This came close to being a good book, but fell short on a couple of counts. The basic idea was very clever, with the bodies of murdered prostitutes turning up in streets around the city's red light area where Johnny Vos, American independent director is making a film based upon the bleak paintings of Paul Delvaux. Each of the bodies has been mutilated and has been dumped with a copy of Harry Kumel, a leading figure in the Belgian cinema noir community.
Meanwhile Frank Warren, a British film journalist comes to Antwerp to interview Vos. Warren's girlfriend Sian comes out later to be with him, but after joining him at an uncomfortable meeting with Vos she subsequently disappears.
Royle sets the scene very well, and gives a marvellous depiction of Antwerp, but unfortunately his style is not up to the demands of the story. He keeps switching between different characters' perspectives in a way that becomes simply irritating, inculcating an annoying disjointedness about the book. ( )

Het aantrekkelijke ligt meer in de schrijfstijl dan in de plot. ( )