Customer Reviews

The Harbour Master

Amsterdam is a good setting for this very believable story. Plot straightforward but with some nice twists and turns. The characters felt real - some good descriptions. Some made me smile. The pace was uneven which added to a feeling of reality. Altogether a nice book to read curled up in the warm!

Having read and really enjoyed the Candidate, another novella by Pembrey, the Harbour Master quickly made it onto my Kindle and didn't disappoint. Pembrey has a real skill in bringing alive the location of the story - in this case Amsterdam and developing complex characters whilst maintaining a story that never lacks pace or intrigue.

I think the novella format is brilliant - the Harbour Master is long enough to develop a story that really absorbs the reader, but can be read in one go. Highly recommended!

This is quite different from the run-of-the-mill crime that crams our libraries and bookshops. An enjoyable psychological thriller with a well-researched background. Looking forward to reading the rest of Daniel Pembrey's work.

The Harbour Master is a fast paced, suspenseful, political thriller set in Holland.

Henk is an experienced police officer based in the harbour district of Amsterdam. Contemplating retirement, partly due to the new regime at work his plans change when he discovers the body of a young woman floating in the harbour. Henk suspects foul play. Murder, prostitution and trafficking all feature in this story. A series of incidents makes him distrust his colleagues and superiors as vital evidence goes missing. Determined to find out why the girl died he circumvents policy and procedure and finds himself excluded from the case. Henk's family is in danger as his career nosedives. Will the personal cost be too great?

Henk is a strong but flawed character but subtly so without the obvious peccadilloes commonly associated with cynical older detectives in fiction. The story is atmospheric and leaves the reader with a definite flavour of Holland. The Harbour Master is like the successful Scandinavian thrillers of the same ilk but for me this is superior because it avoids the drawn out nature of this type of thriller with a fast paced, twisty plot.

Henk and his wife a journalist make a formidable team. There is potential for more stories here. The depth of character development is impressive for a novella. The plot is interesting and dark but a page turner which I read in a one go.

I received a copy of this book from the author in return for an honest review.

What joy, another novella from Pembrey! Each of his books so far has been quite different to previous ones: people trafficking/finance on the West Coast of the USA, horror in Georgia, espionage in Luxembourg. The Harbour Master breaks new ground in that the protagonist is Henk, a middle aged policeman in Amsterdam whose pursuit of the killer of a drowned girl takes him through organised prostitution to collide with murky elements within the police and political hierarchy of the city. The novella does not have the kaleidoscopic effect of his last work, The Candidate, and doesn't quite have the same dramatic sense of atmosphere, though the description of the countryside in the coda is beautifully done. What it does have is a thundering good plot and better pace that enables both Henk's character and the plot to be developed naturally and without rush. It also has a pleasing twist at the end showing Henk as having gone over to the enemy camp, making him morally ambivalent not unlike Ian Rankin’s Rebus. Altogether, in my view, an exciting read.

The most recent of author Daniel Pembrey's novellas, The Harbour Master is a psychological thriller featuring an aging cop on the Amsterdam Police force. Henk Van der Pol knows the harbour area well; he not only works there, but also lives on a houseboat docked very near there. Henk is very much aware that there is a new game in town in the leadership of the police department, and the newer, younger men have risen quickly in the hierarchy of the station where he works, but he is getting along okay and thinking more about retirement.

That is, until he discovers a young woman's body in the harbour one morning and is perplexed about the way his superiors are handling, or more correctly, ignoring the case from the very beginning. Henk is not assigned to the case, discovers that some of the evidence, a video he had made at the scene, has been erased from his phone, and decides to do some informal investigating on his own.

This does not go unnoticed by his superiors, who are quick to discourage him, even putting him on the fast track to retirement when he continues to ask questions. All too soon he realizes that his wife and daughter are in danger and the police are not interested in offering any protection...just advice to get out of town.

Henk decides to do whatever it takes to protect his family even if it appears too late to restore justice and integrity to the police and local government.This story is intense, the pace is fast, the bad guys are really evil, but don't sell Henk short...he may be older, but he is smarter, and the thugs, pimps and corrupt politicians of Amsterdam just may have met their match.

I have read all of Pembrey's books, and this novella is a superb addition to the library. He writes so descriptively that it is like you are there. At the same time, he tells stories that truly reflect human nature. The Harbour Master is a policeman in Amsterdam dealing with many serious issues, and he finds that doing the right thing appears to be wrong, and his family becomes threatened as a result. The characters are very real and of considerable depth. A hidden fact seriously affects the ongoing action as police corruption, political influence, human trafficking, and murder combine to create a slow-paced but suspenseful thriller. I am definitely going to read this again, and recommend it to all.

The Harbour Master

By Daniel Pembrey

Author Daniel Pembrey’s latest novella is definitely a pleasurable read! He’s packed a lot of punch into this shorter story form with a mystery/thriller/suspense combo. There is intrigue from the get-go when cop Henk van der Pol finds a dead woman floating in his beloved harbour. He’s about to retire but resents the way things are now being done in his precinct. When a cover-up of the murder proves not all is as it seems, and the ensuing politics threaten to change the status quo, he wonders who he can trust. Even his wife, who is a veteran reporter for the local newspaper witnesses the same politics urging change within her office. Political mayhem and criminal cooperation lead down a dangerous road with the trail leading all the way to the top of the powerful.

Henk finds himself doubting his motives, ethics and morals when danger threatens his family. He can’t get over the emotional turmoil at the thought that the younger woman he found dead could have been his own daughter. How far will he go to solve this crime? How far will he leave police procedure to do what is right, even if it costs him his job?

This novella touches on the brutal abuse women undergo within human trafficking rings; and how the general public ignores the plight of these young women. It gives a peek into the minds of the greedy, self-serving men who enslave them into servitude; and their careless prerogative of who gets injured in the process.

Author Daniel Pembrey is stretching his writing wings with this latest title, proving he is adept at telling a compelling story. If you’ve enjoyed his other works, you will surely enjoy this one as well. The Harbour Master will be available exclusively through Amazon staring on Tuesday, April 1st.

To learn more about Daniel Pembrey’s list of titles visit his website at: [...]
FTC Disclaimer: I was given an ARC of this title for review purposes only, no other compensation was awarded.

The Harbour Master by Daniel Pembrey
Rating ****.5 ( 4.5/5)
Although The Harbour Master was a novella, and in all honesty I usually avoid them, as I like to read novels, I was intrigued by the fact the author is the very talented, Daniel Pembrey. Having previously read, “The Woman Who Stopped Traffic” which I thoroughly enjoyed, I grabbed the opportunity to read the novella.
To say I was not disappointed was putting it mildly. From the first page I was thrown into a thrilling, fast paced journey of murder, politics, blackmail and the slave trading of young women set in Amsterdam, Holland. Henk Van der Pol is a 30 year term policeman, working near the Red Light District, RLD. He comes across a female body in the harbour, “with a floating corona of hair”. This is no ordinary death and leads to the involvement of senior police officers, local government and Hungarian slave traders. Henk soon finds his way of life has changed, perhaps forever, as he defends his family and seeks the help of Johan; his comrade from his time in the Army and fellow BMW motorbike owner.
Daniel Pembrey has the great skill of painting a visual picture of his plots and the surroundings without going into overdrive on information. His script is easy flowing, dynamic and his characters, solid and believable even with their flaws. Every page takes the reader further into the life of Henke and into seedier life in the Red Light District and further away from his familiar life on his canal boat and his peaceful early morning strolls along the harbour.
I actually could not believe this was a novella as it was so action packed. I would recommend The Harbour Master without hesitation. Daniel Pembrey is an author to look out for and long may he continue to thrill his readers with his works and hopefully, we can see more of Henke.
I was given an ARC of The Harbour Master for an open and honest review. Many thanks.