Evana, a young woman living in Amsterdam, has just given birth to a son. She feels fortunate, but also desperate and alone as the father of her child is in prison for a violent crime. In this vulnerable state she happens upon a grizzly newspaper article about a dog belonging to a couple in Friesian Wolvega. It has dragged their eight-day-old baby from his cot and mauled him to death.

The impact of the story on Evana is deeper than simply shock about the incident itself. Time and time again she returns to the article and stares at the photo of the dog: a black German Shepherd, with yellow eyes and a torn ear. The Friesian tragedy comes to obsess Evana during her first lonely and difficult days with the baby. She searches the television and Internet for news and mulls over every fresh detail that comes to hand. ‘It’s not the dog that’s guilty,’ she repeatedly thinks, ‘but the people who’ve raised him.’ 

These events form the prelude to Jan van Mersbergen’s masterful fifth novel: a subtle story full of subdued tension and suppressed emotions. Slowly, the history preceding the accident is revealed. The dog’s life and that of his successive carers and owners appear to be more intricately connected than they first appear. In How it Starts Jan van Mersbergen has written a rich and fascinating novel dealing with our deepest fears and anxieties about those entrusted to us.