Jo Claes has been writing a 'Thomas Berg' series for years, about a police inspector who solves murders in his hometown Leuven using mostly symbolism. The book 'Want Alles Gaat Voorbij', is the 12th book in the series.
I have read all the books in the series since I'm absolutely hooked on it. The wonderful thing about these books is the consistent layering that always returns throughout the series, which makes it easier to read. Despite owning a law school degree - or maybe thanks to it - I had lost the will to read novels in my free time. That all changed when I saw an ad for one of the last books in the series and worked my way back to the first book, because the stories are easy to understand no matter in which order you read them.
Every book has a special cover with own photography and a meaning. Here is the complete Thomas Berg series:
I love how these covers look. They're all a bit special, kind of like covers of Van Morrison albums.
Anyway! Back to the last book. Claes has written a few frightening books in this series, and this last one might be his best so far.
Without trying to spoil anything, I'll say that this time Berg loses a few close friends and family members when they are murdered in the same town. The almost completely innocent protagonist is an instant suspect when, after mentioning she likes to visit the opera and plays music, Berg finds a Haydn CD with a mysterious symphony in his appartment. It leads to a clever story on palindromes with a Da Vinci Code touch, and more people become a suspect.
At the end of the story, a plot twist happens, but it's possible to see it coming if you pay enough attention.
In every book Claes mentions one or more university faculties because the city where the story happens, Leuven, is a university town. Usually the story involves the university one way or another, but not this time. I missed that academic layer. Claes compensates this loss with more emotional depth in his characters. A failed pregnancy, cruel murders of beloved, heavy traffic accidents. The killer also comes in Berg's personal space, as I mentioned. It was so thrilling that I couldn't put the book down from page 200 until the end, page 428.
Misplaced jealousy and hypocrisy of the main suspect are an important foundation of many of the problems mentioned in this book. As always the book ends with a mind-blowing plot twist. It's more than a plot-twist, in fact: it doesn't only give a new meaning to the story, it makes you think about new hypotheses, and causes a small cliffhanger, leaving room for more excitement and speculation. To make sure you can still catch some sleep, Claes provides a closing epilogue, a bit like a cup of chamomile tea after watching a horror movie. Out of respect for the average reader, an assuring overview is given of the facts and events to completely understand the story.
It's amazing how Claes makes all of this up. In fact I'm a little scared to ever visit Leuven again! I'll feel emotional whenever I come across one of the monuments on his book covers. The statue by Luc Van Soom on the cover of his best book 'De Mythe van Methusalem' was actually in front of me for 5 years, right in the middle of the law faculty of Antwerp.
So, Dutch readers, you know what to do. I hope this series gets translated and turned into a tv series as well!
x
Helena
0 Yorumlar