1916, Bois de Bolante, France. The battles in the trenches are raging fiercer than ever. In a deserted mineshaft, French sappers discover an unconscious man and nickname him The Mole
Claiming he has lost his memory, The Mole is convinced that he's dead and that an Other has taken his place. The military brass considers him a deserter, but front physician and psychiatrist-in-training Michel Denis suspects that his patient's odd behavior is stemming from shellshock and tries to save him from the firing squad.
The mystery deepens when The Mole begins to write a story in écriture automatique that takes place in Vienna, with Dr. Josef Breuer, Freud's teacher, in a leading role. Traumatized by the recent loss of an arm, Denis becomes obsessed with his patient and is prepared to do everything he can to unravel his secret.
Set against the staggering backdrop of the First World War, The Shadow Of The Mole is a thrilling tableau of loss, frustration, anger, madness, secrets, and budding love. The most urgent question in this extraordinary story is: when, how, and why does reality shift into delusion?
An abandoned mineshaft is the very last place you might expect to find an unconscious man, and he is named The Mole for that very reason. He should be dead, and yet, he lives. But The Mole cannot tell anyone anything, about who he is, why he was in the mineshaft – his mind is void of any memories.
Michel Denis was training to become a psychiatrist, but put his studies aside to work as a physician during the war. The Mole fascinates him, for he is a medical mystery. The Mole is convinced he is dead, and that is all he can tell anyone, but the mystery increases when he begins to write the life story of someone named Alain Mangin.
Denis is a very easy character to sympathise with as you follow his story. He lost an arm on the front, and the loss of his limb has certainly traumatised him. He grew withdrawn and angry. But when The Mole came along, he finally had something else to focus on, a mystery to solve, and a man to try and heal. However, while Denis obsesses over what could be wrong with The Mole’s mind, he begins to wonder whether there might also be something wrong with his own. He definitely suffers in this book, and I did feel for him as he tries to work his way through things he isn’t quite sure how to cope with.
The story that The Mole writes runs alongside Denis’ work as he tries to learn more about The Mole. The story of Alain Mangin is one I particularly enjoyed. Alain’s life is an interesting one, and there is another mystery within his story, for events of his childhood have haunted him throughout his life, and he is desperate to find an answer – the only problem is he doesn’t entirely seem to know what the question is. Alain’s journey becomes more and more intriguing as The Mole continues to write the story. Throughout the novel it is unclear as to who The Mole really is, and what role the story of Alain plays in figuring out his mind.
This is an incredibly interesting novel, for while there is the mystery of who The Mole is, and what happened to him, there is also a lot of focus on mental health, and what understanding psychiatrists had of the workings of the brain during the first World War. There is something almost supernatural about the way some of the things are described, which further enhances the point that the human understanding of mental health has increased dramatically over the last 100 years, to the point where everyone understands at least a minimal amount of how the brain works. The difference between how people approach mental health now, and how it is approached by the characters in this book is stark. A lot of the things we would consider mental illness in the modern day, especially with soldiers, were treated very differently, to the point where people were punished for things such as shell shock. All in all, the entirety of the mental health topic covered in this book was fascinating, especially to see how far the understanding of mental illness has come.
As with all good books, there is a little bit of everything in this novel. There is the mystery, of course, of The Mole, and the issues Denis faces, but there is also some romance in this book. Marie was a nurse on the front with Denis, and they were close before Denis lost his arm. They grew distant as Denis struggled to properly come to terms with his injury, but there is a lingering closeness between them throughout the book that added an extra layer of authenticity to the characters. Marie sends Denis letters, which also helps to remind the reader that this book takes place during the first World War, and that while the focus might be on Denis and The Mole, there is still fighting taking place, and there are still people in the line of fire. I really enjoyed Marie’s letters, not only for the purpose of keeping the reader up to date with the war during the story, but also to remind them that Denis is not as alone as he feels, and to show that, even through such difficult times, all that anyone could do was to hold onto a little bit of hope.
It did take a while for me to properly get into this book, but once I did, I couldn’t put it down. In a way, it feels less of a fictional novel, and more of an account in itself, with a lot of focus on the levels of psychiatric understanding during the time period. It almost feels like you are reading Denis’ memoir, in the style that The Mole writes his story in. It is almost poetic at times, and reading it intrigued me as Denis was intrigued with The Mole. I simply had to learn the truth, no matter how many twists and turns it took to finally find it. This is certainly a fascinating novel, and the mystery is wound into the pages perfectly. I am definitely glad this book crossed my path.
It happened as in a dream, swift and intense.
A few meters from the other bank, the ice cracked beneath Denis’s feet.
A sliding sensation, his stomach lurching into his throat.
Someone yelled.
The water underneath the ice was black.
The water seemed to throw itself at Denis and the one-legged soldier.
Afterwards, Denis would remember the episode as if a vicious animal had indeed jumped out of the hole in the ice.
Slipping, the young doctor instinctively let go of the wounded man. Hands pulled him away from the hole into which the one-legged soldier disappeared without a sound.
Denis got to his feet, helped by the hands. He stared at the almost perfect circle of oily black water. A tingling sensation in his chest. He looked up. The Mole held him like he was a child. “I was prepared to die,” the patient said with that mechanical voice, “but now I realize I have to fulfil a duty: I must tell my story. It has to be chronicled.”
Before Denis could answer, Marie Estrange slid past The Mole, holding a blanket in her hands, wrapping it around Denis’s body.
“You have to keep on moving or you’ll die of frostbite,” she said.
Only then did Denis notice that his body was trembling uncontrollably.
A full-time Belgian/Flemish author, Laerhoven has published 43 books in Holland and Belgium. His literary work is translated and republished in French, English, German, Spanish, Slovenian, Swedish, Italian, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian and Chinese.
• Four-time finalist of the Hercule Poirot Prize for Best Mystery Novel of the Year with the novels "Djinn," "The Finger of God," "Return to Hiroshima," and "The Firehand Files."
• Winner of the Hercule Poirot Prize for "Baudelaire's Revenge," which also won the USA Best Book Award 2014 in the category "mystery/suspense."
• In 2018, Crime Wave Press published "Return to Hiroshima," after "Baudelaire's Revenge," his second novel in English Translation.
• His collection of short stories "Dangerous Obsessions," first published by The Anaphora Literary Press in the USA in 2015, was hailed as "best short story collection of 2015" by the San Diego Book Review. The collection is translated into Italian, (Brazilian) Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish.
• In 2018, The Anaphora Literary Press published "Heart Fever," the second collection of short stories. With this collection, Laerhoven became the only non-American author to be selected as a finalist in the Silver Falchion 2018 Award, in the category "short stories collections."
• In addition, the quality English book site Murder, Mayhem & More chose "Return to Hiroshima" as one of the ten best international crime books of 2018. Readers' Favorite rated the novel Five Stars.
• In August 2021, Next Chapter published the third novel in English: "Alejandro's Lie," set in a fictitious Latin-American dictatorship. Best Thriller Book Awards winner in the category « Political Thriller 2021" on BestThrillers.com
• In February 2022, Next Chapter published "The Shadow Of The Mole," the fourth novel in English.
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