The woman who fed the dogs by Kristien Hemmerechts

The woman who fed the dogs by Kristien Hemmerechts

Belgium Fiction

Original title – De vrouw die de honden eten gaf

Translator – Paul Vincent

A woman said: “I know my son is dead
I’ll never rest my hands on his sacred head”

Hindley wakes and Hindley says:
Hindley wakes, Hindley wakes, Hindley wakes, and says:
“Oh, wherever he has gone, I have gone”

But fresh lilaced moorland fields
Cannot hide the stolid stench of death
Fresh lilaced moorland fields
Cannot hide the stolid stench of death

I choose Smiths song Suffer little children a song about the moord Murders a similar case to this one .

I am back with another of the books from the first year of World editions which is the English arm of the big Dutch publisher De Geus .Kristien Hemmerechts has written over twenty novels in her time and numerous short story collections .She has won the Flemish state prize and Frans Kellendonk prize .Given that wonderful writing life this appears to be her first translation into English

“Odette , show us how well you can clean ” He kicked the waste bin over . “Sorry .Acident “. Or he would pour milk on the ground , step into the puddle and leave a trail of milk all over the house , .

” Thank you , M “. And then I mustn’t forget to pull my mouth into a smile .

“Odette wasn’t made to sit on her arse ” , he said

He made he do thing like this to gain his control of her , where many folk would said no at some point she didn’t !

This book is a fiction account of The story of Michelle Martin she was the ex-wife and accomplice of the Marc Dutroux ,He killed and sexually assault six girls in the mid 90’s .The case is one of the most notorious in Belgium history that lead to a change in the French justice system as what was seen as a bungled investigation .Also a third of people who shared the surname changed their name after he was caught . As you see this book is about  a powerful true story . For the book Marc becomes M and Michelle Martin is Odette , the story that unfolds shows the way she was drawn into this violent man’s world from his early petty crimes to the end of kidnapping , assaulting and killing of the young girls . We see all the events unfold through her eyes as she tells us of her and M’s lives .There is a lot about M’s past and how he was abused and this lead him to this path .We also see why she followed as the past they have unfolds bit by bit .

M wanted m because he wanted a daughter ,That was one of the first things he said to me in that caravan  of his that he had stationed in the car park by the skating rink .And asked me if I wanted to know how many women he had fucked in that caravan .And how many girls .”I didn’t need to know that ” I said calmly .That was lucky , he said , because he didn’t know approximately .

Sex played a big part in their relationship , as power games between them .

This is a book I wouldn’t picked up to read myself , I don’t drift towards books of this nature , but I felt I had to read it after being sent so many books from World edition .I ‘m pleased I did what is written is an even hand untainted view of this womans life . We see how she is drawn into M’s life and the crimes he and then they did together .You are left to decide whether she was an innocent that felt unable to speak or a willing partner in the crime for me this is one of those case that is a bit of both , Female killers are so rare they tend to be more well-known than male killer Myra Hindley for example is maybe the nearest comparison to this case I could think of in the UK were both Husband and Wife took part in the killing .I felt for Odette , but I at my core have a very strong moral heart and the things she did you have to know on a level are wrong .But that aside a journey into a world of killers and what drives people or gets people caught up with a psychopath on his killing .