Belgian writer Bram Dehouck has won this year’s Gouden Strop (golden noose) award for his thriller Een zomer zonder slaap (a summer without sleep).

Een zomer zonder slaap is about a butcher with insomnia and was praised by the jury for its black humour which ‘refreshes the thriller genre’.
‘Herman Bracke is driven mad by the windmills. His desperation, rage and lack of sleep leads to a deteroriation in the quality of his famous summer pate… which in turn sets off an improbable chain reaction,’ wrote reviewer Robert Gooijer in the NRC.
The €10,000 prize is awarded every year to the best Dutch language thriller. Dehouck also won the award two years ago for De minzame moordenaar (the affable killer).