Apparent figures

People and things are rarely what they pretend to be... Freelance journalist Enzo Marsman fancies himself a 'player' in international intrigue, but in reality he becomes the plaything of powers behind the scenes. "Fucking hell!" was all Enzo could say immediately. "You played me like a trump card in a card game. So this was all a scenario you set up and wrote out..." "Don't be silly! And don't give in to your paranoia. Do you really think we orchestrated your personal misery: the failure of your marriage, the loss of your family fortune, the fiasco of your love affair and your general dissatisfaction with the world? We monitored you, that's about it." "Exactly. I think I understand. Now that I've reached the bottom of my downward spiral, you consider me 'ripe' for... For a suicide mission?" Staf Schoeters (1949) Studied psychology and history at the RUG, was alternately a ship repairer, translator, freelance journalist, reviewer and has written 27 books since 1980 that were published at home and abroad. His list of achievements includes collections of short stories, thrillers, historical intrigue novels, novel adaptations of films and VRT series (including Hugo Claus and Robbe de Hert) and non-fiction books about the First and Second World Wars, as well as works about Belgian historical cemeteries. He was the first laureate of the Hercule Poirot Prize (1998) with the historical thriller 'De Schaduw van de Adelaar', the first part of a Napoleon trilogy that was also awarded the Karel Barbier Prize, awarded by the Royal Academy of Language and Literature. Thriller reviewer Fred Braeckman (1944 - 2015) wrote about him: "Staf Schoeters is undoubtedly the best stylist in Flemish crime literature; his historical thriller 'Ochrana' is one of the best written in our country.