Three Seconds: Paula/Piet

[tjewell]

Wow, that would be a great twist.  I am anxious to see if your theory is true.  Something to think about

[lisapt]

---

Peppermill wrote:

Anyone find it strange that Ewert Grens sat on the floor in his office as colleagues came and went?  Why this quirk?  What did it signify?

---

I work with eccentric scientists, so this didn't seem that strange to me. The more nutty behaviors someone has, the more intelligent we assume they are. Co-workers just expect some strangeness and just deal with it. I think Grens just didn't want to get up, he was comfortable and thinking well. I saw his colleages dealing with it as a sign of respect for him.

[SandyS]

JaneM, I agree with your take on Piet.  We are moving along as if he's this great guy and then poof - he's going to take his own share (just as an aside).  I wonder where that is going?

---

JaneM wrote:

One more thing about Piet Hoffman.  He may not be as moral as I originally thought.   I just reread a section about the amphetamines on p.112 in which he is discussing the purity with Erik.  Piet thinks, "he would later describe to Wilson where and how to find it.  But not yet.  It still had to be cut one more time, his own share, which he sometimes did, sold it on."  Once again we experience the gray-ness of the characters.  Piet is not above getting a cut of the drugs he is dealing with. 

And I also find the sentence structure slightly awkward.  As mentioned before, is it from the translation or intentionally obtuse?

---

[JaneM]

---

Peppermill wrote:

---

JaneM wrote:

I'm not sure about Erik trusting Piet.  More likely Erik is aware that a murder is imminent and does what he is supposed to do - order Piet to stop the exchange as murder is not part of the undercover work.  I think he's just covering his backside in case things go bad.

---

How could Erik be aware that a "murder is imminent"? 

Certainly Erik could realize the risk of accepting a large delivery of drugs with his limited ability to provide cover for Piet/Paula, since Erik was in Georgia, U.S.A., at the time. 

It seemed as if Piet/Paula probably did not realize that the buyer was another informant until he was well into questioning the "buyer."  Certainly he did have to establish the credibility of the buyer since such had apparently not been done (possible?) before the transaction was underway.

(So far, I have recognized no evidence that Erik might possibly have known beforehand that the buyer in this deal was a Danish informant, but that might have been "handling" he could have done if he had been in Sweden?  Don't have a sense of what is "possible" in situations like these.)

---

I think my impression from Paula's first call to Erik was that he suspected something was wrong with the deal.  Maybe from a prior conversation with the buyer (although, like you, I'm not sure how the buys get set up.)  But in any case, Piet was worried enought to want to meet Erik to talk it over.  And his urgency must have come through for Erik to tell him to abort.  And then Pier says "You know that I've got to do it.", which I interpreted as killing the buyer.  I don't think he knows that he is a Danish informant - merely that the deal is going sour.

[thewanderingjew]

I find if there are a lot of characters and a confusing but interesting plot, it helps to take some notes when I read. When I couldn't figure out who Piet and Paula were, I looked back and then wrote down why they were one and the same. I include a little background on them and fill it in as I read. It also helps to have these notes when I write my review.

---

JoanieGranola wrote:

---

SandyS wrote:

I wonder if there was a better (faster) way to tie together Piet & Paula.  I needed to reread several portions to try to figure things out.  Once I did figure it out I started the book over to make sure I didn't miss anything.

Did anyone get as confused as I did?

---

Lis49 wrote:

It took me a while to figure out that Paula and Piet were the same person. 

---

---

Until it was mentioned that "we use men's name for men agents and women's names for women agents" (paraphrased), I did not know that Paula and Piet were the same person. And I got confused a lot during this first section.

---

[Peppermill]

---

JaneM wrote:  I think my impression from Paula's first call to Erik was that he suspected something was wrong with the deal.  Maybe from a prior conversation with the buyer (although, like you, I'm not sure how the buys get set up.)  But in any case, Piet was worried enought to want to meet Erik to talk it over.  And his urgency must have come through for Erik to tell him to abort.  And then Pier says "You know that I've got to do it.", which I interpreted as killing the buyer.  I don't think he knows that he is a Danish informant - merely that the deal is going sour.

---

Thx for your response, Jane.  Now, I have another question ==  Why that interpretation? ('cause that puts a whole different slant/interpretation on what follows.)

(Bold added.) 

[thewanderingjew]

I had kind of a different interpretation. I thought Piet said he had to do it simply because this is what he had been trained to do; this was his role. It was the culmination of everything they had been planning. If he aborted, the project would have been set back. Also, I don't think I realized, at that time, that he was compromised after being in prison, in the same way that the mules were. He was kind of blackmailed too, into doing this undercover work. I suppose I may have given him more credit for having honor than he deserved.

I was confused, though, about what role Erik would have had even if he had not been out of town. At first, I thought Erik was going to raid all of these meetings with the mules but, in fact, he just wanted to set it up so Piet/Paula would be taken into the organization in order to infiltrate it so they would have a man on the inside. So, why did Piet want Erik to be there to back him up? Was Erik also undercover? Would he have gone with Piet to sell the drugs to the buyer that was murdered?

---

Peppermill wrote:

---

JaneM wrote:  I think my impression from Paula's first call to Erik was that he suspected something was wrong with the deal.  Maybe from a prior conversation with the buyer (although, like you, I'm not sure how the buys get set up.)  But in any case, Piet was worried enought to want to meet Erik to talk it over.  And his urgency must have come through for Erik to tell him to abort.  And then Pier says "You know that I've got to do it.", which I interpreted as killing the buyer.  I don't think he knows that he is a Danish informant - merely that the deal is going sour.

---

Thx for your response, Jane.  Now, I have another question ==  Why that interpretation? ('cause that puts a whole different slant/interpretation on what follows.)

(Bold added.) 

---

[SandyS]

 And then Pier says "You know that I've got to do it.".  I interpreted this as needing to complete the drug deal.  If he backed out of the deal then someone would kill him.

---

Peppermill wrote:

---

JaneM wrote:  I think my impression from Paula's first call to Erik was that he suspected something was wrong with the deal.  Maybe from a prior conversation with the buyer (although, like you, I'm not sure how the buys get set up.)  But in any case, Piet was worried enough to want to meet Erik to talk it over.  And his urgency must have come through for Erik to tell him to abort.  And then Pier says "You know that I've got to do it.", which I interpreted as killing the buyer.  I don't think he knows that he is a Danish informant - merely that the deal is going sour.

---

Thx for your response, Jane.  Now, I have another question ==  Why that interpretation? ('cause that puts a whole different slant/interpretation on what follows.)

(Bold added.) 

---

[thewanderingjew]

I think you are probably right. If he didn't go through with it, they might have figured out he was a plant.

SandyS wrote:

 And then Pier says "You know that I've got to do it.".  I interpreted this as needing to complete the drug deal.  If he backed out of the deal then someone would kill him.

---

Peppermill wrote:

---

JaneM wrote:  I think my impression from Paula's first call to Erik was that he suspected something was wrong with the deal.  Maybe from a prior conversation with the buyer (although, like you, I'm not sure how the buys get set up.)  But in any case, Piet was worried enough to want to meet Erik to talk it over.  And his urgency must have come through for Erik to tell him to abort.  And then Pier says "You know that I've got to do it.", which I interpreted as killing the buyer.  I don't think he knows that he is a Danish informant - merely that the deal is going sour.

---

Thx for your response, Jane.  Now, I have another question ==  Why that interpretation? ('cause that puts a whole different slant/interpretation on what follows.)

(Bold added.) 

---

---

[JaneM]

---

thewanderingjew wrote:

I think you are probably right. If he didn't go through with it, they might have figured out he was a plant.

SandyS wrote:

 And then Pier says "You know that I've got to do it.".  I interpreted this as needing to complete the drug deal.  If he backed out of the deal then someone would kill him.

---

Peppermill wrote:

---

JaneM wrote:  I think my impression from Paula's first call to Erik was that he suspected something was wrong with the deal.  Maybe from a prior conversation with the buyer (although, like you, I'm not sure how the buys get set up.)  But in any case, Piet was worried enough to want to meet Erik to talk it over.  And his urgency must have come through for Erik to tell him to abort.  And then Pier says "You know that I've got to do it.", which I interpreted as killing the buyer.  I don't think he knows that he is a Danish informant - merely that the deal is going sour.

---

Thx for your response, Jane.  Now, I have another question ==  Why that interpretation? ('cause that puts a whole different slant/interpretation on what follows.)

(Bold added.) 

---

---

---

It's interesting that we each have a different slant on what was happening.  I think that it was not Piet's first drug sale as he seemed very comfortable with collecting the drugs from the mules.  And later, when he says he often collected his share of the drugs during the cutting process made me think that it was business as usual.  I think he was continuing to solidify his position within the Polish mafia until such time as Erik or the agency decided he was as high as he could go.  I think he completed many prior deals without Erik.  This one just struck him as a problem and that he would have to kill someone to maintain his cover.

[beak77]

I just finished Part 1 like Thurs. night- I apologize but I believe answering these questions with full knowledge is best.

What do we know so far about Hoffmann? We know that Hoffman is a police informant and an informant for the Polish Mafia. He has previously done time for weapons possession. Upon getting out of jail as a single man he made these commitments. Later he married Zofia and had 2 boys, forming a family life. He now has the delimit of informant(danger/lies) and family (safety/love).

How much do Hoffmann and Wilson trust and respect each other? The two of them seem to respect each other mutually. Wilson reinforces to Hoffman that after this stint in jail that he will be a wanted man with no protection, that it will be each man for his own. Wilson is not obligated to do so. Hoffman has been an informant for Wilson for 9 years and performs to his best for him.

Why does this particular murder have such an effect on Hoffmann? The murder at 79 effects Hoffman because he knows it was him or the other guy. Fortunately, it was the other guy. Hoffman mechanically takes the steps to call it in to police, dispose of pertinent evidence, and keep what would be needed for security over the shooter. Hoffman begins to think of how life is here one second and the next is gone.

How much does Hoffmann's wife, Zofia, know about what he does for a living? Zofia knows that Hoffman is lying to her. Hoffman clearly states that he can hear that she knows he is lying (p78). She may play the part that she believes him. He has lied for so long to Zofia that he continues to do so out of habit or his moral code.

Why do you think he does this dangerous undercover work for the Swedish Police? I think that Hoffman got sucked into the informant police work while he was in jail for changes to his record. He had no social or work obligations at the time so if he committed himself to it there was no one else to consider. He also may have been searching for a meaning for his life and felt this would fill that void- again this was 9 years before the context of the book.

Why do you think Hoffmann wears the recorder to his meeting with government and police officials? I think Hoffman wears this recorder because he knows it is every man for himself and that once he is supposed to be pulled out of jail, he may be concerned that the government may pull a 360. This theory is backed up by the fact he burned 2 copies of the recorded conversation.

[thewanderingjew]

I just started reading more posts and oddly enough, when I saw yours, the capitalized word "Job", jumped off the page at me. I thought, at first,  you were referring to Job, from the Bible. For some reason my mind immediately went there and I thought, my G-d, you are right, most of the characters, the mules, the double agents, the mobsters and the victims...all seem "Job-like" to me...no matter what they do, they really can't win.

Even law enforcement feels helpless becaus the drug crimes are beyond their control.

It is funny, how the mind works!

---

Vermontcozy wrote:

The murder of another informant..It could've been him ,Hoffmann,.So this would have an effect on him..He seems to care but only selfishly,,Its all part of his "Job" description so to speak.Hoffmann and Wilson are treading on very thin ice as far as trust in my opinion.Too early for me to tell......His undercover work stems from his Prison time,and it was either stay and serve your time or work with the Police..Seems to have worked out well for Piet so far.....I have no clue about Zofia yet..I want to believe she is totally unaware of his activities.I do feel though as the story continues ,she will play a key role,but will not find out until I read on..When she met him,how much she knows .....Wearing the recorder is his guarantee that its all recorded and can Blackmail them all..if he needs to.....Susan

---

[BookWoman718]

---

JaneM wrote:

---

thewanderingjew wrote:

I think you are probably right. If he didn't go through with it, they might have figured out he was a plant.

SandyS wrote:

 And then Pier says "You know that I've got to do it.".  I interpreted this as needing to complete the drug deal.  If he backed out of the deal then someone would kill him.

---

Peppermill wrote:

---

JaneM wrote:  I think my impression from Paula's first call to Erik was that he suspected something was wrong with the deal.  Maybe from a prior conversation with the buyer (although, like you, I'm not sure how the buys get set up.)  But in any case, Piet was worried enough to want to meet Erik to talk it over.  And his urgency must have come through for Erik to tell him to abort.  And then Pier says "You know that I've got to do it.", which I interpreted as killing the buyer.  I don't think he knows that he is a Danish informant - merely that the deal is going sour.

---

Thx for your response, Jane.  Now, I have another question ==  Why that interpretation? ('cause that puts a whole different slant/interpretation on what follows.)

(Bold added.) 

---

---

---

It's interesting that we each have a different slant on what was happening.  I think that it was not Piet's first drug sale as he seemed very comfortable with collecting the drugs from the mules.  And later, when he says he often collected his share of the drugs during the cutting process made me think that it was business as usual.  I think he was continuing to solidify his position within the Polish mafia until such time as Erik or the agency decided he was as high as he could go.  I think he completed many prior deals without Erik.  This one just struck him as a problem and that he would have to kill someone to maintain his cover.

---

Piet made that phone call to Erik hours before the delivery was scheduled to come in.  He only discovered that the 'buyer' was in fact an agent of some sort after he began to question him.  We see how his mind is working then;  he is desperate to stop the killing but the Polish thug is enraged and Piet can't stop him without blowing his own cover.  I believe when he said he had to do it, he meant that he had to go through with the drug deal, despite the fact that Erik was out of the country and he wouldn't have any backup.  (Erik is the only one who knows who he really is.)  Normally when a deal is going down,  the agent would have someone listening in (remember all those apartments they have set up for deals) in case it started to go bad.  This delivery had not been expected;  that much is mentioned several times.  Piet should have been safe - no deals going on - when Erik was away, but this one came in and he was stuck doing it, or jeopardizing the whole three year long operation.   

[Vermontcozy]

---

thewanderingjew wrote:

I just started reading more posts and oddly enough, when I saw yours, the capitalized word "Job", jumped off the page at me. I thought, at first,  you were referring to Job, from the Bible. For some reason my mind immediately went there and I thought, my G-d, you are right, most of the characters, the mules, the double agents, the mobsters and the victims...all seem "Job-like" to me...no matter what they do, they really can't win.

Even law enforcement feels helpless becaus the drug crimes are beyond their control.

It is funny, how the mind works!

---

Vermontcozy wrote:

The murder of another informant..It could've been him ,Hoffmann,.So this would have an effect on him..He seems to care but only selfishly,,Its all part of his "Job" description so to speak.Hoffmann and Wilson are treading on very thin ice as far as trust in my opinion.Too early for me to tell......His undercover work stems from his Prison time,and it was either stay and serve your time or work with the Police..Seems to have worked out well for Piet so far.....I have no clue about Zofia yet..I want to believe she is totally unaware of his activities.I do feel though as the story continues ,she will play a key role,but will not find out until I read on..When she met him,how much she knows .....Wearing the recorder is his guarantee that its all recorded and can Blackmail them all..if he needs to.....Susan

---

---

It seems like everywhere The Drug Lords/Mob are in some position of control..Along with a small percentage of Law Enforcement...Totally out of control..If  "They" paid taxes our National Debt could be paid off in 6 months...

[elaine_hf]

---

JaneM wrote:

---

thewanderingjew wrote:

I think you are probably right. If he didn't go through with it, they might have figured out he was a plant.

SandyS wrote:

 And then Pier says "You know that I've got to do it.".  I interpreted this as needing to complete the drug deal.  If he backed out of the deal then someone would kill him.

---

Peppermill wrote:

---

JaneM wrote:  I think my impression from Paula's first call to Erik was that he suspected something was wrong with the deal.  Maybe from a prior conversation with the buyer (although, like you, I'm not sure how the buys get set up.)  But in any case, Piet was worried enough to want to meet Erik to talk it over.  And his urgency must have come through for Erik to tell him to abort.  And then Pier says "You know that I've got to do it.", which I interpreted as killing the buyer.  I don't think he knows that he is a Danish informant - merely that the deal is going sour.

---

Thx for your response, Jane.  Now, I have another question ==  Why that interpretation? ('cause that puts a whole different slant/interpretation on what follows.)

(Bold added.) 

---

---

---

It's interesting that we each have a different slant on what was happening.  I think that it was not Piet's first drug sale as he seemed very comfortable with collecting the drugs from the mules.  And later, when he says he often collected his share of the drugs during the cutting process made me think that it was business as usual.  I think he was continuing to solidify his position within the Polish mafia until such time as Erik or the agency decided he was as high as he could go.  I think he completed many prior deals without Erik.  This one just struck him as a problem and that he would have to kill someone to maintain his cover.

---

I agree, I think that Piet knew that if he didn't go through with the sale, that the eyes that were watching him would know that something was wrong and he'd be suspect. And possibly dead. I also get the impression that taking his share of the drugs must be part of the arrangement with him. He isn't a 'nice guy', he was in prison prior to working as an informant, and I think the law looks the other way in some circumstances.

[DSaff]

I totally agree. When I read the line you quoted, it just reinforced that there aren't many, if any, characters in this book that don't have multiple layers. I don't trust Piet/Paula.

---

JaneM wrote:

One more thing about Piet Hoffman.  He may not be as moral as I originally thought.   I just reread a section about the amphetamines on p.112 in which he is discussing the purity with Erik.  Piet thinks, "he would later describe to Wilson where and how to find it.  But not yet.  It still had to be cut one more time, his own share, which he sometimes did, sold it on."  Once again we experience the gray-ness of the characters.  Piet is not above getting a cut of the drugs he is dealing with. 

And I also find the sentence structure slightly awkward.  As mentioned before, is it from the translation or intentionally obtuse?

---

[AIRKNITTER]

There is so much missing from Hoffman's "history" that would make his character more believable. He was a criminal; he joined the police force in some way; his life is in danger almost from the beginning of the book and yet he married and fathered two children. WHY?

[beak77]

I kept waiting for a lady named Paula to appear in the book. I also really thought it was gutsy of a lady to go into a drug deal without any support b/c the time was right.

The high level government lady in the meeting that Piet recorded even questioned the name Paula.

[BookWoman718]

---

AIRKNITTER wrote:

There is so much missing from Hoffman's "history" that would make his character more believable. He was a criminal; he joined the police force in some way; his life is in danger almost from the beginning of the book and yet he married and fathered two children. WHY?

---

I think the authors may have chosen to keep the reader a little off base, raising questions and not giving answers in any sort of chronological order.  It's like life;  when you meet someone you don't get their complete history.  You are often puzzled by the things they do and say until you get to know them better.  Meanwhile, the questions keep you interested.  It's part of the whole "mysterious" idea.  We can't predict exactly how this will play out because we don't know how these characters got to be where they are in the plot, nor how violent they might be, nor what their strengths and weaknesses might be.  We are left helpless to just watch and see what happens!

[beak77]

---

thewanderingjew wrote:

I think that Erik Wilson trusts Paula/Piet. He has no reason not to trust him. Why would he willingly return to jail if his intention was not to fulfill his part of the bargain. I also believe that Paula/Piet does trust Erik, as well, but he is not naive enough to believe that the system will protect him. Everyone has pretty much told him that if he fails, he is on his own. I think he wears the wire to blackmail anyone who tries to get in the way of his freedom after his job is done regardless of the outcome.

It hardly seems fair to leave him hanging out there, unprotected, when he risks his life for their cause. It seems unfair for innocent people to be used and discarded like just so much detritus simply because they made a mistake in the past for which, by the way, they have repaid society. Sometimes governments engage in conspiracies to accomplish greater goals without really considering the sacrifices made for their cause.

I have to wonder again, does the end justify the means. Is there any other way to infiltrate the organizations using technology? Is there so much crime because we look away or do we look away because we are helpless in the face of so much crime? Put another way, which came first, the chicken or the egg?

---

Rachel-K wrote:
What do we know so far about Hoffmann?

How much do Hoffmann and Wilson trust and respect each other?

Why do you think Hoffmann wears the recorder to his meeting with government and police officials?

---

Here in the US we rely a lot on technology to solve crimes, probably more so than informants. For example the latest thing is familial DNA. If a DNA hit matches partially to another crime then the cops can figure out who the partial match is, they go after that person. California figured out a serial killer case recently based on this. Is it a violation of that persons privacy? He was arrested based on a crime someone else committed just because their DNA hit the system. We may use informants, if we do, we do not hear about it and I think it would only be in theft rings, maybe gangs, drug rings, etc. Wouldn't using an informant be low tech?

---