Sand Castles (Atlantic Large Print Series) [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Nicolas Freeling (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Freeling introduced Inspector Van der Valk in 1964 ( Love In Amsterdam ) and in his tenth book ( A Long Silence ) killed him off. The inspector's return here is sure to rally old fans. The unspecified time sounds modern--"The bawdy houses advertise safe sex"--as Van der Valk, now a middle-aged, mostly desk-bound Commissaris, vacations in northern Holland with his French-born wife, Arlette. Through a fluke, Van der Valk uncovers a small-town kiddy-porn ring, and does a one-man good-cop-bad-cop routine. At the German border he and Arlette meet a friendly Dutch-born entrepreneur whose old-fashioned jingoistic politics turn sinister after the apparent murder (the body vanishes) of a possible police agent. Van der Valk and Arlette face danger and a nasty American evangelist before a couple of villains are neutralized. Like his idiosyncratic hero and heroine--he bashes the Dutch, she the French, for example--Freeling rewards with his oblique, subtly comic style.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: John Curley & Assoc; Lrg edition (November 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0745198988
• ISBN-13: 978-0745198989
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars no title, November 16, 2005

By 

C. L Wilson (Elmhurst, Illinois United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sand Castles (Hardcover)

Remember this book to follow as a wonderful travel plan by car from The Hague to Macesholm, a tiny village in Germany, all along the seacoast in between. However, as a mystery, which is what it's supposed to be, it stunk. An enormous amount of literary references, you have to be extremely well-read to pick up on them. Lot of talk about food, which is natural, considering the author used to be a chef. I liked the characters immensely, just nothing much ever happened. It was two complete stories, neither one of much interest. No real suspense, or who-done-it, or danger, or anything. Lots of weather talk, and travelogue descriptions, droll conversations, witty repartee, and at times, I thought the author let his bitterness (about what?) come through.

5.0 out of 5 stars Mysterious van der Valk mystery, October 17, 2009

By 

Owen Hughes (Montreal, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sand Castles (Mass Market Paperback)

You might say that all Nicolas Freeling books are experimental, as he does not follow the normal pattern of detective or crime novels, which is to say, an event, an inquiry, a resolution, with odd murders and mayhem along the way. Sometimes he tells us what happens at the end of the story, in the beginning. At other times, he runs around the fringes of what appears to be the main issue, exploring all sorts of apparently unrelated ideas. True, he usually brings it all together in the end into some sort of denouement, but it is not just to surprise us with his/van der Valk's perspicacity, although you might see it like that.

In Sand Castles, he adopts yet another method. Just when you think the part of the story you are reading is going to take some sort of strange turn (that is, even stranger than it has up until now!), it ends altogether! Now that is a surprise, for the book is not yet finished - there is more than 100 pages left to go. So what is going to happen? And in this particular case, it really is a surprise, which I won't give a way.

Always a thoughtful writer, Freeling has sent van der Valk on holiday in this book, and as understanding as Arlette can usually be, she finds there is rather a lot to put up with on this springtime journey along the north coast of Holland and then Germany. Another good van der Valk read.