Book burble: ON A SMALL ISLAND A BODY IS FOUND. THE VICTIM’S HEAD IS WRAPPED IN CLING FILM. HER HANDS ARE TIED BEHIND HER BACK.

Veteran detective Inspector Jaap Rykel of Amsterdam’s Murder Squad is swiftly summoned and he soon identifies a suspect, who hands himself over. Yet the man has no history of violence, no motive, and no connection to the victim.

On the other side of Holland, a similar murder – and confession – is reported and Rykel wonders if these are random senseless acts, or something more mysterious.

Seeking patterns on one wants to see, Rykel is drawn deeper into a sinister, sprawling case that will destroy all who touch it…

PRAISE FOR JAKE WOODHOUSE
‘A strong sense of place matched by storytelling that keeps the plot accelerating’ DAILY MAIL
‘Utterly enthralling … Looks set to be one of the key sequences in modern crime fiction. CRIMETIME
‘Taut, expertly woven and beautifully written’ CRAIG ROBERTSON

BEFORE THE DAWN (Inspector Rykel Book 3) (Amsterdam Quartet with Inspector Jaap Rykel) (2017) | ISBN: 1405922656 / EAN: 9781405922654 | Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
INSPECTOR RYKEL SERIES BY JAKE WOODHOUSE
1. After the Silence (2014)
2. Into the Night (2015)
3. Before the Dawn (2017)
4. The Stolen Days (2019)

Compulsive reading, adrenalin fuelled pace with more false summits and gut-wrenching twists than I could have possibly imagined. Keep in mind this is the third of the series and Woodhouse’s plotting has blind-sided me before, so you’d think I’d have the hang of it by now.

Now I am on the outside of the cover again and starting to come out of the brain blinding funk of the chase, well, chases plural I am having those ‘hold on a moment’ queries. What on earth was ‘that’ monstrous character getting up to for most of the novel because he suddenly materialised and dealt a fatal blow out of the blue? Then again, authors privilege he’s in charge, so why not? How exactly did the beleaguered Kees find Rykel at ‘that’ point, and how did the self-serving Smit get away with ‘that’, but even so I’m also still reeling at how brilliantly Woodhouse put all this together, I didn’t stop and fight with the questions mid-read I consumed the words like the air I need to breath. Not cosy reading but for sure compelling.

A final instalment to finish the quartet will feel like a bonus, because in many ways if the story stopped here, unhappy as it is at this point, it would still feel like a natural break. Frankly I cannot see where this could go next at present though of course I am most confident that Woodhouse will surprise me and that’s certainly an intriguing thought.

SPOILER ALERT: avoid white space below OR to read text, roll mouse over space below & highlight.

Kees was planning dropping Van del Pol off plus the evidence against him at a police station on the way to the airport. Van del Pol must have been alive at that point surely, for I just cannot see Kees stopping at a police station getting out of a car, hauling a corpse onto the tarmac from the boot and leaving it plus the enough evidence to convict the guy then driving away. Wouldn’t all that be caught on camera anyhow.

Those thoughts of “where could it go from here” have a lot to do with Rykel having stepped over the line in his final solution for Smit. Though to be fair another less drastic plan for dealing with Smit eluded me too. Questions about how Smit found and shot Van del Pol twisted my head a bit, I would have expected there to be a police presence all around the crime scene of Harry Borst’s death which was where Kees car must have been.

And what about finances how was Rykel going to finance this new life, presumably the cash Kees had was not passed over with the new identities passport. Wasn’t that cash still in the car boot with Van del Pol? And about this running away so he could protect Tanya, wasn’t Tanya still vulnerable to being identified as Ruud Staal’s killer if someone investigated that event more closely… I have gone back to the book since finishing to re-read chunks in hope of answering some of my own questions but still some answers escaped me. Time to rest my thoughts on this meanwhile suffice to say arresting read, cannot wait for the next in series, The Stolen Days or The Copycat whichever title is finally settled upon.

I plan releasing this at BLOODY SCOTLAND, the Scottish International Crime Writers Book Festival at one of the venues somewhere during the day.

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Fate intervened; I couldn’t manage to reach BLOODY SCOTLAND in 2018 and release this there, so this copy has travelled the North East of Scotland. I released this here on the OBCZ in the centre of the City at the Belmont Filmhouse in the downstairs Kino Bar on the evening of SUNDAY 18th AUGUST. My original plan to leave this book on the fund raising table at the Splash Café in Stonehaven, Open Air, Heated, Sea Water Pool this weekend was thwarted as the pool was closed. [Stonehaven, a seaside town on the East Coast of Scotland, 15 miles south of Aberdeen.]

Hello book finder, if you aren't familiar with the BookCrossing world of TRAVELLING books – WELCOME!

Feel free to keep this book it is yours to do with as you wish, read it, or pass it on to keep it travelling. You can leave notes anonymously or if you journal this book as a member, you will hear from the book on its travels. If you do join quoting the name of the Bookcrosser who registered this – see journal entry 1 – as your referrer would be very gratifying. Thank you and HAPPY READING!