When I was the crime fiction reviewer for the Detroit Free Press I used to get one or more big boxes of mysteries and thrillers from my editor every month. It was exciting, and, yes, mysterious. I’d patiently sort through dozens of books at a time, never knowing if I’d find something original and exciting to share with the readers of my monthly column. But too much of what I went through felt cookie cutter, unoriginal. Now and then, however, I’d find knock-outs like Bavo Dhooge’s Styx.
Never heard of him? That's not surprising, since only about 3% of the books we read in the U.S. have been translated from another language and Dhooge comes from the Flemish-speaking part of Belgium. He’s one of that country's most celebrated and prize-winning contemporary authors, with one hundred books in a wide array of genres to his credit.
Styx is a wild, inventive crime novel with more than one memorable twist. Set in the faded sea-side resort town of Ostend, it fields a burnt-out workaholic detective named Raphael Styx who's got the requisite bad marriage and kid-who-doesn't-understand-him. But there are major elements of the story that are unusual: he's physically collapsing at the age of forty in ways that he can't comprehend, and soon after the novel opens, something devastating happens to him while hunting for a serial killer: he's mysteriously turned into a zombie.
And not just any zombie, either. He's a zombie who won't give up working his case. Now, that's dedication.
His nemesis is an art-crazed serial killer obsessed with Surrealist painters who made their home in Ostend and who turns his murders into performance art. To put a bow on all this, Styx's work partner in life (and death) is a dandy with Congolese roots, and his portrait offers readers fascinating insight into contemporary Belgian culture. Worlds collide when Belgian chic meets zombie putrefaction....
Dhooge has a sly sense of humor, knows how to build scenes for maximum impact, and can creep readers out in classic thriller style. He also adds plenty of pop culture references to keep things humming and lighten the darkness.
I’m especially impressed by Styx because in my years reviewing for the Freep, as we Michiganders called it, I began to feel that some authors were consulting Serial Killer Thrillers for Dummies. Too many of those their books sounded and felt similar.
Not Styx. It’s sharp, funny, original, and haunting. It plays with the serial killer genre in more clever ways than I've shared. And unlike far too many American thrillers, it isn't remotely padded. When you’re done, check out the fascinating story of how the book actually made it into English.
This is Dhooge's first novel to be translated into English--let's hope more are coming.
Lev Raphael is the author of the thriller Assault With a Deadly Lie and twenty-four other books in genres from memoir to mystery.