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WORK TITLE: Night Market
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://danielpembrey.co.uk/
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
NATIONALITY: British
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born in England.
EDUCATION:Attended Edinburgh University; INSEAD Business School, M.B.A.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, journalist. Worked in business for a decade in the United States and Luxembourg.
WRITINGS
Contributor to periodicals, including Condé Nast Traveller, Architectural Digest, Daily Telegraph, Financial Times, and the Times, among others. Also the author a several self-published short novels and short stories.
SIDELIGHTS
Born in England, British author Daniel Pembrey grew up in Nottinghamshire in a village near Sherwood Forest. After studying history at Edinburgh University, he went to France, where he earned a M.B.A., and spent the next decade working both in the United States and in Luxembourg. Eventually, he made his way to Amsterdam, a city he fell in love with and he continues to divide his time between that city and London, writing for a number of periodicals and publishing novels in his “Henk van der Pol” detective series, set in Amsterdam.
In a Liz Loves Books Website interview, Pembrey commented on his journalistic freelancing, writing on topics from Amsterdam nightlife to Dutch residential design, the Los Angeles of author Michael Connelly, and interviews with other writers and personalities. “I do [like writing features articles], Pembrey noted. “Not just because they help pay the bills … even novellas take a long time to write and publish, whereas these features articles–written to deadline–are like timed essays by comparison. I find it refreshing. Plus I get to meet all these interesting people.” In an article Pembrey published in the London Guardian Online, he further remarked on his decision to use Amsterdam as a setting for his series: “When I started visiting Amsterdam regularly a decade ago, I used to look for crime fiction novels set here and translated into English–but ended up writing my own! It involved doing research with the Dutch police force; I even went on an undercover operation with them in the Red Light District. Generally, it’s a safe city, but any port as big as Amsterdam’s attracts a good slice of criminality. My fictional detective, Henk van der Pol, has his own houseboat in the docklands area of the city.”
The Harbour Master
Pembrey’s “Henk van der Pol” series begins with the 2016 novel, The Harbour Master, which was originally published as three Kindle e-book novellas and were then bought by No Exit Press, which re-published them as this first novel in the series. This novel finds Amsterdam detective Hen van der Pol on the eve of retirement after serving with the force for almost thirty years. But plans for retirement are put on hold when a woman’s body is found in Amsterdam Harbor. Warned off the investigation as it is out of his jurisdiction, van der Pol, a maverick among cops, trusts his instincts and investigates anyway. Soon he is involved in a mushrooming case that leads to police and government corruption, Hungarian human traffickers, and a growing threat to himself and his family. Ultimately the trail leads van der Pol through the Netherlands and Scandinavia.
A Financial Times Online reviewer had high praise for The Harbour Master and its author, calling Pembrey a novelist of “rare skill,” and noting that this novel stands out from other crime books as the “real achievement is the characterisation of the ageing copper following a tangled, picaresque trail.” Similarly, a contributor in Anne Bonny Book Reviews Website observed: “A murky case, straight out of the red light district, involving violent crime, drugs and branded prostitutes. With links to international diplomats, corrupt police alliances and the trafficking of people for sex. This is a novel not to be missed!” A critic in the Daily Mail Online also had praise, terming the novel “[c]ompelling and fast-moving,” and further noting, “The exquisitely drawn Inspector van der Pol battles his way to the truth in a way that his fictional ancestor, Inspector Piet van der Valk, created by Nicolas Freeling, did in the Sixties.” Similarly, Promoting Crime Fiction by Lizzie Hayes Website reviewer Hayes dubbed this “cleverly-crafted and unusual … dealing with real issues in a vividly-evoked setting.” Online Euro Crime writer Ewa Sherman also had a high assessment of The Harbour Master, noting: Daniel Pembrey is a master of concise stylish writing. It demonstrates not only his craftsmanship and discipline but also an intelligent ability to convey mood and atmosphere of the setting and urgency of Henk’s actions. … his vivid and mesmerising portrait of the city is not for the faint-hearted.” An online Crime Pieces reviewer further observed that “Van der Pol is clearly a maverick style policeman but this never stretches the limits of plausibility.”
Night Market
Van der Pol returns in Night Market, in which the irascible and sometimes inconsistent cop is now commissioned by the Justice Minister and government officials in The Hague to look into child pornography by actually infiltrating the exploitation network. This is not a job he can turn down but once undercover, van der Pol discovers just how hard it is to stop the bad guys, and he pays for it with a very bad beating.
“The plot … is more and more unpredictable,” noted a contributor in the online Anne Bonny Book Reviews. “It is written in such a style, that you never know what will be revealed and discovered next. Obviously the theme is dark, dealing with issues of child abuse, exploitation of children in the system and child pornography within the novel. But I think this shows the obstacles that organisations/governments face in trying to bring down global, image sharing/creating, paedophile rings.” A Publishers Weekly writer also had praise for this second installment, commenting: “Pembrey excels at revealing the psychological price police pay for investigating child pornography while sparing the reader the sordid details.” Likewise, Paul Burke, writing in Nudge Book Website, observed: “The setting of Amsterdam was vividly brought to life in the first novel and Night Market rings with the same authenticity, both in the city and further afield. Pembrey is a keen observer and this gives a colour and texture to the book. The Harbour Master was an assured debut and Night Market is a fine sequel; intelligent, exciting and original.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, August 28, 2017, review of Night Market, p. 106.
ONLINE
Anne Bonny Book Reviews, https://annebonnybookreviews.com/ (April 10, 2017), review of The Harbour Master and Night Market.
Crime Pieces, https://crimepieces.com/ (January 5, 2015), review of The Harbour Master.
Crime Review, http://www.crimereview.co.uk/ (October 28, 2017), Chris Roberts, review of Night Market.
Daily Mail Online, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ (November 3, 2016), review of The Harbour Master.
Daniel Pembrey Website, http://danielpembrey.co.uk (February 13, 2018).
Euro Crime, http://eurocrime.blogspot.com/ (November 11, 2015), Ewa Sherman, review of The Harbour Master.
Financial Times Online, https://www.ft.com/ (November 4, 2016 ), review of The Harbour Master.
Liz Loves Books, http://lizlovesbooks.com/ (October 31, 2016), “When Crime Thriller Girl Interviewed Daniel Pembrey…..”
London Guardian Online, https://www.theguardian.com/ (December 29, 2017), Daniel Pembrey, “Amsterdam Holidays, Why I love ….”
Nudge Book, http://nudge-book.com/ (April 3, 2017), review of Night Market.
Promoting Crime Fiction by Lizzie Hayes, http://promotingcrime.blogspot.com/ (February 17, 2017), Marsali Taylor, review of The Harbour Master.
Series
Henk van der Pol
1. The Harbour Master (2014)
2. Night Market (2017)
The Harbour Master: The Collected Edition (books 1-3) (omnibus) (2014)
Initiation: Amsterdam, '83 (2018)
Novels
The Candidate (2013)
The Woman Who Stopped Traffic (2014)
Simon Sixsmith (2014)
Novellas
The Lion Hunter (2015)
Vanishing Point (2016)
Daniel Pembrey grew up in Nottinghamshire, England — beside Sherwood Forest. He studied history at Edinburgh University and received an MBA from INSEAD business school in France. Daniel then spent over a decade working in America and more recently Luxembourg, coming to rest in Amsterdam and London — dividing his time now between these two great maritime cities.
He is the author of the Henk van der Pol detective series and several short thriller stories, and he contributes articles to publications including The Financial Times and The (London) Times. In order to write The Harbour Master, he spent several months living in the docklands area of East Amsterdam, counting De Druif bar as his local.
To receive occasional email updates and offers of free exclusive content, please sign up at www.danielpembrey.com. Daniel is also on Twitter, @DPemb.
QUOTE:
When I started visiting Amsterdam regularly a decade ago, I used to look for crime fiction novels set here and translated into English – but ended up writing my own! It involved doing research with the Dutch police force; I even went on an undercover operation with them in the Red Light District. Generally, it’s a safe city, but any port as big as Amsterdam’s attracts a good slice of criminality.
My fictional detective, Henk van der Pol, has his own houseboat in the docklands area of the city,
‘I used to look for crime fiction novels set in Amsterdam, but ended up writing my own’
Amsterdam holidays
Why I love …
Amsterdam’s trading and gin heritage fascinates crime writer Daniel Pembrey, while its canals and Red Light District provide an evocative setting for his books
Daniel Pembrey
Fri 16 Dec 2016 12.04 GMT
Last modified on Wed 29 Nov 2017 16.50 GMT
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Early morning on the city’s canals. Photograph: Getty Images
The Netherlands is a famously flat country, more than a quarter of which is below sea level, and it’s not rich in natural resources, which meant the Dutch learned to trade early on. The resulting canal belt of Amsterdam is extraordinary. Make sure you look up when strolling the streets; the former merchants’ houses are very beautiful. You’ll see many a hijshaak (lifting hook/beam projecting from roof lines) used to winch goods to higher floors of narrow properties – they were originally taxed on the width of street frontage. True to Calvinist traditional, ground floor curtains are typically left open – a declaration of their owners having nothing to hide.
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Daniel Pembrey
When I started visiting Amsterdam regularly a decade ago, I used to look for crime fiction novels set here and translated into English – but ended up writing my own! It involved doing research with the Dutch police force; I even went on an undercover operation with them in the Red Light District. Generally, it’s a safe city, but any port as big as Amsterdam’s attracts a good slice of criminality.
My fictional detective, Henk van der Pol, has his own houseboat in the docklands area of the city, which is his beat. Book one starts in the backstreets of the adjacent Red Light District.
The best way to get about is by bike, but wearing a cycle helmet here is considered uncool. Fortunately, given the number of cycle lanes and the status accorded bike riders, you should be safe enough. But remember that wobbling foreign cyclists can be as frustrating to locals going about their daily business as people standing on the left side of escalators in London tube stations. There’s a growing debate about the costs and benefits of tourism: a city of 835,000 received more than 17 million visitors last year.
For really good-value, authentic eating go to a haring stall such as Kras Haring, beside Oosterkerk on Wittenburgergracht. The fresh herring there is prepared and served like sushi, packed with proteins and vitamins, and costs just a couple of euros.
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Raw herring. Photograph: Getty Images
A fun and unusual food location is De Hallen, a former tram depot. Twenty or so stalls offer everything from Dutch bitterballen (deep-fried meaty snacks) to Vietnamese street food. It’s in Bellamyplein, to the west of the city centre. On the same site is the Filmhallen arthouse cinema, which includes the beautiful art deco Parisien Room, formerly belonging to one of the oldest film theatres in Amsterdam. You can even stay on site, at the boutique Hotel de Hallen.
Try genever gin as a beer chaser, as my detective does. This is sometimes referred to as a kopstoot (headbutt)
Genever gin is very old, predating the British variant and giving rise to the expression Dutch courage. It is an acquired taste, but you can savour it in one of the scenic harbourside bars such as De Druif (Rapenburg 83), my favourite. You can also try it as a beer chaser, as my detective occasionally does. This is sometimes referred to as a kopstoot (headbutt).
To appreciate how refined genever can be, visit Van Wees distillery in the nearby Jordaan district, where they have been making it for centuries. Owner Fenny van Wees recently perfected a single, old grain version – Mirakel van Amsterdam (‘miracle from Amsterdam’), well worth experiencing.
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The National Maritime Museum. Photograph: Alamy
One of my favourite museums is the Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder (Our Lord in the Attic), a 17th-century house which hid an ornate Catholic church in its upper level in the time it was prohibited to celebrate mass. Another is the National Maritime Museum, which showcases Holland’s seafaring heritage – plus a glass ceiling to rival the British Museum’s. Like Britain, this is a country mulling its extraordinary past, current place in the world, and what the future may bring.
• Daniel Pembrey, author of Amsterdam detective novel The Harbour Master (No Exit Press, £7.99). To order a copy for £6.55 including UK p&p visit the guardian bookshop
QUOTE:
I do. Not just because they help pay the bills … even novellas take a long time to write and publish, whereas these features articles – written to deadline – are like timed essays by comparison. I find it refreshing. Plus I get to meet all these interesting people.
When Crime Thriller Girl interviewed Daniel Pembrey….
By LizLovesBooks | October 31, 2016 | Latest Blog
These two. THESE TWO. Always causing trouble. Can’t take them anywhere. Now they have taken over Liz Loves Books…
**Wanders off muttering**
When Crime Thriller Girl interviewed Daniel Pembrey, author of The Harbour Master
CTG: So Daniel, it came to my attention that you’ve got a book out!
DP: Yes, my Dutch detective novel The Harbour Master, about an Amsterdam-based copper called Henk van der Pol.
Wait, this sounds familiar. *Rummages through files*. I reviewed it this on my blog! –
https://crimethrillergirl.com/2014/10/
You did, very kindly! The first three parts of the story were launched as Kindle Singles (e-book novellas). They were then acquired by No Exit Press and have just been re-launched as a novel-length book. The concluding parts of the story will be available as a second novel-length book, Night Market – soon!
A-ha! And my sources tell me that the book just out is on special offer?
You’re good! Yes, available at an introductory 99p price on Kindle until 8th November. The print book launches November 10th.
The Harbour Master is on offer for 99p here
Your police character seems to like to drink gin, I noted.
Indeed. They call it jenever over there. He likes beer as well. Beer then gin, in that order.
See, my character, Lori Anderson (Deep Down Dead), likes bourbon.
Essential research carried out at De Druif bar in Amsterdam
Which is fitting, for a US-based story.
Thing is, whisky vs. gin. This is a question.
Is it? Gin’s an older drink, and the flavours are far more subtle. I’ve done research –
Excuse me, are you implying I haven’t? *hands to hips*
Maybe we need to resolve at a later date?
In Amsterdam or the USA?
Or we could do sooner in London.
Okay, less flying – that’s good. But in a whisky bar I think.
Let’s get some other crimies along. Rod Reynolds and Michael Grothaus would make excellent companions for this escapade.
Absolutely! All sorted, then?
As a matter of fact it is: January 24th at Milroy’s whisky bar in Soho. Look, I even just put it on the events page of my website! http://danielpembrey.co.uk/events/
Ooh, yes. I see you’re doing a couple of events …
Doing a fab Halloween crime-horror special at Waterstones King’s Road on Tuesday, 1st November. That Susi Holliday is involved, which can only spell trouble. In a good way.
Sounds like a lot of fun. What will you go dressed as?
Regency-era Dracula, the full belt-and-braces. Fangs to riding boots –
*nods* Outfit approved! And you’ve been interviewing some other crime writers, too, I see from your website.
Coming soon to Dead Good Books: Michael Connelly in London
That’s right. My publisher, No Exit Press, arranged some interviews with authors who have been a big influence on my writing and specifically my own cop character, Henk Van der Pol. Michael Connelly was a total inspiration. The interview with Ian Rankin was very special, too, in that – like him – I was a student at Edinburgh University, and the interview happened at the Oxford Bar:
https://medium.com/@CrimeTimeUK/ianrankin-9129e592f9ff#.md327tzdb
Excellent. Have you interviewed anyone else I should know about?
Jilly Cooper?
Jilly! I love Jilly Cooper. She is my absolute guilty pleasure read when I play hooky from reading crime fiction!
Yes, I wrote a piece on Agas in The Field where she explained how Rupert Campbell-Black would use the oven in one of his seductions.
Ah, the fabulous Rupert CB *gazes wistfully into distance* Where can I find this article?!
Below! Just click on the image. The funny thing is, I’ve lived in all these different places – the States (for 10 years), France, Luxembourg, hubby Amsterdam and Berlin, but at heart I do still enjoy mucking around in the countryside. I grew up in a small village beside Sherwood Forest.
Article for The Field about Agas featuring Jilly Cooper
And you like writing features articles?
I do. Not just because they help pay the bills … even novellas take a long time to write and publish, whereas these features articles – written to deadline – are like timed essays by comparison. I find it refreshing. Plus I get to meet all these interesting people.
Like Jilly!
I’ll confess, I do like her. Not just her Rutshire Chronicle books, but her as a person. She’s so full of life. You keep horses, don’t you?
*looks stern* I ask the questions, Mr Pembrey. So what are you reading at the moment?
D’you know, I just finished a great bounty hunter yarn set in the US. Lots of vivid scenes there, and brilliant characters. Just a shame they drink bourbon and not gin.
Deep Down Dead, now out in e-book format (print: 5 January)
Ha! So what are you looking forward to?
Aside from our whisky event now booked in for 24th January?
Yes.
I’d love to see my Henk character turned into TV, one day. Like Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch. The Dutch version of.
Wasn’t Hieronymus Bosch originally a Dutch painter?
He was! You know your Michael Connelly. I’m also looking forward to the second part of the Harbour Master saga, Night Market, plus a standalone novel I’m working on, part-set in Berlin. The working title of this is Shadow Play. It’s a Robert Harris-type thriller switching back and forward between the war years and present-day Los Angeles.
That sounds good. Lots to look forward to then!
For you too … I can’t wait for the next Lori Anderson instalment. When will that be?
Well, I’m currently elbow deep in the first draft of book 2 in the Lori Anderson series – so watch this space!
Fantastic. Well thanks so much for interviewing me, and we should thank Liz, too, for having us!
You’re very welcome, Mr Pembrey. It’s been fun. Cheers!
The Harbour Master e-book will be at the introductory offer price of 99p until 8th November, here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01I4ALTDE/
The print book launches on November 10th. Find out more about Daniel via his website, www.danielpembrey.co.uk
Daniel Pembrey grew up in Nottinghamshire beside Sherwood Forest. He studied history at Edinburgh University and received an MBA from INSEAD business school. Daniel then spent over a decade working in America and more recently Luxembourg, coming to rest in Amsterdam and London — dividing his time now between these two great maritime cities.
He is the author of the Henk van der Pol detective series and several short thriller stories, and he occasionally contributes non-fiction articles to publications including The Financial Times and The Times. In order to write The Harbour Master, he spent several months living in the docklands area of East Amsterdam, counting De Druif bar as his local.
QUOTE:
Pembrey excels at revealing the psychological price police pay for investigating child pornography while sparing the reader the sordid details.
Night Market
Publishers Weekly. 264.35 (Aug. 28, 2017): p106.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* Night Market
Daniel Pembrey. No Exit (IPG, dist.), $14.95 trade paper (320p) ISBN 978-1-84344-881-5
A complex protagonist, who can't always be taken at his word, distinguishes Pembrey's bleak, convoluted sequel to The Harbour Master. In "Night Market," the first of the novel's three sections, Amsterdam police detective Henk van der Pol goes undercover in Driebergen to try to unmask the crooked cop who leaked information about an operation to take down highly placed child abusers. "Choke Point," part two, is set mainly in the gloomy Amsterdam docklands, where crime and respectability are "close neighbors." "The Release," the final section, turns van der Pol's whole narrative upside down when his wife, Petra, makes him realize that his personal vendetta against Amsterdam police commissioner Joost van Erven is really about himself, not Joost. Pembrey excels at revealing the psychological price police pay for investigating child pornography while sparing the reader the sordid details. That extreme right-wing elements have a hand in much of the villainy makes this outing especially timely. (Oct.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Night Market." Publishers Weekly, 28 Aug. 2017, p. 106. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A502652606/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=1f8eca0d. Accessed 21 Feb. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A502652606
QUOTE:
novelist of rare skill
real achievement is the characterisation of the ageing copper following a tangled, picaresque trail
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The Harbour Master by Daniel Pembrey review — an action-packed investigation
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Barry Forshaw
November 4, 2016
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Amsterdam detective Henk van der Pol is approaching retirement. A woman’s body is found in the harbour, and he becomes involved in the search for a ruthless killer and a case that has tendrils stretching into the corridors of government, people trafficking and the police. This is familiar territory, but Pembrey is a debut novelist of rare skill, marshalling his material with rigour and intelligence. Pembrey is deft at evoking the atmosphere of the city, but the real achievement is the characterisation of the ageing copper following a tangled, picaresque trail through the Netherlands and Scandinavia. With so many crime books published every month, it’s hard to sort the wheat from the chaff, but The Harbour Master is definitely among the former, and suggests that Pembrey has a lengthy career ahead of him.The Harbour Master, by Daniel Pembrey, No Exit Press, RRP£7.99, 302 pages
QUOTE:
A murky case, straight out of the red light district, involving violent crime, drugs and branded prostitutes. With links to international diplomats, corrupt police alliances and the trafficking of people for sex. This is a novel not to be missed!
The plot continues to develop and it is more and more unpredictable. It is written in such a style, that you never know what will be revealed and discovered next. Obviously the theme is dark, dealing with issues of child abuse, exploitation of children in the system and child pornography within the novel. But I think this shows the obstacles that organisations/governments face in trying to bring down global, image sharing/creating, paedophile rings.
Reviews: The Harbour Master & Night Market by Daniel Pembrey.
So yesterday, I had what you could call a ‘Daniel Pembrey Sunday’! I sat in the garden in the sunshine and devoured both books by the author. Oh my days, they are good, so very good! Dark subject matter and slightly scary in parts. But unique, edgy and gritty perfect ingredients for a crime fiction novel.
They are tough novels to review, my journal is packed full of notes but I don’t want to post spoilers. So if my reviews seem sketchy on details, I can assure you that the novels are not! I highly recommend this fantastic series!
The Harbour Master by Daniel Pembrey (#1 in the Detective Henk Van Der Pol series)
The synopsis:
Henk van der Pol is a 30-year-term policeman, a few months off retirement. When he finds a woman’s body in Amsterdam Harbour, his detective instincts take over, even though it’s not his jurisdiction. Warned off investigating the case, Henk soon realises he can trust nobody, as his search for the killer leads him to discover the involvement of senior police officers, government corruption in the highest places, Hungarian people traffickers, and a deadly threat to his own family…
For fans of Euro Noir, John Harvey’s Charlie Resnick series and Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch, The Harbour Master is an action-packed detective investigation set in the evocative locale of Amsterdam. Delivering for Amsterdam what fans of Scandinavian fiction have come to love, this gripping novel shines a fascinating light on the dark side of a famously liberal society, combining vivid characterisation with ice-cold suspense.
My review:
I was instantly drawn to this novel due to its location and synopsis. It sounds intriguing and Amsterdam is a rare setting for a novel in the crime genre. I have read others based in Amsterdam or that have links to the city but nothing quite like this one!
The novel opens with detective Henk Van Der Pol enjoying a morning stroll down at the harbour, that is until he stumbles across a floating dead body in the water. The novel doesn’t just centre around the case of the murder victim. We meet Henk’s arch nemesis Sebastiaan Bergveld aka ‘six shooter’, who is intent on keeping Henk off the case under all circumstances. What is Bergveld hiding? Why is he reluctant to accept any help from an experienced detective? Why does Bergveld take tackle command, when the obvious choice would be Henk?
Henk and police partner Liesbeth Janssen, continue to try to unravel the case from all angles. When Henk’s wife Petra and daughter Nadia are at risk from harm we see a huge change in Henk’s motivation towards the case.
A murky case, straight out of the red light district, involving violent crime, drugs and branded prostitutes. With links to international diplomats, corrupt police alliances and the trafficking of people for sex. This is a novel not to be missed! 4*
Night Market by Daniel Pembrey (#2 in the Detective Henk Van Der Pol series)
The synopsis:
When Henk van der Pol is asked by the Justice Minister to infiltrate a team investigating an online child exploitation network, he can hardly say no – he’s at the mercy of prominent government figures in The Hague. But he soon realises the case is far more complex than he was led to believe… Picking up from where The Harbour Master ended, this new investigation sees Detective Van der Pol once again put his life on the line as he wades the murky waters between right and wrong in his search for justice.
Sometimes, to catch the bad guys, you have to think like one. . .
My review:
Henk is back! With yet another disturbing case on his hands!
Summoned to a briefing with Willem Van Der Steen, a justice minister. We learn Henk’s new case is to infiltrate a six-man team called SVU X19, SVU meaning special victims unit. To become a mole/plant of sorts and investigate the team and their work, spot a leak and report back to AIVD (Dutch secret service). No easy task, but with rumours of a leak within a team whose role it is, is to prevent child exploitation and sexual abuse. It is one Henk can’t say no too!
The SVU X19 team is based in a remote location at Driebergen. We learn of the individuals and their backgrounds, which makes for fascinating reading. How do you assemble a team to track some of Europe’s most heinous criminals? We also learn of their past cases, which is rather disturbing due to the nature of the crimes committed. We also learn of their current case, surveillance on Heirich Karreman a prominent architect within Amsterdam. This was very reminiscent of the prominent figures who have been exposed in the UK for historical acts of child sexual abuse. This team handles the cases that would give civilians nightmares, It certainly would me!
The SVU X19 team is made up of several characters Manfred Boomkamp, Gunther Engelhart, Jacques Rahm, Tommy Franks, Ivo Vermeulen and Henk. Daniel Pembrey has really excelled himself with the characterisation of this team. It is one of the best formations I have read in a very long time. It really is, brilliant writing. I can’t write too much more, for fear of leaving spoilers. But the evolution of this team is simply breath-taking!
The plot continues to develop and it is more and more unpredictable. It is written in such a style, that you never know what will be revealed and discovered next. Obviously the theme is dark, dealing with issues of child abuse, exploitation of children in the system and child pornography within the novel. But I think this shows the obstacles that organisations/governments face in trying to bring down global, image sharing/creating, paedophile rings. A crime committed and reliant on the upmost secrecy and must avoid detection at all costs. How does the various agency’s link in and take them down? What does it take to work on these teams? How do you track activity that spans Europe? What becomes of the police/agents who deal with these crimes day in and day out? As the author puts it, ‘Sometimes, to catch the bad guys you have to think like one………….’
Highly recommended 5*
Authors Links:
http://danielpembrey.co.uk/
Twitter: @DPemb
*Currently reading The Unquiet Dead by Ausma Zehanat Khan*
Night Market
by Daniel Pembrey
Detective Henk van der Pol is enmeshed in a conspiracy that incorporates senior figures in the justice system, but is unsure in which direction to point the finger.
Review
After 30 years as a detective in Amsterdam, Henk van der Pol is summoned to the Justice Ministry and assigned to a small team in Driebergen, near Utrect, focussed on exposing a major international paedophile network. His wife is not happy about the move, but Hank is keen to distance himself from the Amsterdam police commissioner Joost, with whom he has had serious disagreements.
Henk, who tells his story in the first person, arrives in Driebergen to find the multi-national team riven by suspicion and strong emotions, which extend to Henk himself. The team are right to be wary: Henk has been tasked with identifying a rat who has been tipping off the targets. When Henk acts on information acquired through the team, their distrust boils over into a murderous assault.
Recovering back in Amsterdam, Henk is assigned to more mundane duties, starting with a rash of moped thefts. Even here, however, he uncovers links to more serious criminal activity – he stops a stolen bike and finds it being used to deliver drugs. He begins to make connections between a club where the drugs are manufactured, and the paedophile ring still under investigation. Some very powerful names are involved, and they are prepared to be ruthless to protect their interests.
Night Market follows directly on from The Harbour Master, and eventually resolves at least some of the mysteries left hanging at the end of the first book in the series. Without reading the forerunner, Night Market is not always easy to follow, and only when you reach the sections in italics at the end, repeats of passages from The Harbour Master, is Henk’s confusion and partial memory loss explained.
I also found it difficult to reconcile Henk’s supposed lowly status, assignment to stolen mopeds, and so on, with the personal interest in his career taken by those at the upper echelons of the justice system, and the freedom he is given to follow his own agenda, including foreign visits when he thinks it necessary. You can’t help feeling that Henk’s superiors are somewhat justified in their complaints when he is so difficult to locate and always unforthcoming about his movements.
There are certain echoes of other Amsterdam-based sleuths to be found. His relationships with his wife, a liberal journalist, and with his daughter are uneasy on account of Henk’s obsession with crime. Hank and his wife live on a houseboat, of course; he drinks heavily and is trying to give up smoking. Henk does come across very strongly, however, as a dedicated professional, a detective who goes straight for the jugular because he knows no other way to act. The rather chilling atmosphere of the new port area is effectively portrayed, a good match for the undercurrent of corruption and violence which Henk brings to light.
Reviewed 28 October 2017 by Chris Roberts
QUOTE:
The setting of Amsterdam was vividly brought to life in the first novel and Night Market rings with the same authenticity, both in the city and further afield. Pembrey is a keen observer and this gives a colour and texture to the book. The Harbour Master was an assured debut and Night Market is a fine sequel; intelligent, exciting and original.
Night Market by Daniel Pembrey
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Review published on April 3, 2017.
Night Market is a cracking sequel to Daniel Pembrey’s The Harbour Master. It is the second Henk van der Pol novel. It is pacy with a strong narrative and crisp dialogue that drive the action in this complex and dark tale. It is classic Euro noir.
The Harbour Master begins with the discovery of a woman’s body in the harbour red light district and deals with human trafficking. In three sections, the novel unfolds a complex plot that involves van der Pol’s family, diplomatic/European affairs, drugs and the murky world of pimps and political corruption. If anything the game is upped in Night Market. At the start of the novel, van der Pol wants to put some distance between himself and his boss at the KLPD, the national police service agency. The Minister for Security and Justice, Willem van der Steen, offers van der Pol an undercover job. A small child exploitation team working in Driebergen is looking into a paedophile ring. It is a transnational investigation with a team of detectives from Belgium, Holland, Britain, Germany and Luxembourg. Operation Guardian Angel began with a routine investigation and the serendipitous discovery of two four-year-old boys in the locked hidden cellar of a house in Belgium (shades of the terrible real murders committed by Marc Dutroux give an idea of the dark territory of this novel). The investigation has suffered a blow recently as raids on suspects uncovered nothing and it is assumed one of the team is undermining the investigation. Van der Pol is tasked with infiltrating the team and uncovering the traitor. His Algemene Inlichtigen en Veiligheidsdienst (Dutch security services) minder is his link to the minister, but he is pretty much alone and everyone from the team leader down is suspicious of him. Night Market is told in three sections, with new story lines brought in but ultimately they all link back and the corruption that pervaded the first novel resurfaces here. Solving the crimes will involve van der Pol in putting his own life on the line to get to the truth.
Daniel Pembrey notes in a postscript at the end of The Harbour Master that he began to write about his character, detective Henk van der Pol, when he realised there wasn’t a Dutch Rebus or Wallander. So he set out on the ambitious task of creating an Amsterdam counterpart to those heroes of police procedural serialisation. In my experience, a lot of modern Dutch thrillers in translation, and there are several writers whose work is not rendered into English, seem to be complex literary novels with individual stories. So Pembrey found himself a niche. There is a tradition of detective fiction in/about Holland, but there have been long decades of change since Nicholas Freeling’s van der Valk and A.C. Baantjer’s Inspector Detok policed Amsterdam. So we are long overdue a Dutch detective for the modern world and van der Pol may be the one. Night Market is a modern crime story that gets to the soul of Dutch society and it’s involvement in the wider European sphere.
Night Market can be read as a standalone novel but I would add the rider that this book would be more rewarding if read after the first in the series. There are specific reasons for this: avoiding plot spoilers, understanding the complex character relationships that run from the start of the first book, and there are running elements of the story from The Harbour Master that are resolved in Night Market.
It is clear that Pembrey intends to create a series of novels with van der Pol as the main protagonist and that there is a connectivity and structure within the stories that intertwines the novels. There are three distinct stories in the first book that you realise have an underlying unity as you progress through the novel. Then this book begins ‘Part IV: The Night Market’, so it is clear that Pembrey feels this novel is a sequel. It is the story of the latter career of detective van der Pol, as much as individual cases. Each section naturally flows book to book, a clever and thoughtful structuring make this work. This could become a series to follow, like Rebus, like Harry Bosch, worth looking out for.
In line with a more plausible policing model for the areas of crime van der Pol is involved in, he is not a traditional station-bound detective. A credible picture of Amsterdam emerges, but van der Pol is a rover. Investigations take him out of the city and even out of the country. Van der Pol is a 30-year service veteran and his boss would like to see him retire. He isn’t sure about his own future and his wife Petra wants to pack it in and move out of the city. Yet it isn’t easy giving up the life and van der Pol doesn’t like being pushed around by criminals or by Police Commissioner Joost van Erven.
The novel is narrated in the first person by van der Pol, likeable but also with his own dark corners, his complex relationship with his wife and daughter are established in the first novel and brilliantly exposed here. His family problems are acutely observed and feel very true to life. As soon as his wife hears that the case Henk is considering taking involves child abuse she is against it because ‘that kind of thing in your head and it will change you’ (paraphrasing). Still, he accepts the minster’s offer of the job and it is an instant wedge in his relationship with Petra and his daughter. At heart, van der Pol is a policeman who wants answers, he is determined to get at the truth and is courageous in pursuing the bad guys. He is an easy to like narrator and his world view, not complete, often mistaken drives the plot forward.
The setting of Amsterdam was vividly brought to life in the first novel and Night Market rings with the same authenticity, both in the city and further afield. Pembrey is a keen observer and this gives a colour and texture to the book. The Harbour Master was an assured debut and Night Market is a fine sequel; intelligent, exciting and original. Pembrey is sensitive but honest on a difficult but very relevant topic and the character of van der Pol is now well established. If you are a fan of Rebus or Wallander, check out van der Pol.
Paul Burke 4/3
Night Market by Daniel Pembrey
No Exit Press 9781843448815 pbk Apr 2017
QUOTE:
Compelling and fast-moving,
The exquisitely drawn Inspector van der Pol battles his way to the truth in a way that his fictional ancestor, Inspector Piet van der Valk,
THE HARBOUR MASTER
by Daniel Pembrey
(No Exit Press £7.99)
Henk van der Pol is an inspector in the Amsterdam police, a 30-year veteran not far from retirement, and is the heart of this atmospheric story of police corruption, people-trafficking and a threat to his own family.
Compelling and fast-moving, it opens with the discovery of a woman’s body in the city’s harbour, but quickly expands into the details of Amsterdam’s notorious red light district, its relaxed attitude to drugs, particularly cannabis, and the Dutch tendency for those in authority to look the other way when it comes to bending the rules.
The exquisitely drawn Inspector van der Pol battles his way to the truth in a way that his fictional ancestor, Inspector Piet van der Valk, created by Nicolas Freeling, did in the Sixties.
It is no surprise that Pembrey’s novel is dedicated to Freeling, whose work turned into an acclaimed TV series starring Barry Foster in the Seventies. If Pembrey can maintain this standard of storytelling and characterisation, there is no reason why van der Pol could not become every bit as successful as his fictional forebear.
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QUOTE:
cleverly-crafted and unusual PP dealing with real issues in a vividly-evoked setting
Friday, 17 February 2017
‘The Harbour Master’ by Daniel Pembrey
Published by No Exit Press,
10 November 2016.
ISBN: 078-1-84344-877-8 (PBO)
Amsterdam, at 6am on a misty March morning, and almost-retired detective Henk van der Pol is just sitting on his favourite seat by the harbour, contemplating breakfast with his journalist wife, Petra, when a woman’s body is found. It’s not his jurisdiction, and his boss is determined to keep him out of the case ... which makes him all the more determined to find out just how high the cover-up goes ...
This cracking PP is split into three parts: The Harbour Master, The Maze, and Ransom. The overarching storyline is continuous, but each part also features a separate investigation – it’s all cleverly, satisfyingly plotted. The first focuses on people-trafficking, the second on the death of a diplomat and a stolen painting, and the third involves the kidnap of a Brussels bureaucrat. Henk van der Pol is the narrator throughout: shrewd, cynical, a man who knows his patch of Amsterdam inside out, who’s not afraid of taking risks, yet who also knows when it’s time to draw his neck in, instead of sticking it out – one of the extra dimensions of this novel is the sense of realpolitik throughout. To continue in office, Van der Pol is forced to come to terms with the politics of cronyism, and his subordinates, geeky Stefan and newly-engaged Liesbeth, later have to choose between helping him solve a crime and protecting their jobs. Van der Pol is a maverick policeman, but in this real world the maverick doesn’t come out triumphant. The Amsterdam setting is a presence throughout, and we also get the sense of the European world, with van der Pol shuttling to and from Brussels, and his daughter going to Paris and Russia with her new, suspicious boyfriend.
A cleverly-crafted and unusual PP dealing with real issues in a vividly-evoked setting. Recommended.
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Reviewer: Marsali Taylor
QUOTE:
Daniel Pembrey is a master of concise stylish writing. It demonstrates not only his craftsmanship and discipline but also an intelligent ability to convey mood and atmosphere of the setting and urgency of Henk’s actions
This vivid and mesmerising portrait of the city is not for the faint-hearted.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2015
Review: The Harbour Master: The Collected Edition (Books 1-3) by Daniel Pembrey
The Harbour Master: The Collected Edition (Books 1-3) by Daniel Pembrey, November 2014, 384 pages, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, ISBN: 1497384052
Reviewed by Ewa Sherman.
Two key characters in THE HARBOUR MASTER are equally important: Henk van der Pol and Amsterdam. They cannot exist without each other.
Having spent years in the military and living abroad Henk is a maverick cop on the verge of retirement, the owner of a typical houseboat, strongly believing that ‘we Dutch remain at heart a seafaring people’. He is happy with his personal life, still attracted to his wife Pernilla, a newspaper features writer, and slightly anxious about daughter Nadia, a headstrong media student. In the professional sense Henk is growing disillusioned with the budget-and-target driven management at the police station where he’s stationed. Also, it seems that politics and connections take priority over decent policing and clearing the streets of criminals. And as Henk and the city are one, the work and private lives merge constantly into one, too.
When on a cold morning Henk finds a woman’s body in Amsterdam Harbour, he’s told by his boss to back off. The photos he took on his mobile vanish. But the weathered detective isn’t going to give up. He follows gut feelings and tenuous clues: a tattoo seen on the dead body, leading him into the Red Light District and then the den of a vicious Hungarian pimp. His involvement threatens his family life. Henk must decide who his real friends are, especially as his own investigation creates more problems with his superiors, though his own small team of Stefan and Liesbeth duly deal with orders and suggestions.
In the second part Henk investigates a mysterious case involving diamonds and a Ghanaian diplomat, fine art and drugs. He travels to Rotterdam and Brussels, visits places that are out of limits, questions a glamorous art insurer and a head of a notorious bike gang. There is a high class prostitute viciously beaten by a client. And a murder of a Norwegian diplomat which takes Henk to Oslo in the third book. The finale also sees Henk working outside of the official investigation into the kidnapping of a powerful Dutch politician Rem Lottman who might (or not) be his friend. The situation mirrors the kidnapping of Freddy Heineken in 1983 and Henk cut his professional teeth on that case.
Daniel Pembrey is a master of concise stylish writing. It demonstrates not only his craftsmanship and discipline but also an intelligent ability to convey mood and atmosphere of the setting and urgency of Henk’s actions within the clearly defined framework of a novella. This vivid and mesmerising portrait of the city is not for the faint-hearted. However, murky, dangerous and illegal Amsterdam is very appealing as Pembrey weaves tiny pearls of history and geography into the tightly constructed stories.
Putting three books together makes perfect sense: it allows the reader to immerse in Henk’s life while he manoeuvres through the maze of political options, criminal underworld and old friends. He is a good player yet feels threatened by all the changes… So Henk van der Pol tries to remember his own motto: Things evolve. And they will keep evolving in further instalments of the Harbour Master series.
Ewa Sherman, November 2015
Posted by Karen (Euro Crime) at 11:55 am
Labels: Daniel Pembrey, Ewa Sherman, Reviews, The Harbour Master
QUOTE:
Van der Pol is clearly a maverick style policeman but this never stretches the limits of plausibility.
Review: Daniel Pembrey – The Harbour Master
JANUARY 5, 2015 / SARAH
23636123Regular readers of this blog will know my view on the length of crime novels. I’ve been reading the genre since I was a child and there were days when I could easily devour two or three books in an afternoon. I appreciate that I don’t have that time now but the length of books has increased to ridiculous levels. One trend that has emerged partly, I suspect in response to this, is the rise of the novella form. These books seem particularly popular as downloads where the length of books is far more fluid. Over the Christmas period I read a trilogy by Daniel Pembrey. The Harbour Master is an example of how well you can tell a story in a shorter form without compromising on character or plot.
Henk van der Pol is an Amsterdam policeman thinking about retirement. In the first story, a woman’s body is fished out of the harbour. Her death may be the responsibility of a vicious Hungarian pimp who is feared throughout the city. In book 2, van der Pol is persuaded to accompany a Ghanaian diplomat on his visit to Brussels. But the appearance of a valuable diamond, the theft of a Norwegian painting and the beating of an escort girl in a hotel put him at odds with his boss in the police department. In the final story, a Dutch politician in Belgium is kidnapped putting van der Pol’s career and life in danger.
The sign of a good book is that I immediately want to visit the place where the narrative is located. Although the principal setting is Amsterdam we are also treated to descriptions of Brussels, Antwerp and Rotterdam. There’s some interesting information on the history of these cities but also their differing roles within modern Europe. You’d think it quite difficult to make political Europe interesting in a crime story. But the bureaucratic machinations were handled with a light touch and the incidental descriptions about the various cities were fascinating.
Van der Pol is clearly a maverick style policeman but this never stretches the limits of plausibility. In particular, his clashes with his superior, Joost, have the ring of truth of anyone who has come up against their boss. Assembling the three novellas into a collected edition is a good idea as the stories run on from each other and, by the conclusion, there’s a sense of a wider narrative being completed. There’s also, I think, another van der Pol story coming in 2015 so that’s something to look forward to.
The style of writing was so enjoyable, it prompted me to download another story by the author, Simon Sixsmith, A Ghost Story. For those who like something with a supernatural twist, this really is an excellent read too.
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