Customer Reviews

Amsterdam Cops: Collected Stories

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

For those who love The Amsterdam Cops series, this is the icing on the cake--especially for those who feel that the series lost something when retirements came around.
Reading the other reviews, I can see that if you own the other books of short stories of Van de Wetering, you're not getting your money's worth, so to speak. I don't agree though that those stories previously unavailable or not translated are "one star." The entire book was enjoyable to me on many levels.
I was also pleased to see that another reader found this to be a compelling introduction to the series. But I do think that it's much more fun to start at the beginning, with Outsider in Amsterdam, as the short stories presented here span two decades and a great deal of changes in the lives of the main characters.
For those who wonder if Grijpstra and De Gier translate well to the short format, I believe the answer is yes. These are scenes that would be very much at home in the novels, but are still satisfying in the short format.
Now if only Van de Wetering would give us the pleasure of more Commissaris stories...

The star rating is an anomaly; of course most of the stories are good. But they have, with only 3 exceptions, *already been published* in the books "The Sergeant's Cat" and "Mangrove Mama". If you already have these books, unless you're a truly rabid afficionado, don't bother with this one. Why? The remaining 3 are not very good stories, rating only 1 star.

If you're new to Van de Wetering, you shouldn't start here anyway. Buy "Outsider in Amsterdam" (5 stars) instead.

(Note: this review is "for the hardcover version only", because only hardcover buyers could have purchased Mangrove Mama, and only vdW. lovers would own The Sergeant's Cat (1987, out of print).)

Have been a fan of van de Wetering for a long time now but not being a fan of short stories I've never tried his. But one day I was desperate for something new to read and I came across Amsterdam Cops. I'm so very glad I did. These stories are every bit as fun, intelligent and laugh out loud hilarious as his full length novels. I only wish there were more......