I seem to be missing a book between The Square of Revenge and From Bruges with Love. A lot of things have happened between Pieter Van In and Hannelore and their relationship was the most shocking aspect of the novel: the fact that they can be so open about their feelings at work. The mystery is interesting and several turns and twists are unexpected. As usual, Commissioner Van In's investigative methods are quite shocking, with no regard for authority or rules. I liked the humor throughout the book – dry and sarcastic. The one thing that I couldn't get around was a pregnant woman constantly drinking wine and smoking! I know many women who gave up smoking when they got pregnant and the casual way this is mentioned was so distracting I had to reread what they were actually discussing, as I was not paying attention.

I got fooled again; like a couple of previous books, I expected this mystery to be new, but as it turned out this is merely the first English translation of a book first published in 1997. You wouldn’t think it would make that much of a difference, but it is at times jarring, such as a clue being found in a Betamax box, which was obsolete even then to the character, but you surely wouldn’t find one nowadays outside of a museum.
These Dutch—or Flemish—names make it difficult to keep track of; some “sound” the same when you read quickly, and for some strange reason it’s worse than German. As for the plot, there are some tangents that end up going nowhere, but since that’s common in police work it’s not too bad. There’s a final plot twist that doesn’t change much, other than the fate of a couple of characters. There is one subplot involving a young policewoman that didn’t seem worth putting in, other than to save her ass at the end.
But as someone who’s been to Bruges and enjoyed it, I was more than a little disappointed at the complete lack of description of the amazing places that draw tourists; there’s quite a bit on local restaurants and everyday places, which is as expected, but I don’t believe the word “canal” was used even once. A reason for that might be the few scenes that featured tourists, all of which have the main character exhibiting contemptuous thoughts toward them. On the other hand, this story seems to be far from the first in a long line, so maybe all that was covered before.

Lots of bad guys and surprises.