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Lack of engagement sags novel
Book Review
By Derryll White
Baantjer, A.C. (2006). DeKok and Variations on Murder.
I found this novel recently in an antique store in Nelson. I was intrigued as I had never heard of Inspector DeKok (“kay-oh-kay” as he likes to say) or the Dutch writer A.C. Baantjer, but this is #21 in a series of 60 novels featuring DeKok. Baantjer is himself a former detective inspector with the Amsterdam police. He is touted to be the “most widely read author in the Netherlands” and a Dutch Conan Doyle. For $7 how could I refuse?
DeKok is an ageing detective inspector with a long record of successes and an even more daunting record of bending or ignoring the letter of the law in his quest to resolve cases. Befitting his age he has a wide network of contacts in the murky Dutch underground, and a strong belief in the correctness of his own hunches. He is quite willing to bald-facedly lie to his bureaucratic bosses in the pursuit of these same hunches. He is, of course, supported in his rule bending by an unimpeachable command of Dutch law and how it works to, in some instances, constrain actions against him. Quite delightful, actually, to see a strong character challenge and take on bureaucracy on its own idiosyncratic playing field.
In the end, however, I found Baantjer’s novel did not engage me. The narrative voice is used throughout and it became somewhat wearisome. I learned little about Holland and I found the storyline forced. I think I am going to pass on the remaining 59 books in the DeKok (“kay-oh-kay”) series.
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Excerpts from the novel:
AGE – “I’m well aware what people think of old people. If an elderly individual voices a suspicion, especially a vague suspicion, people dismiss it as a delusion.”
LANGUAGE – Lowee spoke a kind of Dutch called bargoens that most Dutchmen would be hard put to recognize. It was the language of his world, of these streets. Although DeKok spoke and understood the vernacular perfectly, he seldom used it.
WOMEN – “Where have you been this morning?”
DeKok rubbed the bridge of his nose with his little finger.
“I followed a woman.”
“You what?”
“Yes.”
“At your age?” he teased.
“What about my age? queried DeKok.
Vledder shrugged.
“A bit old to be pursuing women, I’d say.”
DeKok mumbled something uncomplimentary. “One is never too old,” he answered, irked.
– Derryll White once wrote books but now chooses to read and write about them. When not reading he writes history for the web at www.basininstitute.org.
