Houvast is the third book by the Dutch thriller writer Linda Jansma (1967). The death of Thijs, Anouk’s husband, seemed to have been caused by a traffic accident. But Anouk is now confronted with the murder of a colleague of Thijs, the disappearance of her brother and a collision, which has been staged. Anouk wants to know what happened to her brother and in this way discovers that all strange events have a common thread: the latest report by Thijs. But Anouk does not understand at all why it is so important and what her brother has to do with it.
- data
- Summary
- Main characters
- Symbols and motifs
- Cover and title statement
- Theme
- Structure and perspective / way of telling
- Time and place
- Evaluation
data
- Original title: Handhold
- Author: Linda Jansma
- First busy in Dutch: 2012
- Number of pages: 362
- ISBN: 978-94-6109-1710
Summary
Aart Buringa
Anouk Van Merwede has just coped with the loss of her husband Thijs, when she is suspected of the murder of Aart Buringa. Like Thijs, he was an investigative journalist and one of his friends. Anouk can quickly prove that she has nothing to do with the murder. Although she has to admit that she is not immediately sorry that Aart is dead. He had refused to share information about the death of Thijs, which had turned him into Anouk’s enemy. Ruben, Anouk’s twin brother, had been sitting in a cafe with Aart the night of the murder, making him also a suspect. Anouk does not understand at all why Ruben was with Aart, but is convinced that her brother would never hurt him.
When no one can reach Ruben and he does not speak up, Anouk decides to go to his house. There she sees that everything has been turned upside down. Anouk fears that something has happened to him, while the police are convinced that he has fled. Anouk searches for the latest report by Aart, hoping to find information that can form a link to Ruben. The article is about CRR, Child Rescue Romania. It does not immediately tell her anything, so she also puts this next to her.
Ruben’s disappearance does not have the same effect on everyone, his ex-wife, Bianca, is not really impressed and she goes abroad, leaving her daughter with Anouk, since Ruben is not there to take care of Katja. . Anouk has not counted on this and it is not now that her niece gets along with her daughter Amy. So now she has an extra concern.
During a car ride with the girls, Anouk is hit by a car. Just recovered from the blow, she sees two men approaching them. Both speak a Slavic language and open the back doors. When Annette resists, one of the men shoots her. Fortunately, it is only a grazing shot, so they get off with a fright. Anouk is convinced that they were car thieves. But the police think it was more personal.
Ruben
Anouk hopes to find more information via Thijs’s old PC, but she needs the help of an IT expert. For this she can count on a colleague of Ruben’s, Stan, who will take the laptop home.
Suddenly she is called by Ruben. There is a bad connection that makes it difficult for her to understand him and the call ends just after hearing shots. The idea that her brother may have been shot scares her. But she tries to stay brave for the girls.
That night she is visited by Ruben with a gunshot wound and a badly beaten body. He explains to her that he doesn’t have much time because two Romanians are looking for him to get information. This includes films showing illegal practices, which are supported by Child Rescue Romania. Thijs had placed them on the net and made sure that they were only accessible via his laptop. Ruben immediately wants to get the laptop when he learns that it is at Stan’s.
Anouk now understands the link with Thijs, but does not understand what Aart had to do with the report. Ruben explains to her that Thijs had started reporting on child trafficking, but after his death Aart had taken over the work and now he is dead too. Knowing that they are not safe, Ruben decides that they have to flee with the children before it is too late. Anouk suggests Bianca’s house, as she has a key to it. As soon as the kids go to sleep, they go to Stan together. Ruben decides to break in, when Stan doesn’t respond when they ring the bell a few times.
When Stan stands in front of them, Anouk fears he will call the police. But Stan is clearly worried about Ruben’s condition and when he hears the story of the report and there is a good chance that Aart was murdered because he did not know the password to Thijs’s program, Stan wants to get started with Ruben immediately, find the password. Ruben is concerned about himself, but fears that Anouk’s car had been rammed into kidnapping his daughter in order to force him to open the program. Because the data in Thijs’s files can cause several people to end up in prison.
While the men are going to figure out how to crack the password, Anouk decides to return to Amy and Katja. As soon as she gets there, she receives a phone from the inspector who is investigating the murder of Aart. He’s concerned after finding her house completely upside down. While she wants to give him an explanation, she is forced by one of the Romanian men to stop the conversation and go inside. Despite Anouk’s protest, both men manage to put the children and Anouk in two separate cars and drive away.
Iana
Once arrived in a shed, Anouk is forced to call Ruben. She tells him that she has been kidnapped with the children and that the Romanians want him to come to them with the laptop.
Ruben, who knows that Stan has notified the police while following Ruben to the shed, tries to take as much time as possible. The Romanians are therefore losing their patience when the police arrive together with Stan to storm into the shed and rescue everyone.
Anouk, who had also met Luca in the shed, did not understand why she encountered her assistant’s boyfriend. Luca explains to her that he wanted to get closer to her through her assistant in order to find out where his sister Iana is. He broke into her house but then found nothing. Thanks to Lucas story, Anouk now also knows that Thijs was indeed murdered, but that thanks to him an important witness is still alive. He could have smuggled eight-year-old Iana from Romania to some of the sisters who are looking after her. Iana is the key figure and with her testimony she can blow up the entire organization of the child trafficking. And in this way she helps a lot of children who have been kidnapped or sold by their parents.
Main characters
Aart Buringa
He was forty-three years old and a journalist. He was an important witness in the investigation into the death of his fellow journalist Thijs.
Anouk Van Merwede
Anouk was married to Thijs, who died nine months ago. She is Ruben’s twin sister and the mother of 11-year-old Amy. Anouk is the owner of a veterinary practice.
Ruben
He has a daughter Katja, whom he loves dearly, just like the rest of his family.
Luca
He is the brother of Iana, the girl Thijs had brought from Romania.
Symbols and motifs
Debt
After the death of Thijs, the relationship between Anouk and Amy is not optimal. Amy isolates herself enormously and Annette feels that Amy blames her for the death of her father, which she misses greatly.
Worrying
Anouk is worried about her brother Ruben, so she sleeps little and searches for answers to all her questions. She also has her niece visiting, who wonders where her father is.
Anxiety
Annette is angry with herself that she failed to protect the girls when the two men grabbed them. She also cannot notify anyone, so she has to ensure that the children are released, they all do not know where they are and what will happen to them.
Cover and title statement
The cover is very expressive and is a poignant link to the subject of the book: child trafficking. Handhold is the word that shows what Thijs means to Iana.
Theme
Help sometimes comes from an unexpected source.
Structure and perspective / way of telling
The story consists of 362 pages, which are divided into 40 chapters. The story gives the point of view of Anouk, who is written in the first person and Thijs and Luca, who is written in third person.
Time and place
The story takes place in the present and in the past (the journey of Thijs and Iana) in the Netherlands, Romania, Serbia and Germany.
Evaluation
You know from the first page that you are not going to put the book away and then you have not noticed the tension that has been properly built up. Linda Jansma has a smooth and easy-to-read writing style, so that you as a reader like to participate in the story. Her characters are lifelike, so you immediately close them in your heart and join Anouk’s quest. There are three different storylines, but they are written in different fonts, so you know exactly who is speaking.