her down. Too late, Rachel realizes that Akkermans has injected her with insulin, leaving her to die as he greets a joyful crowd below. Slipping into unconsciousness, Rachel grabs some of Hans's chocolate bars to prevent insulin shock. While Hans is being cheered by a joyous crowd on his balcony, Rachel appears from behind him and jumps off the balcony into the crowd. Escaping, she reaches Canadian officers who bring her to Kuipers. Using the Black Book, Rachel and a Canadian officer successfully convince a grieving Kuipers of her innocence and Akkermans's guilt. The black book - with Smaal's notes - proves all too convincing, documenting wealthy Jews seeking to escape from the Germans. Hans himself had been arrested by the Gestapo, released officially due to lack of evidence, but in fact because he had made a deal with Franken. Kuipers and Rachel figure out that Hans is trying to get away in a coffin, taking with him the riches stolen from murdered Jews. They track him down and seal the coffin suffocating him. As they wait for Hans to die, Kuipers and Rachel calmly debate what to do with Hans's stolen treasure. In the epilogue Rachel is living on a kibbutz in Israel, which was funded with the money, jewels, and other articles stolen from the Jews, where she works as a school teacher. Suddenly, shooting and the sound of jet aircraft is heard in the background - the Suez Crisis has begun. Novelization The novel was written by Laurens Abbink Spaink and editor Erik Brus in two and a half months. The story is based on the screenplay written by Paul Verhoeven and Gerard Soeteman. When writer Laurens Abbink Spaink was asked in NRC Handelsblad whether the book is just a commercial product or also a literary work, he answers: "Black Book is a literary thriller. Its form is in between the typical American novelization, describing only what the camera sees, and a literary novel. The novelization adds something to the film. I gave Rachel Stein a past, memories and a house. In the film she had no personal space." Reception Herman Franke writes positively about the novel in de Volkskrant: "The novel Black Book thoroughly puts into words what the film shows you. In black and white is confirmed what you half missed in the crisscross of story lines while you were watching: the piano is played