'Mature and captivating’ ‘One of the finest Nordic novelists – in the tradition of Henning Mankell’ ‘Masterful pacing’ _________________ Mette Misvær, a three-year-old girl disappears without trace from the sandpit outside her home. Her tiny, close middle-class community in the tranquil suburb of Nordas is devastated, but their enquiries and the police produce nothing. Curtains twitch, suspicions are raised, but Mette is never found. Almost 25 years later, as the expiry date for the statute of limitations draws near, Mette’s mother approaches PI Varg Veum, in a last, desperate attempt to find out what happened to her daughter. As Veum starts to dig, he uncovers an intricate web of secrets, lies and shocking events that have been methodically concealed. When another brutal incident takes place, a pattern begins to emerge… Shocking, unsettling and full of extraordinary twists and turns, reaffirms Gunnar Staalesen as one of the world’s foremost thriller writers. _________________ 'There is a world-weary existential sadness that hangs over his central detective. The prose is stripped back and simple … deep emotion bubbling under the surface – the real turmoil of the characters’ lives just under the surface for the reader to intuit, rather than have it spelled out for them’ ‘Gunnar Staalesen is one of my very favourite Scandinavian authors. Operating out of Bergen in Norway, his private eye, Varg Veum, is a complex but engaging anti-hero. Varg means “wolf ” in Norwegian, and this is a series with very sharp teeth’ ‘Staalesen continually reminds us he is one of the finest of Nordic novelists’ ‘Staalesen does a masterful job of exposing the worst of Norwegian society in this highly disturbing entry’ 'The Varg Veum series is more concerned with character and motivation than spectacle, and it’s in the quieter scenes that the real drama lies’ 'Every inch the equal of his Nordic confreres Henning Mankell and Jo Nesbo' ‘With an expositional style that is all but invisible, Staalesen masterfully compels us from the first pages … If you’re a fan of Varg Veum, this is not to be missed, and if you’re new to the series, this is one of the best ones. You’re encouraged to jump right in, even if the Norwegian names can be a bit confusing to follow’ ‘With short, smart, darkly punchy chapters is a provocative and gripping read’ ‘Haunting, dark and totally noir, a great read’ ‘An upmarket Philip Marlowe’ ‘Razor-edged Scandinavian crime fiction at its finest’