The Streetbird

Rating:
Summary: A strange proposition . . .
Review: I must agree with my friend from Forest Hills, New York. The ending does make you scratch your head a piece. However, I have read The Butterfly Hunter and The Japanese Corpse, and this is the man's style for sure. However, I have always detected something very very unusual in his work and something very very American here. The work rings of Heinrich Boll in places, but something intuitive tells me otherwise. You may find the vulgar racial resonations of Det. Grijpstra's work associates uninspiring, but alas.

I've always wondered what happened to Frank Serpico, he did vanish to the same part of the world as Van De Wetering and he was fond of this kind of urban detective fiction. But maybe this is reaching . . . but not as reaching as the ending of this book. I enjoyed it none the less.

Rating:
Summary: Odd Duck
Review: Janwillem Van De Wetering is an odd duck; I understood his mysteries much better after reading his books on Zen Buddhism, which I highly recommend. Also, his book about Robert Van Gulick will lead you to the Judge Dee mysteries which are very fascinating, and there are a lot of them, so between Van de Wetering and Gulick, you don't run out of books to read for quite a while. That is a mystery lover's greatest fantasy, a LOT of interesting books to read.

Rating:
Summary: A pretty good read
Review: The book blended interesting strands of South American voodoo and Amsterdman red-light district life. I liked the book, but did not find the end convincing. I could not believe the police would accept the "shocking truth". Still, I liked the book's atmosphere. A sort of Dutch, latter-day film noir.