Book Review - De Heks van Limbricht by Susan Smit

Title: De Heks van Limbricht
Author: Susan Smit
Genre: Historical Fiction
Published: 2021
 
Description: Limbricht, near Sittard, late seventeenth century. Throughout her life, Entgen Luijten has been accustomed to going her own way. In family matters, in business and in love. She is supported in this by her deep knowledge of nature, which she also regularly uses to help her fellow villagers. But then, due to a few unfortunate incidents, she is accused of witchcraft. The lord of the castle is determined to extract a confession, for which he employs every means at his disposal through the Inquisition. But what if, against all odds, Entgen stands her grounds?
 
Review: With “De Heks van Limbricht” (The Witch of Limbricht, not translated into English yet), Susan Smit delviers a masterful historical novel that touches your heart from the very first page. In doing so, she gives a voice to one of the many women who, throughout history, have injustly fallen victim to fear of superstition. It is a powerful, moving, and painfully timely tribute that leaves a lasting impression.
 
The story is set in Limbricht in the late seventeenth century and follows the life of Entgen Luijten. Entgen is a headstrong, independent widow with a vast knowledge of nature, medicinal herbs, and remedies. She is used to doing things her own way, but in a male-dominated society where the church and the lord of the castle hold absolute power, her independence is seen as a threat. After a series of unfortunate incidents in the village, she is officially accused of witchcraft in the summer of 1674. While she is imprisoned in the castle dungeon and the lord of the castl tries to extract a confession using every means at the Inquisition’s disposal, Entgen looks back on her life. It becomes a bitter struggle to preserve her dignity and her truth in the face of a cruel system.
 
What makes “De Heks van Limbricht” so special is that it is based on the true legal proceedings of the very last with hunt in the Netherlands (in the part of the Netherlands that I live in, my city Roermond is also mentioned several times). Smit manages to make the atmosphere of the seventeenth century terrifyingly tangible: the cold in the dungeon, the suffocating pressure and the deep-rooted superstition in the village.
 
The novel’s structure is rock-solid. The alternation between the grueling trial in the present and the vivid memories of Entgen’s past ensures that, as a reader, you fully empathize with her. Entgen is not portrayed as a helpless victim, but as a complex, intelligent, and proud woman. Her refusal to bow to the blackmail and torture of those in power is deeply admirable and gives you goosebumps. I really identified with Entgen.
 
Smit’s writing style is poetic, fluid, and cinematic. She describes Entgens love of nature in such detail that you can almost smell the herbs yourself. This book os much more than a historical account; it is a feminist pamphlet that shows just how dangerous fear and mass hysteria can be. A breathtaking, important, and beautifully written book that everyone should read. And I hope, for my English speaking friends, it will someday be translated in English.
 
Rating: 5/ 5

Book Review - The Last Witch by C.J. Cooke

Title: The Last Witch
Author: C.J. Cooke
Genre: Horror/ Historical Fiction
Published: 2025
 
Description: Helena Scheuberin should be doing what every other young wife is keeping house, supporting her husband, bearing his children. But when her husband’s footman, Leopold, with whom she was having an affair, is found dead, Helena is accused of killing him. Worse, she is accused of being a witch.
 
Imprisoned with six other women, Helena is plunged from her life of comfort into a world of terror. When a cursed witch totem is smuggled into the prison, the prisoners attempt to use it to conjure escape. But the totem is the severed hand of a murdered woman, and Helena’s life is in danger both inside and outside the dungeon.
 
Does Helena risk her life and the lives of others by standing up to a man determined to paint her as the most wicked of all? Or is the world beyond this one the real threat?
 
Review: In “The Last Witch” author C.J. Cooke weaves suspense and historical fiction together. She delves deep into one of the darkest periods in European history: the infamous witch hunts. Inspired by true events, Cooke delivers a terrifying, atmospheric, and emotionally charged story that grips you.
 
The story takes place in Innsbruck, Austria, in the year 1485. Helena Scheuberin is a wealthy yet strikingly outspoken and free-spirited young woman. In an era when women are expected to quietly manage the household and bear children, Helena refuses to conform. When she openly protests the brutal execution of her friend and her friend’s daughter, she draws the unwanted attention of the feared Dominican inquisitor Henrich Kramer.  
 
The situation escalates dramatically when her husband’s servant, with whom Helena has a secret affair, is suddenly fond dead. Helena is immediately accused of murder and witchcraft. She is locked up in a dungeon, along with six other women. Ad the threat of the stake and the witch hunter’s relentless torture intensify, the women attempt to escape with the help of a cursed witch’s totem smuggled into the dungeon. However, in doing so, they accidentally unleash a malevolent entity from the afterlife, making the danger within the prison at least as great as the danger outside.
 
“The Last Witch” is a powerful blend of historical fiction and supernatural horror. What makes this book so compelling is how vividly and realistically Cooke brings the 15th-century setting to life. The atmosphere in medieval Innsbruck is grim, filthy, and oppressive. The true horror in the first half of the book lies not in the supernatural, but in the psychological terror and sheer misogyny of that era. Inquisitor Heinrich Kramer is portrayed as a terrifyingly realistic monster, whose lust for power and hatred of women cut to the bone.
 
In contrast to this darkness stands Helena, a brilliantly developed protagonist. Her unyielding will, courage, and sharp tongue provide a much-needed ray of light in the story. Cooke succeeds in beautifully and respectfully portraying the solidarity and interpersonal dynamics among the seven imprisoned women.
 
The only drawback preventing earning a full five stars is the introduction of the supernatural element in the dungeon. Although the possession and malevolent entity provide a good dose of suspense and horror, this plot point sometimes feels a bit forced in relation to the deep, historical reality underlying it. The struggle against human evil and the corrupts system would have been compelling enough on its own.
 
Nevertheless, “The Last Witch” is a well-written and almost unbearably suspenseful book. Cooke flawlessly combines historical facts with a compelling narrative structure. For fans of atmospheric historical thrillers and Gothic tales, this novel is an absolute must-read.
 
Rating: 4/ 5

Movie Review - Verity

Director: Michael Showalter
Genre: Thriller
Runtime: 117 minutes
Year: 2026
Starring: Dakota Johnson, Josh Hartnett, Anne Hathaway
 
Description: Lowen Ashleigh (Dakota Johnson), hired to ghostwrite for best-selling author Verity Crawford (Anne Hathaway), uncovers Verity’s autobiographical notes, and becomes involved in what may prove to be a lethal conspiracy.
 
Review: The film adaptation of a gripping bestseller always comes with sky-high expectations, and the psychological thriller “Verity” was no exception. Directed by Michael Showalter and boasting a star-studded cast featuring Dakota Johnson, Josh Hartnett and Anne Hathaway, this adaptation seemed like a guaranteed success on paper. Unfortunately, the film falls well short on the mark. What should have been a nerve-wrecking ride ends up being a slow and uneven disappointment that never quite manages to capture the tension of the source material.

The film follows Lowen Ashleigh, a struggling author who is hired by Jeremy Crawford to finish writing the remaining books in a highly successful series. The original author, Jeremy’s wife Verity Crawford, is at home, seriously injured and incapacitated after a severe car accident. Lowen moves in with the family at their secluded estate to delve into Verity’s notes. She soon stumbles upon a hidden, terrifying manuscript in which Verity makes a gruesome confession about the family’s dark secrets. As the attraction between Lowen and Jeremy grows, Lowen becomes entangled in a web of manipulation, and the line between chilling fiction and dangerous reality begins to blur.

Let’s get right to the point: the book, written by Colleen Hoover, is far better. While the novel keeps the reader in a constant stranglehold with psychological paranoia and a suffocating atmosphere, the film adaptations opts for a pace that can only be described as boring. The film drags laboriously from one dialogue scene to the next, with only a few rare, suspenseful moments. As a result, the thrilling Hitchcock-esque suspense that the filmmaker tried to imitate never really comes across.

The film’s biggest stumbling block, however, is the way the acting talent was handled. The casting of the title role, in particular, is a missed opportunity: Anne Hathaway’s role is painfully underutilized. Hathaway is a world-class actress, but here she is reduced to a passive character. Her character never takes on the terrifying, mysterious menace that the story so desperately needs. Although Johnson and Hartnett fo their best to keep the chemistry alive, they cannot save the movie.

“Verity” lacks the much-needed intensity that the book has and gets bogged down in a drawn-out thriller that leaves fans of the book cold.

Rating: 2/ 5

Book Review - Land by Maggie O'Farrell

Title: Land
Author: Maggie O’Farrell
Genre: Historical fiction
Published: 2026
 
Description: On a windswept peninsula stretching our into the Atlantic, Tomás and his reluctant son, Liam, are working for the great Ordnance Survey to map the whole of Ireland. The year is 1865, and in a country not long since ravaged and emptied by the Great Hunger, the task it not an easy one. Tomás, however, is determined that his maps will be a record of the disaster.
 
The British soldiers in charge are due to arrive any day, expecting the work to be completed, but Tomás is unexpectedly sent off course by an unsettling encounter in a copse. His life, and the lives of those of his family, will never be the same again. Liam is terrified by the sudden change in his taciturn father. What was it that caused such cracks to open in Tomás, and how is Liam, aged only ten, going to finish the mapping and get them both home?
 
Review: After the overwhelming success of “Hamnet”, I was really looking forward to Maggie O’Farrell’s new book and it was my in-person book club pick this month. Her writing has a way of completely transporting you to another time and place. “Land” has an intriguing premise and is stylistically exceptional, but unfortunately, the story largely failed to captivate me this time.
 
The story begins in 1865 on a rainy Irish peninsula, shortly after the devastating Great Hunger. The novel follows the taciturn Irish cartographer Tomás, who, commissioned by the British army, is meticulously mapping the transformed and traumatized landscape of Ireland. When he stumbles upon something mysterious in a copse, he has a revelation that turns his entire worldview upside down. And it changed his family’s life forever.
 
The novel is structured in four parts, no chapters. They shed light on the broad history of this family spanning several generations and continents. In part one, we follow Tomás and his young song Liam, crossing the peninsula and the massive transformation at the copse. Part two delves deeper into family life in Ireland and how Tomás rebellion against the authorities and the Church completely disrupt the family dynamic. In the third part we read about the family’s disintegration and it follows the children as they are forced to scatter across the globe. Liam travels to India to join the Jesuits, while daughter Enda flees to Canada with forged documents. In the final and fourth part the various storylines and continents are brought together. This concluding section connects the past with the future and shows how the remaining family members try to survive and keep the memory of their homeland alive.
 
Although the book is undeniably beautifully written, reading it was, unfortunately, quite a challenge. O’Farrell describes absolutely everything beautifully and with an impressive eye for detail, but this also makes the book move at a very slow pace. For me, most of the story was downright boring. I really had to struggle through it and resist the urge to put it down. It wasn’t until part 4 that it finally became interesting and more engaging for me, because that’s where the various storylines finale converge and the emotional weight becomes palpable. As for the rest of the book, I could not connect to the story nor the characters.
 
I thought her previous book “Hamnet” was fantastic, but “Land” unfortunately failed to live up to those high expectations. It’s a beautifully written historical portrait, but due to its lack of momentum, I can’t give it more than 2,5 stars.
 
Rating: 2,5/ 5

Movie Review - Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Director: Destin Daniel Cretton
Genre: Action/ Adventure
Runtime: 145 minutes
Year: 2026
Starring: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal, Mark Ruffalo, Sadie Sink, Florence Pugh
 
Description: A forgotten Peter Parker (Tom Holland) lives alone as a full-time Spider-Man until mounting pressure triggers a dangerous change and a powerful new enemy emerges.
 
Review: Ever since Spider-Man found his way into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we’ve already been treated to three movies in which his personal motivations have consistently been simple and clear. No matter how crazy the stakes of the Spider-Man narrative became in “Spider-Man: No Way Home”, at the end of the day. Peter Parker just wanted to go to college with his two best friends. In “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” as well, the reason behind his actions is clear and person: he misses his friends.

Since the previous movie, Peter has been erased from the memories of everyone alive, and now he’s decided to just be Spider-Man full-time. From a distance, he watches as his high school friends Ned and MJ go through college without him. Meanwhile, he saves New York from the bad guys. But then a threat emerges that our superhero struggles with: something, or someone, that can jump from the body of one citizen to that of another.

His main companion in this film is Frank Caste, also known as the Punisher. Another lone wolf. And then there’s the character, who I won’t discuss because of spoilers, played by Sadie Sink. I was very excited that she was in it and I had some theories about who she was playing. I was right and it made me even more excited. Her role involves loneliness and loss. And in that way, she mirrors Peter Parker’s experiences. This was the heart of the film and gave it emotional depth.

There is something reassuring about the fact that tis young man with superpowers just can’t seem to get his life together. Peter Parker always feels a little like one of us. And like someone who makes obvious mistakes, from which he has to learn. No matter how super-intelligent or strong he is, this is a hero with very relatable problems. Mixed with superhero problems, sure, but at its core, it’s about thinks we all feel. And that’s definitely the rock-solid foundation of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day”.

Rating: 4/ 5

Movie Review - The Invite

Director: Olivia Wilde

Genre: Comedy/ Drama
Runtime: 107 minutes
Year: 2026
Starring: Seth Rogen, Olivia Wilde, Penelope Cruz, Edward Norton
Description: Joe and Angela’s (Seth Rogen, Olivia Wilde) marriage is on the rocks. When they invite their enigmatic upstairs neighbors (Penelope Cruz, Edward Norton) over for dinner, the evening takes an unexpected turn.

 
Review: Director Olivia Wilde does it again. Following her acclaimed directorial debut, “Booksmart”, she proves with “The Invite” that she is the undisputed queen of modern farce. This film is without a doubt the funniest movie I’ve seen this year. In fact, this hilarious, sharp and somewhat uncomfortable masterpiece is already a serious contender to land at the top of my year-end list.

The film follows Joe and Angela, a couple who, after fifteen years of marriage, have fallen into a deep rut and are on the verge of breaking up. In a desperate attempt to reignite the spark, they invite their enigmatic upstairs neighbors over for dinner Pina and Hawk. What begins as a pleasant evening of polite small talk quickly escalates into a wild emotional rollercoaster.

“The Invite” is a brilliant comedy that takes place entirely within a single apartment in San Fransico. The chemistry between the four lead actors is truly electric. Seth Rogen is at his best as the neurotic, awkward husband, while Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton steal the show as the eccentric, over-the-top neighbors.

Wilde perfectly balances the fine line between wicked humor and genuine emotion. The dialogue is razor-sharp, and the timing is so perfect. But behind all those edgy jokes lies, thanks in part to the psychological depth, a surprisingly mature and relatable story about relationships and midlife crises.
If you’re going to watch just one movie this year, let it be this one!

Rating: 5/ 5 

Movie Review - The Sheep Detectives

Director: Kyle Balda
Genre: Mystery/ Adventure/ Comedy
Runtime: 109 minutes
Year: 2026
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, Chris O’Dowd, Patrick Stewart, Emma Thompson, Nicholas Derry, Regina Hall, Bella Ramsey, Nicholas Galitzine, Brett Goldstein, Rhys Darby, Conleth Hill
 
Description: Every night shepherd George Hardy (Hugh Jackman) reads aloud a murder mystery, pretending his sheep can understand. When he is found dead, the sheep realize at once that it was a murder and think they know everything about how to go about solving it.
 
Review: “The Sheep Detectives” is a surprisingly charming and inventive film that cleverly combines the classic whodunnit with humor and charm. The film is a must-see for fans of quirky mysteries and feel-good cinema. In short: it’s a whodunnit with sheep as the amateur sleuths, which sounds ridiculous but is absolutely fantastic.

When the beloved shepherd George Hardy dies under mysterious circumstances, his flock of sheep is left devastated. Every evening, George would read detective stories to his sheep. What he didn’t know was that the animals understood everything. Since the local police are completely off the mark, the sheep decide to take matters into their own hands. They set out to fins clues, interrogate the humans suspects in their own unique way, and prove themselves to be brilliant detectives.

Hugh Jackman shines in his simplicity. He appears mainly in flashbacks, but his warm and sympathetic performance serves as the film’s emotional anchor. The sincere bond between him and his flock gives the story and unexpected emotional depth.

The talking sheep steal the show. With voices provided by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston and many others, each sheep is given a unique personality. The humor shifts effortlessly from visual slapstick for younger viewers to sharp, witty dialogue for adults.

The film has a cozy, countryside vibe, that perfectly complements the charming mystery. It feels like a so-called cozy mystery. But for the seasoned amateur sleuths, the resolution of the murder case could be a bit predictable.

“The Sheep Detectives” is one of the most surprising films of the year. It’s a lovingly crafted feel-good movie that will entertain both young and old. Anyone in the mood for an original atmospheric comedy with a touch of mystery absolutely shouldn’t miss this one.

Rating: 4,5/ 5