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. 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 the leading role. Traumatized by the recent loss of an arm, Denis becomes obsessed with him, and is prepared to do everything he can to unravel the patient's 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 reality shifts into delusion? "The Flemish writer Bob Van Laerhoven writes in a fascinating and compelling way about a psychiatric investigation during WW1. The book offers superb insight into the horrors of war and the trail of human suffering that results from it" - NBD Biblion
Author
Flemish author of more than 40 books. You'll find them on my website in three languages: Dutch-French-English. Currently published in The Netherlands, Belgium, USA, Canada, France, Italy, Russia, Brazil, Argentine, Germany, Sweden. Winner of the Hercule Poirot Prize for the best crime novel of the year 2007 with "De Wraak van Baudelaire" (Baudelaire's Revenge). Baudelaire's Revenge is published in the US by Pegasus Books in hardcover in 2014. The paperback edition was published in 2015. "Baudelaire's Revenge" won the USA BEST BOOK AWARD 2014 in the category: Fiction:mystery/suspense. In April 2015 the Anaphora Literary Press published the collection of short stories, "Dangerous Obsessions," in paperback and e-book version in the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK. The collection is translated and published in Italy, Brazil, Sweden, and Spain. "Dangerous Obsessions" was hailed as "best short story collection of 2015" by the San Diego Book Review. Crime Wave Press (Hong Kong) published the novel "Return to Hiroshima" in May 2018. 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 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 August 2021, Next Chapter published the third novel in English: "Alejandro's Lie," set in a fictitious Latin-American dictatorship. "Alejandro's Lie" is voted "Best Political Thriller 2021" in the Best Thriller Book Awards 2021 on BestThriller.com
