- Paperback: 285 pages
- Publisher: Bitter Lemon Press (Sep 1 2009)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1904738389
- ISBN-13: 978-1904738381
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.7 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 299 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #887,158 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
A"In contrast with Mankell, the warm-hearted psychologist of the individual, we find Geeraerts, a cold-blooded surgeon who lays bare the ills of a society. This thriller, so loyal to the genre that the irony and parody are barely perceptible, is relentless. The machinations of Opus Dei and dubious financial manoeuvres are deftly juxtaposed with descriptions of fine restaurants and nids d'amour.A" Tagesspiegel BerlinA"One of Geeraerts literary achievements is that such a shameless and baroque character as Savelkoul ends up attracting your sympathy as you read on. A revealing study of a very dark society.A" Facts Zurich A"Geeraerts exposes the mechanics of corruption, the abuse of power, political cynicism and the excesses triggered by religious delusion. His novels are often at the centre of political scandal.A" ZDF
Product Description
“A splendid reminder of the virtues of the traditional novel, this work tackles the territory of Balzac and Zola, not just in the solidity of its construction and characters, but in its readiness to tackle corruption in church and state.”- The Independent , UK
"In contrast with Mankell, the warm-hearted psychologist of the individual, we find Geeraerts, a cold-blooded surgeon who lays bare the ills of a society. This thriller, so loyal to the genre that the irony and parody are barely perceptible, is relentless.”— Tagesspiegel Berlin
“One of Geeraerts’ literary achievements is that such an arrogant and baroque character as Savelkoul ends up attracting your sympathy. A revealing study of a very dark society.”— Facts Zurich
“Geeraerts exposes the mechanics of corruption, the abuse of power, political cynicism and the excesses triggered by religious delusion.”— ZDF
Albert Savelkoul, the public prosecutor of Antwerp, has power, money, an aristocratic wife, and a high-maintenance mistress. A wonderful life—until Opus Dei takes a less than benevolent interest in it. In the course of this subversive psychological thriller, the shameless, slippery Albert becomes an almost-lovable, desperate victim of a power structure controlled by effete aristocrats, a corrupt judiciary, and ultra-right fanatics of the Catholic church.
Jef Geeraerts, born in 1930 in Antwerp, was much admired by Henry Miller and is Belgium's best-known author after Georges Simenon. He was educated in Jesuit schools and spent time as a colonial administrator and army officer in the Belgian Congo. He gained international acclaim with his Gangrene Cycle , four novels based on his experience in the Congo. Since then he has focused on crime and noir novels, of which The Public Prosecutor is the first to be published in English.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
great psychological suspense, Oct 3 2009
By Harriet Klausner - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Public Prosecutor (Paperback)
Affluent Albert Savelkoul seems to live a near perfect life as the public prosecutor of Antwerp. He is affluent and influential due in part to the right marriage although his deeply religious wife Baroness Marie-Amandine de Vreux d'Alembourg detests him. His mistress Louise is beautiful and kind though he is considering a maid for that position. Finally he has a secret Swiss bank account concealed even from his spouse in which Albanian drug dealers donate in exchange for magically changing heroin into talc.
His wife arranges with the Opus Dei to destroy Albert. She gives them insider information that they use to blackmail the suddenly beleaguered Albert. The powerful Catholic group demands a cut starting with any inheritance he planned for his offspring. They also easily get into his Zurich account and wipe that out. Opus Dei operatives raise the ante further as they try to break Albert. He prays to God to allow him and his love to safely flee Belgium for Scotland.
The premise behind this great psychological suspense is that a big fish in a small pond can be eaten alive by a bigger fish. Thus corrupt Albert makes the thriller work as he goes from affluence to stomp upon roach rather quickly when someone more powerful sends him back to the masses as another nonentity. Fans will relish this deep character driven tale of corruption and back stabbing as the norm especially for one climbing up the ladder of affluence and influence only to be thrown down by someone higher up. Jef Geeraerts provides a powerful indictment of western civilization circa 1999 as a "Bitter Lemon" whether it is Belgium, Scotland, or the United States.
Harriet Klausner
4.0 out of 5 stars
Darkly Humorous High Jinks in Antwerp, Mar 21 2011
By Feanor - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Public Prosecutor (Paperback)
Arch and knowing books are, thankfully, not a dime a dozen, but Jef Geeraerts's The Public Prosecutor is one such. Geeraerts doesn't have much time for organised religion, I gather from this fable, or for money-grubbing men or women, most of whom end up perishing in some gruesome fashion or the other. The protagonist of this parody of the paranoid thriller genre is the Public Prosecutor of Antwerp, a man who owes his position to his wife's noble family. He leads the usual life of an alpha male - he has a beautiful young mistress; his wealth does not stop him from seeking more; and, of course, he detests his wife, and hardly has any time for his sons. The wife is a deeply religious Catholic who wants one of her sons to enter Opus Dei, the usual villain in books involving religious skullduggery, and to that end is willing to sacrifice everything, including her husband. There are other unsavoury Opus Dei operatives with connections at the highest reaches of power - both financial and administrative - and there are sundry criminals out for revenge. None of the characters has any redeeming qualities but the Prosecutor, harried and hassled, ends up being strangely sympathetic. This is so earnest a book I cannot imagine Geeraerts wasn't grinning ironically all the while he was writing it; good fun.
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