dialogue sounded fake, and I didn’t like how everything was handled because it was all so… Cold. Impersonal. It didn’t particularly call to me, and seating down to reading was almost a chore because it was that disagreeable.
To sum up, this was a novel that, while entertaining enough and acceptable to pass the time, I didn’t like: bad characters, slow pacing, weak plot, and weird narrative. I won’t read again from this author if I can avoid it, this was honestly not my cup of tea.
*The best part: Some of the plot twists.
*The worst part: Van In. Ew.
I rate this book a 2/5, honestly quite bad.
And I hate to say it, but it’s clear the book is written by a man: the young and pretty Deputy (this was reinforced all the time: that she was very pretty, had a great body, etc, was at least mentioned once every three pages) , Hannelore, somehow decided that a forty-plus, smoking, and rude police officer (or whatever his position was, I don’t care) was exactly what she wanted. Um, let me doubt that. And I repeat: I don’t know how they resolved the case, seeing as Van In spent more time thinking about what she was wearing than about his work. Yuck.
About any other characters, they were basically names and positions, nothing else, and even the two main had the personality of a rock, so I can safely say I was zero invested in the characters.
The plot was okay-ish, nothing special. I saw most of what would happen a mile away, but I have to admit there were a few plot twists I did like, and the resolution wasn’t really that bad. But it was quite boring at times, and most of the plot was rushed in the last hundred pages so the pacing was really off.
The narrative was weird and not well written: POVs changed, people thought the most ridiculous things, and details that had absolutely zero importance were remarked. Furthermore, the dialogue sounded fake, and I didn’t like how everything was handled because it was all so… Cold. Impersonal. It didn’t particularly call to me, and seating down to reading was almost a chore because it was that disagreeable.
To sum up, this was a novel that, while entertaining enough and acceptable to pass the time, I didn’t like: bad characters, slow pacing, weak plot, and weird narrative. I won’t read again from this author if I can avoid it, this was honestly not my cup of tea.
*The best part: Some of the plot twists.
*The worst part: Van In. Ew.
I rate this book a 2/5, honestly quite bad.
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