Any feedback for my query letter will be gratefully received. As an English writer seeking publication in the United States, I am going to need all the help I can get! Many thanks.
NOTE: The subject of the book, a notorious child serial killer, is harrowing, so some readers might prefer to skip this post.
Dear XXXX,
Few serial killers achieve notoriety beyond the borders of their own country. One exception was Belgian child murderer Marc Dutroux, whose predatory spree in the mid-1990’s grabbed the attention of the world’s press.
Why did Dutroux achieve a worldwide reputation for infamy, when so many serial killers are quickly forgotten by the general public? Was it the images of two of his child victims being released, into the glare of world press, after months of torture at the hands of this monster? Was it the 300,000 people parading silently, and with dignity, through the streets of Brussels, demonstrating NOT against Marc Dutroux himself, but against the perceived corruption of the Belgian state? Or was it because a man who could kidnap children, build cages for them, rape, torture and starve them for several months, then bury them alive (in one case), could only be summed up in a single phrase.
Pure Evil.
May I send you my completed book, DUTROUX AND THE UNTOUCHABLES (140,000 words)? It is the first book to explain, to an English speaking audience, the drama, shock and anguish of this appalling tragedy. The reader is led through the dramatic and harrowing sequence of events which began with the first child disappearances in 1995, through to his life sentence, for multiple child murder, in 2004.
But the book goes much further than this, thanks to one of the most astonishing episodes in the history of criminal investigations. In April 2004, the entire 400,000 page case-file of the Marc Dutroux criminal investigation was leaked. Thanks to this file (to which I have been granted unlimited access), answers have emerged to the questions that obsess every Belgian, and millions of others. Was Dutroux a ‘sole predator’, as the entire Belgian establishment claimed? Or was he part of a larger, more sinister organization? Were there shadowy highly placed ‘untouchables’ (i.e. powerful individuals who are beyond the reach of the law) who were able to escape the scrutiny of the Dutroux investigators? Or were these stories just rumours, spread by credulous conspiracy theorists?
The truth is appalling. Time and time again, powerful leads were not followed up, even when the same people were accused, by independent witnesses, of terrible crimes against children. This book exposes these people and, thanks to the undeniable proof contained in the case-file, lays bare the iniquitous lies of the Belgian authorities.
I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.
NOTE: The subject of the book, a notorious child serial killer, is harrowing, so some readers might prefer to skip this post.
Dear XXXX,
Few serial killers achieve notoriety beyond the borders of their own country. One exception was Belgian child murderer Marc Dutroux, whose predatory spree in the mid-1990’s grabbed the attention of the world’s press.
Why did Dutroux achieve a worldwide reputation for infamy, when so many serial killers are quickly forgotten by the general public? Was it the images of two of his child victims being released, into the glare of world press, after months of torture at the hands of this monster? Was it the 300,000 people parading silently, and with dignity, through the streets of Brussels, demonstrating NOT against Marc Dutroux himself, but against the perceived corruption of the Belgian state? Or was it because a man who could kidnap children, build cages for them, rape, torture and starve them for several months, then bury them alive (in one case), could only be summed up in a single phrase.
Pure Evil.
May I send you my completed book, DUTROUX AND THE UNTOUCHABLES (140,000 words)? It is the first book to explain, to an English speaking audience, the drama, shock and anguish of this appalling tragedy. The reader is led through the dramatic and harrowing sequence of events which began with the first child disappearances in 1995, through to his life sentence, for multiple child murder, in 2004.
But the book goes much further than this, thanks to one of the most astonishing episodes in the history of criminal investigations. In April 2004, the entire 400,000 page case-file of the Marc Dutroux criminal investigation was leaked. Thanks to this file (to which I have been granted unlimited access), answers have emerged to the questions that obsess every Belgian, and millions of others. Was Dutroux a ‘sole predator’, as the entire Belgian establishment claimed? Or was he part of a larger, more sinister organization? Were there shadowy highly placed ‘untouchables’ (i.e. powerful individuals who are beyond the reach of the law) who were able to escape the scrutiny of the Dutroux investigators? Or were these stories just rumours, spread by credulous conspiracy theorists?
The truth is appalling. Time and time again, powerful leads were not followed up, even when the same people were accused, by independent witnesses, of terrible crimes against children. This book exposes these people and, thanks to the undeniable proof contained in the case-file, lays bare the iniquitous lies of the Belgian authorities.
I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.
