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Hi, all:

I bring you the latest English translation of a book by an author I’ve been following for a while. This is a novel set in a fascinating historical period and is a must-read, but it is dark, and the topics it touches can be very upsetting, so caution is advised before deciding to read it.

The Firehand File by Bob Van Laerhoven

Berlin, 1921. A city of extremes.

While political violence plagues the streets during the day, a serial killer dubbed “The Skinner” roams the streets at night. Detective Chaim Orlosow suspects The Skinner is a World War I veteran, but he remains untraceable.

Meanwhile, the relationship between a famous Flemish DADA poet and his impetuous girlfriend is on edge. Like thousands of others in Berlin, they live in poverty and are addicted to dangerous street drugs.

In a moment of impulse, Van Ostaijen – the artist – steals a mysterious file from the apartment of the enigmatic spy, Elise Kraiser, a series of dramatic events is set in motion. Soon, they find themselves on a a collision course with a politician who is rapidly gaining influence… Herr Adolf Hitler.

Bob Van Laerhoven’s THE FIREHAND FILE is an electric historical thriller set in Weimar-era Berlin, Germany.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/250590191-the-firehand-file?

About the author:

Van Laerhoven made his debut as a novelist in 1985 and quickly became known for his colorful, kaleidoscopic novels, in which the fate of the individual is closely linked to broader social transformations. International flair has become his trademark. His novels blend literature and suspense.

AVID TRAVELLER

Bob Van Laerhoven became a full-time author in 1991. As a freelance travel writer, he explored conflicts and trouble spots across the globe from the early 1990s to 2005. Echoes of his experiences on the road also permeate his novels. Somalia, Liberia, Sudan, Gaza, Iran, Iraq, Kosovo, Lebanon, Laos, Bosnia, Albania, Myanmar… to name but a few.

MULTIFACETED OEUVRE

All these experiences contribute to Bob Van Laerhoven’s rich and commendable oeuvre. He is a 20-time prize-winning author, translated into 12 languages: French, English, German, Spanish, Greek, Swedish, Slovenian, Italian, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese, and Amharic (Ethiopia).

My review:

I thank the author for providing me with an ARC copy (of the English version) of this novel, which I freely chose to review.

I have read and reviewed several novels by Flemish author Bob Van Laerhoven. He often chooses historical subjects and doesn’t shy away from the crueller or darker aspects of each period. His writing is lyrical and beautiful, even when the topics are not, and his characters are always complex and frequently hide traumatic pasts and horrific secrets. This book is no different, and on this occasion the author sets his story at a momentous historical time (between the two world wars), mostly in Berlin. We are submerged in a city where hope and desperation walk hand in hand, and where permissiveness and excess mix with intolerance in its ugliest incarnation.

This is a fascinating novel that weaves many different strands (politics, mystery, crime, psychology and psychiatry, anti-Semitism, art and poetry…), populated by singular characters whose atmosphere is the closest most of us will ever be to actually experiencing what was happening in Germany shortly before WWII. Among the many characters whose lives intersect, we can find: a Jewish police detective investigating some violent and bizarre murders (possibly the work of a serial killer); a Flemish DADA poet struggling to live of his art and his lover, who has found a financially more reliable lover (a physicist envious of Einstein); a mysterious woman with a traumatic past who is well-connected, knows a lot of people, and whose lover is a psychiatrist close in his ideas to the National Socialist Party ideas; a young Jewish girl and her brother who try to make a living in the streets as best they can; a violent man pretty selective in his choice of victims; a woman who is finally in the process of getting her gender-reassignment surgery after years of trying to become who she really is; a communist after strategic information pretending to be somebody else; a Polish crime lord who can obtain anything if the price is right, and many others.

We can find drugs, alcohol, fragments of poetry, disturbing diary entries with the added analysis of a psychiatrist, letters, dreams, memories, documents… All these elements combine to create a “what if” kind of story. What would have happened if there had been a file that gave clues as to how Hitler’s brain worked before his rise to power? And what if that file had fallen into the hands of a spy working for a foreign nation concerned about what was happening in Germany? This is speculative historical fiction at its best.

You will have to read the book to know what happens (the ending more than matches the rest and brings in even more real characters, making the plot even thicker), and I cannot recommend it enough, particularly to anybody interested in that historical period. From the description and my comments, it should be evident that this is a dark book, with plenty of violence, events, and behaviours that might trigger or offend readers, so caution is recommended when choosing to read it.

Thanks to the author for this book, and thanks to all of you for reading, liking, and supporting my blog. As I said, I will close comments on this post, but I hope you find the review interesting. I recommend all of Van Laerhoven’s books if he is an author you haven’t come across before. Enjoy the rest of the summer!