The Firehand File

Berlin, 1921. A city of extremes.While political violence plagues the streets during the day, a serial killer dubbed "The Skinner" roams the streets at night. Detective Chaim Orlosow suspects The Skinner is a World War I veteran, but he remains untraceable.Meanwhile, the relationship between a famous Flemish DADA poet and his impetuous girlfriend is on edge. Like thousands of others in Berlin, they live in poverty and are addicted to dangerous street drugs.In a moment of impulse, Van Ostaijen - the artist - steals a mysterious file from the apartment of the enigmatic spy, Elise Kraiser, a series of dramatic events is set in motion. Soon, they find themselves on a a collision course with a politician who is rapidly gaining influence... Herr Adolf Hitler.Bob Van Laerhoven's THE FIREHAND FILE is an electric historical thriller set in Weimar-era Berlin, Germany. Bob van Laerhoven was born on August 8th, 1953 in the sandy soil of Antwerp's Kempen, a region in Flanders (Belgium), bordering The Netherlands, where according to the cliché 'pig-headed clodhoppers' live.This, perhaps, explains why he started to write stories at a particularly young age. A number of his stories have been published in English, French, German, Polish, Spanish, and Slovenian.