For many years, Esther Verhoef (b. 1968) has been one of the most widely read thriller writers in the Dutch language. Her thrillers have sold over 1.5 million copies and have been translated into Spanish, French, German, English and Russian. Her work has brought her widespread recognition in the form of the NS Publieksprijs. She is the winner of several leading crime fiction awards. For Dear Mama she won the Gouden Strop 2016.
(Ambo Anthos, 2014, 329 pages)
Violence inflicted on children: even the prospect leaves us with a sickening feeling of helplessness. We would do any thing to stop it and, as readers, we turn the pages anxiously in the hope that the unthinkable can be averted. Esther Verhoef makes clever use of this impulse in her intense thriller, which grips the reader from beginning to end.
(Prometheus, 2015, 376 pages)
The clever thing about Verhoef’s thrillers is that they never stray far from a familiar, everyday environment, yet her characters always go just that one step further. It’s easy to commit a crime. A vicarious anxiety arises in us as readers and we have to stop ourselves from shouting out, ‘No, don’t do that!’ This is even more the case in her latest bestseller, the award-winning Dear Mama.
