THE SHADOW OF THE MOLE

by Bob Van Laerhoven

 

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GENRE:  Historical Mystery

 

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BLURB:

 

1916, Bois de Bolante, France. The battles in the trenches are raging fiercer than ever. In a deserted mineshaft, French sappers discover an unconscious man and nickname him The Mole

 

Claiming he has lost his memory, The Mole is convinced that he's dead and that an Other has taken his place. The military brass considers him a deserter, but front physician and psychiatrist-in-training Michel Denis suspects that his patient's odd behavior is stemming from shellshock and tries to save him from the firing squad.

 

The mystery deepens when The Mole begins to write a story in écriture automatique that takes place in Vienna, with Dr. Josef Breuer, Freud's teacher, in a leading role. Traumatized by the recent loss of an arm, Denis becomes obsessed with his patient and is prepared to do everything he can to unravel his secret.

 

Set against the staggering backdrop of the First World War, The Shadow Of The Mole is a thrilling tableau of loss, frustration, anger, madness, secrets, and budding love. The most urgent question in this extraordinary story is: when, how, and why does reality shift into delusion?

 

 

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EXCERPT:

That evening, the German forces started their offensive with a round of shells hitting Bois de Bolante. It was freezing. The sky was a dome of cobalt blue, pin-pricked with blazing-white crystals. A night in which wolves would hunt, the men muttered to each other.

 

As the biggest mortar shells exploded, their vicious sparks pierced the night sky with red and turquoise; trees were etched like charcoaled skeletons against metallic dark. When mortars fell into the woods, they exploded with yellow-blue flames which extinguished themselves slowly in the snow. Waves of green light were broken by shards of exploding shrapnel, whistling through the air like tiny red suns. Bullets whizzed like angry bees, softly thudding when they clashed into the frozen ground. The salvoes of the new, quick-firing German artillery were heart-stopping. They made a hellish sound: a lightning-fast roll on a giant drum. And in all that dazzling, reflected light, now and then the shapes of the soldiers in their trenches were sharply outlined, then torn apart in the play of light and shadow through the succession of flashes, colour, reflections.

 

Enfin, it was a motley funfair, the French told each other breezily, to puff up their courage.

 

The cries of the wounded were weak and pitiful in this cacophony.

 

After a few hours it became clear that the lazaretto had to be abandoned. Denis did what he could to help evacuate the wounded. The whole regiment had to retreat. The worst injured were left behind. It was a death sentence and everybody knew it.

                               

                                                                      REVIEW

This story was definitely well written and researched. I will say there is so much going on in this story. With the war raging on there is devastation, destruction and so much more. At times you can really feel the intense times and the sadness that comes with war. This was one incredible story!

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

A full-time Belgian/Flemish author, Laerhoven has published 43 books in Holland and Belgium. His literary work is translated and republished in French, English, German, Spanish, Slovenian, Swedish, Italian, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian and Chinese.

 

•           Four-time finalist of the Hercule Poirot Prize for Best Mystery Novel of the Year with the novels "Djinn," "The Finger of God," "Return to Hiroshima," and "The Firehand Files."

•           Winner of the Hercule Poirot Prize for "Baudelaire's Revenge," which also won the USA Best Book Award 2014 in the category "mystery/suspense."

•           In 2018, Crime Wave Press published "Return to Hiroshima," after "Baudelaire's Revenge," his second novel in English Translation.

•           His collection of short stories "Dangerous Obsessions," first published by The Anaphora Literary Press in the USA in 2015, was hailed as "best short story collection of 2015" by the San Diego Book Review. The collection is translated into Italian, (Brazilian) Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish.

•           In 2018, The Anaphora Literary Press published "Heart Fever," the second collection of short stories. With this collection, Laerhoven became the only non-American author to be selected as a finalist in the Silver Falchion 2018 Award, in the category "short stories collections." 

•           In addition, the quality English book site Murder, Mayhem & More chose "Return to Hiroshima" as one of the ten best international crime books of 2018. Readers' Favorite rated the novel Five Stars.

•           In August 2021, Next Chapter published the third novel in English: "Alejandro's Lie," set in a fictitious Latin-American dictatorship. Best Thriller Book Awards winner in the category « Political Thriller 2021" on BestThrillers.com

•           In February 2022, Next Chapter published "The Shadow Of The Mole," the fourth novel in English.

 

 

Website: http://www.bobvanlaerhoven.be/en

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