Vijf jaar geleden verdweem de bekende Manja Middelton. Haar vader vraagt Sid Stefan een spoor in New York te volgen. Dit leidt tot een bizarre krachtmeting. Wat begint als een lichtzinnig avontuur eindigt met een huiveringwekkende ontknoping.
Gerben Hellinga (Capricorn, 1937), was born in Switzerland and grew up in the Netherlands. He has lived in Bruxelles, Vienna, Berlin, Paris, New York, Ruigoord and Amsterdam.
After attending school in the Netherlands, Belgium and South England, he studied Theatre at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna and afterwards worked as an actor in Berlin and Amsterdam (notable film: 'Het Compromis', 1968).
Theatre & Television
Discontinuing his career as an actor, he became a playwright as well as an author of thrillers, short stories and has also written extensively for television. He has written several theatre plays and is considered a doyen of the dutch theatre scene. His most sucessful play was “Kees de Jongen” (1970) (Translated into English as 'That Boy Pete'), an adaptation of Theo Thijssen’s famous book, for which Hellinga received the coveted Henriette Roland Holst Award. Later in live, he wrote as a renowned critic for magazine Vrij Nederland.
The first mockumentary/docu-drama ever made in the Netherlands, “Rudy Schokker Huilt niet meer” ('Rudy Schokker doesn’t cry anymore') is one of his most famous works. This mockumentary about noise pollution was made together with director Pieter Verhoeff and was broadcast by the VPRO in 1972. Thousands of people believed it was real.
Fiction & Non-Fiction
Hellinga wrote some of the most famous thrillers in Dutch literary history and is also highly esteemed in this field. In 1979, “De Hellinger Omnibus” appeared, and later “Merg en Been” (To the Marrow) (1985, adapted to film in 2012 'Black Out') . “De Terugkeer van Sid Stefan” ('The Return of Sid Stephan') was awarded the Gouden Strop for best thriller (1989) and is taken into print again in June 2016. His last thriller is “Oog om Oog” (2004).
For readers between 12 and 80 he wrote the fairytale novel “Het Geheim van de Duim” (2003), which was rated in the top 3 best children’s books in both the Netherlands and Belgium.
Spirituality
In his autobiographical book “Wintervlinder” (1997), he describes his spiritual development as a result of a series of mystical experiences he has had since his early childhood.
Since 1972, Hellinga has studied the traditional Chinese oracular system 'the I Ching'. He has read most western translations and interpretations and his own long-awaited interpretation of this ancient work has finally appeared in print. Hellinga does I Ching readings for individuals, workshops for groups, and lectures at conferences.
In 2014 his book “ De Thebaanse Kalender” appeared, a study of a proto-western astrological system stemming from 14th century European peasants, but with roots in ancient Egyptian astrology.