What's Right?

Witnessing the political left's steady electoral decline over two decades of neoliberal rule, Dutch author and journalist Johan Fretz explores what, if anything, remains of his country's Labour Party and its once-powerful ideals.

Dit was het nieuws is a Dutch television program of RTL4, wherein two teams give a satirical account of the previous week's news. The program has the form of a game show in which two teams, each with a team leader and weekly guest, compete against each other. The scoring is not serious; after the first round, for instance, the score is always 4-4.

Former Amsterdam police detective Floris Wolfs has been transferred to the police department of the south-Dutch country town Maastricht. His metropolitan experience nicely complements the local expertise of his new country colleagues, who know the folks. Slowly he fits in, while solving countless crimes together with his female partner Eva van Dongen.

Betriek lives at the edge of a peat bog in the North of the Netherlands. When she and her family are attacked by a random stranger one night, Betriek sets out to find an explanation. The more she digs, the more she becomes convinced that she is being hunted by something ancient.

Five years after his successful debut, writer Lucas, has hit a dead end. In a desperate attempt to breathe new life into his second book – a pretentious World War II novel – he travels to Berlin, where he unexpectedly runs into his old travel love, Lena. When circumstances bring the two of them together, an extraordinary night ensues in which they roam the streets of Berlin with each other. They discuss their expectations of the future, now that the future has officially begun. But have they truly dealt with everything from the past?