Book Review: The Devil's Wage by Ton van Reen (The Bokkenrijders Gang #4)

  Note: This book isn't available in English (yet). The original title reads De Bende van de Bokkenrijders #4: Het loon van de duivel.
 

The final book in a series I really like. Spoilers ahead.

Mathijs and doctor Kirchhoffs find themselves in quite the situation once more and more Bokkenrijders are caught and tortured into giving out information on the gang. They now have to make a difficult decision: will they, as doctors, stay and help those in need, or will they flee and save their own lives before they're caught.

Yet another strong installment in this series. I just think that The Bokkenrijders Gang is overall really good, even if it's not the most historically accurate book on the Bokkenrijders out there. Van Reen manages to really just envelop the reader into this story and I both really like how he handles action scenes as well as the more mellow-down to earth scenes. The characters in these books are also really good. Mathijs and Kirchhoffs in particular are interesting as we see them both go down a morally questionable road in their character arcs.

And this book really does have the highest highs when it comes to anxiety-inducing scenes for our characters. Throughout basically the entire book Mathijs is fearing that he'll be the next Bokkenrijder to be caught, tortured and put to death. And as a reader you really do just feel the anxiety Mathijs feels in this situation. He's so afraid but also so loyal to the people around him that he doesn't flee until the very last moment. The anxiety gets even worse once Kirchhoffs is captured and tortured, and Mathijs is basically left to deal with what is left of the Bokkenrijders and his doctor studies all by himself (keep in mind he's only a teenager at this time). 

So this was definitely a hard-to-read book at times, but in a good way. In a way that you absolutely feel alongside the characters the pain and fear of being caught and punished terribly. And when Mathijs does finally flee, this also doesn't insta-solve his problems.

It was nice to see Marita again at the end of this book, however her reunion with Mathijs is only brief and they are sadly forced apart by circumstances. And then the book has an open ending. Yeah, we never learn if Mathijs actually reaches America or not. On the one hand, this can be frustrating (because this is the final book in the series), but on the other, I kinda like it? It shows that Mathijs' story is far from over and that he has a whole life ahead of him, whether it be in America or South Africa or elsewhere.

So yeah, a solid conclusion overall. I can see the ending putting some people off, but for me it was still satisfying enough. I do heavily recommend this book series, it's just overall really good.

Rating: 4/5