Charles den Tex - Cell
It is every citizen’s dilemma in this era of ever advancing information technology: can privacy still be protected now that more and more personal data are stored online? In Cell, the ingeniously constructed plot turns on identity theft. Business consultant Michael Bellicher seems likely to take the blame for the criminal activities of a gang with an extensive international network, which has stolen his identity via the internet. Supported by a business partner with influential friends and an inscrutable lawyer, Bellicher launches his own investigation, hoping to unravel the conspiracy. Bellicher’s hunt for his stolen identity takes him into company ranging from social outcasts to the political elite, as well as confronting him with his own past.
With a sharp eye for detail and a profound grasp of his colorful characters’ psychological make-up, Den Tex explores a society in which crime and political interests are intertwined. His description of the Dutch landscape, with its grey coast and its rural areas peppered with industrial estates, suggests parallels with the best Scandinavian authors of literary crime fiction. Cell addresses existential anxieties against a background of a grim crime story that keeps the reader in suspense until the last page.
#### Biography Charles den Tex is one of the Netherlands’ most acclaimed writers of crime fiction. His plots are set against a background of commerce, media, finance and industry, worlds with which he is familiar through his career as a communication and business consultant. Cell (2008), his seventh book, won him his third Golden Noose, the annual Dutch crime fiction award. His work has often been compared to John Grisham, Michael Crichton and Michael Ridpath.
Quotes
- ‘Den Tex once again proves himself a master of originality and suspense.’ – Trouw