A.C. Baantjer

Advantages: A light-hearted read
Disadvantages: Stretches the imagination in parts

...A C Baantjer may not be a familiar name in the UK, but in Holland, he is incredibly popular and apparently one of the country's most read authors. He was in the Dutch police force for almost 40 years and so has based much of his fiction on real life experience. The English-speaking world has only been able to read Baantjer's work since 1992, although his first novel was published in 1959. He has been likened to characters such as Maigret and Morse; personally I think the latter is pushing things a bit too far, but he is certainly an interesting character, if not wholly original. The story Inspector DeKok and his partner, Vledder, are two of a very small team of detectives who cover the small number of murders that occur in Amsterdam. For the sake of nothing else to do, they become involved in a case of jewellery robbery; Julius... Read review

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Advantages: Light-hearted, entertaining
Disadvantages: Complicated Dutch surnames hard to remember!

...Kok and Vledder find the murderer before it is too late? This is the second DeKok novel I have read. The author, A C Baantjer, was a homicide detective in the Netherlands for 25 years and has based many of his books on actual cases. This particular book is apparently based on a true case that happened in the early part of the twentieth century. I was actually quite surprised to read this, because the plots I've read so far by this author have not seemed all that believable. At the same time, there is a touch of earthiness in the way that the two detectives go about solving the case and this adds reality to the story. There have been so many detectives in crime fiction that it is hard to find one that is original these days. DeKok (known as DeCock in Dutch!) is not really an exception. He is an older man who has years of wisdom behind him... Read review

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Advantages: Thorough, well explained
Disadvantages: Hard work - must be motivated

...I already have prior knowledge of C and decided I would extend that into C++ and Visual C++. This book is primarly aimed at those who already have programming experience in a similar language, but an adept newcomer could make good use of it. In most places concepts are explained well and plenty of examples and diagrams are provided to aid digestion. The book is extremely thorough and gives a quick run down of C/C++ for a few chapters before moving onto the workings of windows, and then Visual C++. However, the book is rather heavy going, and you must be motivated and have a reason for wanting to learn the language. Unless you are highly motivated or have a good reason for learning it, you will probably give up. Included with the book is Microsoft Visual C++ 6, which is an excellent editor and compiler for C, C++ and Visual C++.... Read review

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