Netherlands
Political assassinations and death in the suburbs

‘The Dinner Club is another quality offering from Bitter Lemon Press, this one from the Netherlands. It is a well done translation by Paul Vincent from its original Dutch edition. Life in the suburbs of Amsterdam can be comfortable but also restrictive. When Karen and her family move there for a more peaceful place to raise the children she finds it a lonely existence. Used to her busy days working and taking care of her family, Karen is disturbed by the lack of activity and friends in this small town. So she is thrilled to get to know some of the other women who also live in the area. They quickly become a social group, a dinner club of 5 women and their husbands. They are the upper class of the neighbourhood, the comfortably elite with assets and attitude. But when one of the men dies when his house burns down and one of the women falls off the balcony of a hotel, it begins to look like it is not such a happy group after all.’ Front Street Reviews

We all know Holland. A nirvana of legalized drugs, domesticated prostitution and a well deserved reputation for tolerance, religious, racial or otherwise. But it seems the mood has changed; political assassination has reared its ugly head. Pim Fortuyn, a maverick politician of the right, and Theo Van Gogh, an outspoken film director, are recent victims. The Fortuyn assassination spawned an excellent crime thriller by Tomas Ross, 'de zesde mei' , and of course shook the sleepy Netherlands out of its consensual torpor. Parallels were drawn with the mob killings in the 17th century of republicans Johan and Cornelis de Witt. Things were different then. Cornelis was shot, stabbed, eviscerated alive, hanged naked, brained and partially eaten. Some say by dogs, others say by those in the crowd.

For more contemporary Dutch thrills see 'The Vanishing', a deeply disturbing film by George Sluizer, not to be confused with the dismal Hollywood remake of the same name, or read Saskia Noort’s 'The Dinner Club', a sexy, suspenseful thriller set in a genteel suburbia marred by murder and betrayal.

	Back to the Coast Saskia Noort £ buy now $ buy now [more]
	The Dinner Club Saskia Noort £ buy now $ buy now [more]

Links
Noort-Author website
www.saskianoort.nl/

Noort-Sultry Saskia Portrait
www.mariececilethijs.com/ frame.php?id=1097

Noort-Dinner Club Dutch edition
www.literairethrillers.nl/?id=320