Customer Reviews

The King of the Rainy Country

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

 

 

Freeling's Dutch police inspector Van der Valk is directed to take on a missing persons case appropriate for private detective, making the plot a little unusual. However, certain complications aside, this short novel (without chapter headings) has little action. There is a small amount of suspense in the last few pages--though spoiled a bit by the flashback at the start of the book. There is much meandering, extraneous detail, little character development (though Anne-Marie was interesting), considerable unimpressive mental activity, & many unfamiliar literary (?) allusions. The title of the book is from a Baudelaire poem. There are a few good turns of phrase: p. 103: "Everybody is out of the ordinary if you look deep enough" & p. 109: He still had to clamp the teeth of patience on the bullet of chagrin." The protagonist states repeatedly that he isn't very bright--I agree. He could have checked, for instance, to see if the French police had the rifle rather than just speculate, & avoided chasing an armed person unarmed himself. In short, it was not an impressive effort IMHO.