A Dutch book containing 10 short stories, all starring inspector Maigret. The stories are interesting enough to read, but not enough to stay awake – and as I tend to read them before going to sleep…

I read this book in Dutch

A body is found, that has been buried for many, many years.
Inspector Erlendur and his team try to find out who lived in that neighbourhood in the past, and if there were any disappearances. The search is not easy – it has been a long time ago (during WWII, while there was an American camp near that spot), and the house that was standing on the spot, was rented, but no-one knows to who.

Another story-line is about a family, where the husband severely ill-treats his wife (and children). This story leads to a sudden climax, after he came back from prison, after being found guilty on thefts from the Americans.

Third, there’s the story of Erlendur’s daughter, who is in Intensive Care, and fighting for her life.

Great story, great characters, good division of attention. For me it was a great page-turner.

I bought this book, because I’m a big fan of the Narnia series.
It is very unlike them, but in a strange way it also is not.

The story is about a man, Ransom, who is taken by two other man out into space, to a planet called Malacandra (Mars). There he lives among different kind of men, that inhabit Malacandra.
At first I didn’t like the book too much. The first part was nice, but after Ransom left his fellow earth-men, for me it was too little action, too much description. But I read on, and from the moment Ransom arrives on the island where he will meet Oyarsa (kind of “God”) the picture becomes clear – and complete.

What astonished me most while reading the book, is how little we know about our own earth. We can use lots of technology, but we (or at least I) don’t understand most of it. Every knowledge is partial. What do we know about our own country?
What can we explain to others about things “that just are the way they are”?

Just the way this book provokes my thoughts about things like this makes it absolutely worth reading. I definitely will read the second book of the space trilogy!

For every detective fan, kind of a must (at least according to me). The story is good, but it is more than “just a thriller”, because of the presence of some strong characters.
This is what the book makes outstanding.
When it had only be a detective/thriller, it could have been half its size, but especially John Madden and his wife Helen, their friends and relations, makes the book what it is – a real page-turner.

The story starts 11 years after the end of River of Darkness, when John Madden, no longer working for Scotland Yard, finds himself involved in a cruel murder case – and this murder is just the beginning…
The search for the murderer leads us across the British borders, to a Germany where the Nazi’s are gaining in power, it lets us find ourselves between gypsies and tramps, between road-makers, the secret service, the police and common people.
An enjoyable mixture :)