Sand Castles by Nicholas Freeling (2001, Paperback)

You might say that all Nicolas Freeling books are experimental, as he does not follow the normal pattern of detective or crime novels, which is to say, an event, an inquiry, a resolution, with odd murders and mayhem along the way. Sometimes he tells us what happens at the end of the story, in the beginning. At other times, he runs around the fringes of what appears to be the main issue, exploring all sorts of apparently unrelated ideas. True, he usually brings it all together in the end into some sort of denouement, but it is not just to surprise us with his/van der Valk's perspicacity, although you might see it like that.

In Sand Castles, he adopts yet another method. Just when you think the part of the story you are reading is going to take some sort of strange turn (that is, even stranger than it has up until now!), it ends altogether! Now that is a surprise, for the book is not yet finished - there is more than 100 pages left to go. So what is going to happen? And in this particular case, it really is a surprise, which I won't give a way.

Always a thoughtful writer, Freeling has sent van der Valk on holiday in this book, and as understanding as Arlette can usually be, she finds there is rather a lot to put up with on this springtime journey along the north coast of Holland and then Germany. Another good van der Valk read.