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192 pages. 265 grams. Gollancz Yellow Jacket. This book is in good ex-library condition with associated markings and attachments. The dust jacket is in good condition currently enclosed in clear library protective sleeve. 'In about five years, with five books, Nicolas Freeling has taken the position of preferred English detective writer, at least among those with respect for the genre.Freeling's books are much more than simple thrillers. It would in fact be fair to say that from a melange of existing ingredients he has remade and extended the thriller. There is mystery, not only the mystery of who is doing what but more importantly, who is capable of doing it and why.Then his English is good, unusually good in today's light novel; notice his metaphors and similes, often arresting yet unforced. On place and the feeling of place he is usually excellent.His detective, Van der Valk, is at present head and shoulders above others - a sort of apoteosized Maigret.And finally he has the popular story-teller's gifts, the right pace adn the constant satisfaction of controlled expectation.Excitement - this is the important novelty - is integral, not, as with Dorothy Sayers, a knob on the top.Mr Freeling is at hte moment the educated man's Ian Fleming." This very remarkable tribute to Nicolas Freeling appeared in the Times Literary Supplement, when it reviewed his last Van der Valk story, "The King of the Rainy Country". And it was only one of many such tributes. Mr Freeling has never revealed his character and atmosphere more fully than in this new novel, Stike Out Where Not Applicable. with the relaxed assurance of the true master, he allows Van der Valk to approach by ever-diminishing circles the solution of a particularly elusive murder - a murder which it's almost impossible to prove was a murder. It has taken Van der VAlk more than a year to recover from the fearful gun wound he received at the end of Rainy Country; and, slowed down physically, he has been transferred to the sleepy country town of Lisse, where nothing much ever happens. Until the Commissaire (he has been promoted too) begins to ask questions about the apparently accidental death of a local restaurant owner - and is plunged into the town's seething gossip. This is Freeling at his most characteristic, and we follow Van der Valk around that flat, bulb-growing countryside with rapt fascinatin as he probes ever deeper into the strangeness of human behaviour.' 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Quantity Available: 1. Category: Fiction, Modern First Editions.; Fiction, Mystery. Pictures of this item not already displayed here available upon request. Inventory No: 001018. Seller Inventory # 001018
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