|
 |
 |
 |
| Hard Rain (Amsterdam Cops) | Paperbackby Janwillem van de Wetering (Author)
| List Price: | $12.00 | |
| | Binding: | Paperback | | Publisher: | Soho Crime | | Page Count: | 313 Pages | | Publication Date: | July 01, 2003 | | Sales Rank: | 797,510th |
| | | Technical Details | | | All Offers |
|
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 3.5 based on 3 reviews)
|
It doesn't get much pulpier by M. North (Washington, DC)  2 Stars
April 28, 2006
Why is this author so popular? I'm sorry but this is badly written trash- the plot isn't even very compelling. Mostly in the pulpy "bad cop" genre, roughing up bad guys and hitting on dames every other page. The only interesting thing was it showed that the Dutch are not as cool as I thought they were.
| |
The Turtle Meditates by Marc Ruby™ (Warren, MI USA)  5 Stars
December 18, 2005
This is the eleventh book in Janwillem van de Wetering's famous series about the Amsterdam police force and is something of a masterpiece in a series that is noted for exceptional writing. A death that might be an assassination and a group of junkie art thieves who suddenly die from using uncut heroin start a story that pits the commissaris against a boyhood antagonist who has become a crime king. For the first time we see both sides of this fatherly old man - the wry, wise-cracking senior officer who can turn into an avenging angel with little or no warning.
Aiding the commissaris are two able and eccentric officers, Sargeant de Gier and Adjutant Grijpstra. These two have played jazz, meditated, and painted their way the many volumes. They manage to be both detectives and plotters, lulling the reader with their easy banter while the tear holes in alibis and commit outrages in the spirit of justice. Villains my find themselves the victims of police heists when de Gier and Gripstra enter the scene.
This time the target of the investigation is Willem Fernandus, and urbane and powerful sociopath whose position in society is almost unassailable. The commissaris and his troops find themselves the victims of corruption in the very police force they serve and wind up carrying on a freelance hunt for the tricks that will bring Fernandus down. But Fernandus and the police in his pocket have made so many enemies that the detectives soon find they have almost too many volunteers - a police secretary plays prostitute, a host of witnesses move into the commissaris' house, and civil servants jump ship.
The comedy masks grim truths, and van de Wetering reminds us just often enough that the Fernandus is the pleasant face that masks the horrors of organized crime. For all that the commissaris' quest is a personal one, his target really is genuinely evil - a man who has abandoned everything except his own satisfaction. But the world he has created for himself is the means of his undoing as the three knights (and a host of supporters) collaborate to unravel his power.
Into all of this is mixed just enough literary and philosophical material to remind us that thinking and police work are not necessarily mutually exclusive. And that action and good writing can happen at the same time. Hard Rain does depend on the character work that preceded it, so the reader will get the most out of it by starting earlier in the series. But you won't want to miss this when it is time to read it.
| |
once upon a time in the little town of amsterdam...  4 Stars
January 07, 2001
Way back when I had never heard of Janwillem van de Wetering, I picked up one of his novels off of a pile of used books just 'cause I liked the cover so much. Plus, I was out of ideas about what to read, having just suffered through a long exam period at school, which had left my brain feeling like a well-squeezed sponge. Anyway, I read "Hard Rain" in one night, finding that it was totally impossible to leave Grijpstra and de Gier and the commisaris in mid-chase. I won't give away the plot of this or any of the other great books that feature this oddball trio, but I will say that they are just about my favorite paperback detectives ever. I mean, yes, I still enjoy reading about Adam Dalgleish and Reg Wexford and Inspector Morse, but nobody's quite as likeable van de Wetering's characters, nor as much pure fun. Grijpstra is an out-of-shape realist with a fondness for drumming and a distinct lack of fondness for a nagging wife, de Gier is a judo-expert trumpet player who seeks answers to life's questions in Zen and women, and the commisaris is a keen-eyed old father-figure to both who keeps a pet turtle in his little garden. The three of them pursue murderers and other evil-doers through mostly non-traditional methods, reminding me sometimes of Hammett's Continental Op, who liked to throw monkey wrenches rather than follow clues, since that way he could often short-cut his way to a solution. In other words, the Grijpstra and de Gier books aren't really about solving puzzles, and really, the plots are often not nearly as important as the interplay of characters and the fleeting glimpses into the quirky texture of life in non-picturesque Amsterdam. So, what I'm saying is, read at least one of the Grijpstra and de Gier books, just for the heck of it. But be aware that there's a pretty good chance you'll get addicted. Oh, and I still think the covers are great, at least the ones in the Soho Crime series; I have to put that plug in, though it's irrelevant to the stories, just because I'm a big fan of good book design.
| |
SIMILAR PRODUCTS |
| Just a Corpse at Twilight: A Grijpstra and De Gier Mystery
by Janwillem van de Wetering (Author)
In the dozenth book in an acclaimed series, retired Amsterdam policeman Henk Grijpstra gets a frantic telephone call from his old partner, Rinus de Gier, who thinks he may have killed his own girlfriend. Reprint. NYT.
| 
| The Perfidious Parrot (Amsterdam Cops)
by Janwillem van de Wetering (Author)
Janwillem van de Wetering's fourteenth Amsterdam Cops novel, The Perfidious Parrot, finds Grijpstra, de Gier, and the commissaris blackmailed into investigating the mysterious hijacking of a supertanker's entire cargo. The adventure takes them to Key West and to the former Dutch colonies of Aruba and St. Eustatius in search of the missing oil and the villains who have killed more than once to protect their loot.
| 
| The Rattle-Rat (Grijpstra & De Gier Mystery)
by Janwillem Van De Wetering (Author)
| 
| The Streetbird (Amsterdam Cops)
by Janwillem van de Wetering (Author)
What appears to be the welcome murder of a local, much-disliked pimp turns out to be much larger than that single crime as the Dutch authorities struggle to get to the bottom of the shocking truth. Reprint."
| 
| The Japanese Corpse (Soho crime)
by Janwillem van de Wetering (Author)
|
|
|
|
Earth Science News
