Is this really a best seller?
…because if so, it casts quite a shadow on what a best seller is:-(
The “story” is not bad, but the execution is… well, does not make it a best seller in my eyes. It is way too long, confusing, “baroque”, ie, going in all kinds of irrelevant directions without too much interest. I must admit that, towards the 2/3 of the book I became really impatient to get to the end; I did not abandon the book (which I hate to do) but I was happy to get to the end. And that is never a good sign. I am sorry, but Fabritius deserves better…
(There are also some factual errors in the book. Which can be all right, after all it is fiction, but it is nevertheless a bit irritating when it becomes a relatively essential part of the story line. The most glaring for me is, towards the end, when Theo cannot leave Amsterdam to go to, e.g., Paris, because his friend Boris has his passport. Well, I happen to live in Amsterdam, and I know for a fact that, in contrast to the story, you can buy an international train ticket to go to Paris or elsewhere in Europe without showing your passport (in fact, you can just order it on the Internet). This is the Shengen area after all. A little bit of decent research would have avoided such a stupid mistake.)