1916, Bois de Bolante, France. The battles in the trenches are raging fiercer than ever. In a deserted mineshaft, French sappeurs discover an unconscious man, and nickname him The Mole.
Welcome to one of the December 17th stops on the blog tour for The Shadow of the Mole by Bob Van Laerhoven with Coffee and Thorn (schedule linked.) Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, and other great content!
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About the Book
The Shadow Of The Mole
by Bob Van Laerhoven
Published 5 February 2022
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery
Page Count: 420
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1916, Bois de Bolante, France. The battles in the trenches are raging fiercer than ever. In a deserted mineshaft, French sappers discover an unconscious man and nickname him The Mole
Claiming he has lost his memory, The Mole is convinced that he’s dead and that an Other has taken his place. The military brass considers him a deserter, but front physician and psychiatrist-in-training Michel Denis suspects that his patient’s odd behavior is stemming from shellshock and tries to save him from the firing squad.
The mystery deepens when The Mole begins to write a story in écriture automatique that takes place in Vienna, with Dr. Josef Breuer, Freud’s teacher, in a leading role. Traumatized by the recent loss of an arm, Denis becomes obsessed with his patient and is prepared to do everything he can to unravel his secret.
Set against the staggering backdrop of the First World War, The Shadow Of The Mole is a thrilling tableau of loss, frustration, anger, madness, secrets, and budding love. The most urgent question in this extraordinary story is: when, how, and why does reality shift into delusion?
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My Rating: 4 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Read my review from a previous tour for this title here!
About the Author
A full-time Belgian/Flemish author, Laerhoven has published 43 books in Holland and Belgium. His literary work is translated and republished in French, English, German, Spanish, Slovenian, Swedish, Italian, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian and Chinese.
• Four-time finalist of the Hercule Poirot Prize for Best Mystery Novel of the Year with the novels “Djinn,” “The Finger of God,” “Return to Hiroshima,” and “The Firehand Files.”
• Winner of the Hercule Poirot Prize for “Baudelaire’s Revenge,” which also won the USA Best Book Award 2014 in the category “mystery/suspense.”
• In 2018, Crime Wave Press published “Return to Hiroshima,” after “Baudelaire’s Revenge,” his second novel in English Translation.
• His collection of short stories “Dangerous Obsessions,” first published by The Anaphora Literary Press in the USA in 2015, was hailed as “best short story collection of 2015” by the San Diego Book Review. The collection is translated into Italian, (Brazilian) Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish.
• In 2018, The Anaphora Literary Press published “Heart Fever,” the second collection of short stories. With this collection, Laerhoven became the only non-American author to be selected as a finalist in the Silver Falchion 2018 Award, in the category “short stories collections.”
• In addition, the quality English book site Murder, Mayhem & More chose “Return to Hiroshima” as one of the ten best international crime books of 2018. Readers’ Favorite rated the novel Five Stars.
• In August 2021, Next Chapter published the third novel in English: “Alejandro’s Lie,” set in a fictitious Latin-American dictatorship. Best Thriller Book Awards winner in the category « Political Thriller 2021″ on BestThrillers.com
• In February 2022, Next Chapter published “The Shadow Of The Mole,” the fourth novel in English.
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