The suspenseful Swedish thriller, The Truth Behind the Lie, tells the story of shady former journalist Kouplan’s search for missing child Julia.

Kouplan, an Iranian illegal resident in Stockholm, places this ad on Swedish Craig’s List.
“Private detective. If the police can’t help, call me!”

The only response is from Permilla, who has lost her young daughter Julia at a local shopping mall four days ago. Kouplan takes the case as soon as Permilla pays his advance of 1 hour’s pay, an astonishingly high 400 Swedish crowns.

Kouplan looks at the estranged father, Patrick, but he seems blameless. The more he looks into the case, the more he is suspicious of Permilla’s story.

The Truth Behind the Lie is a great thriller. While I miss the usual dark noir feel of Nordic thrillers, the thoroughly surprising ending made up for the lack of atmosphere. I highly recommend this book to people who want a completely different type of thriller. It doesn’t feel Nordic. It doesn’t feel American. It has a different pacing than most books that I read. Still an excellent read and worth 4 stars!

Thanks to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Truth Behind the Lie
A Novel

by Sara Lövestam

St. Martin’s Press

Minotaur Books

Mystery & Thrillers

Pub Date 27 Aug 2019

I am reviewing a copy of The Truth Behind the Lie through St.Martin’s Press/Minotaur and Netgalley:

A six year old girl disappears but calling the police isn’t an option, her desperate Mother Pernilla turns to an unlikely source for help. She finds a cryptic ad online from a private investigator advertising help for those who can’t call the police so she turns to the advertiser in search of help.

This is where Kouplan comes in. He is a refugee from Iran who is in hiding. He had to flee Iran after news of his brothers involvement with a radical newspaper hated by the regime was discovered. Kouplan’s brother disappeared and hasn’t been seen in over four years. He makes a living as a P.I working under the radar until he is legally able to apply for Asylum.

Pernilla’s daughter vanished without a trace and Kouplan is an expert at both living and working off grid. Kouplan is the perfect Pi to help but something in Pernilla’s story is not adding up. He fears she may need more help than he can offer, and her daughters life hangs in the balance.

I give The Truth Behind the Lie five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

Typically, I love thrillers and this one was no exception. The twisty-turny nature of Lovestam's writing made me question everything that was happening in this novel. I'd happily read another by this author.

Why can't Pernilla go to the police when her daughter Julia is taken? Why does she reach out to Kouplan, an Iranian refugee who honestly has no experience as an investigator, to find her? Kouplan is living illegally in Sweden, existing in the shadows and doing the sort of work that keeps him alive but not much more so this case is exciting. Told in alternate voices, this is actually somewhat confusing in spots until it all comes together. It hits any number of topical themes- immigration, human trafficking, mental illness. No spoilers but know that the secrets and lies and winding road makes for a good read. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A different take on Swedish noir.

This book moved a little slow for me, but it was still enjoyable. The premise of the story definitely kept me going, even though it took a little while for it to pick up. I'm hoping to read more from Lovestam soon!

Thank you #NetGalley for an early copy of #TheTruthBehindTheLie for review!

So many secrets, so many stories. I came away with a much better understanding of the lives led by immigrants and by people struggling with mental issues. While reading this suspenseful book try not to make any assumptions because all is not as it appears.
Kouplan is a young Iranian refugee trying to stay under the radar in Sweden. One way he makes money is to advertise his services as a private detective for others who need to avoid the police. Pernilla is one of those people, a mother in search of her lost daughter. Normally I would now give more details of the story but I'm hard pressed to give any for fear of spoilers. I'll just say that the secrets kept by Pernilla and Kouplan are such that, when I got to the end all I could say was WOW, I didn't see that coming. Part of me was thinking "I like that" and the part of me was think "what was that?" and I had to do a bit of a re-read of the last few pages. And I said Wow, again.
I normally read cozies and historical mysteries with the occasional darker reading thrown in. This is not the Scandinavian Noir I usually avoid and if there is another book in translation I think I could find space on my to be read list. I would like to know more about the world Kouplan inhabits.

Julia is missing but her mom can't call the police so she hires a guy from the want ads who works through a Hotmail account. If this doesn't raise a large quantity of questions, then this book isn't for you. And thankfully, through the course of the book, as the mother Pernilla and the investigator Kouplan get to know each other, the answers are revealed. Well, most of the are revealed. A little part of the ending didn't make sense to me but this did not distract from the intelligent and smart story Ms. Lovestam weaves. According to Goodreads there are 4 books (so far) in this series. I look forward to the translation and publication of the remaining three. Please don't make me wait too long!

Thank you to Netgalley and Minotaur Books for the advance reader copy of The Truth Behind The Lie!  This book is scheduled to be released TOMORROW! 

This book was a little weird.  It was just ok.  Pernilla hires a private investigator to try and find her daughter that has been kidnapped.  She refuses to consult with the police and Kouplan, our PI, is desperate for money so he takes the case.  What she doesn't realize is that Kouplan is in the country illegally and has never investigated anything before.

I am never one who can predict books easily, but I had this whole book figured out from the beginning.  It's highly predictable and left little to be desired for since I essentially figured everything out early on...I just kept reading for confirm my thoughts were correct.  It didn't make reading this one very enjoyable.

There's not much more I can say about this book without giving too much away.  It's quite a tale of Kouplan trying to locate Pernilla's missing daughter.  From the beginning things feel off and not quite right.  Kouplan almost doesn't know if he should investigating the case or not.  Eventually all comes to light at the end...

This was a 3 star read for me.  I don't think I would recommend this to any of my friends as they usually are able to predict books MUCH better than I am.  If I could predict this one...that's saying something!  I was so disappointed in this one!  Have you read any books that disappointed you lately because you were able to figure it out so easily??

***WILL BE POSTED TO DONNASREADINGCHAIR.HOME.BLOG ON AUGUST 26th***

Reminiscent of danish writer Jussi Adler-Olsen, The Truth Behind the Lies by Sara Lovestam features Kouplan a private detective who is from Iran seeking asylum in Sweden. He has been denied previously and is living in the shadows of society.
Kouplan gets hired by a young woman Pernille who wants him to find her young daughter. Things are not quite what they seem and these two lost souls find some kind of peace with each other.
I have never heard about this author but am now quite a fan. The story is great and the way she builds characters is truly amazing. I wholeheartedly recommend this book and am looking forward to hopefully many more to come.

The Truth Behind the Lie has a great premise. I could not put the book down in the beginning. I loved Kouplan and was very vested in why he was leading a secret life and how he became a detective. Watching him solve the mystery of missing Julia was interesting since none of the usual methods were available to him. Pernilla was another story. I just never liked her as a victim or a mother. Sometimes I didn’t want Julia to be given back to her. I figured out one twist of the story but the last twist was a doozy! Never saw it coming!

When a six-year-old girl disappears and calling the police isn’t an option, her desperate mother Pernilla turns to an unlikely source for help. She finds a cryptic ad online for a private investigator:
“Need help, but can’t contact the police?”

That’s where Kouplan comes in. He’s an Iranian refugee living in hiding. He was forced to leave Iran after news of his and his brother's involvement with a radical newspaper hated by the regime was discovered. Kouplan’s brother disappeared, and he hasn’t seen him in four years. He makes a living as a P.I. working under the radar, waiting for the day he can legally apply for asylum.

Pernilla’s daughter has vanished without a trace, and Kouplan is an expert at living and working off the grid. He’s the perfect PI to help… but something in Pernilla’s story doesn’t add up. She might need help that he can’t offer...and a little girl’s life hangs in the balance.

This was such a fast paced book, it was never slow and I just blew through it. An excellent book with great characters and storyline, perfect for any fans of mystery/suspense stories.

Thank you #NetGalley for the ARC of The Truth Behind the Lie by Sara Lövestam
Pub Date: 27 Aug 2019

This book dives into mental illness, poverty and the disturbing world of human trafficking. The actual story was interesting once the book made it to the real meat of the plot. Unfortunately, that happens when the reader has read over 80% of the book. The first 80% was extremely slow and repetitive.

I just wish the author got to the point quicker.

When Pernilla takes her 6 year old daughter Julia out one rainy Monday, Julia is taken from her... and Pernilla has reason not to contact police. She instead hires Kouplan, an Iranian refugee who is also a private investigator. The book follows the path over several weeks of both Pernilla and Kouplan through each of their points of view. What is uncovered is nothing short of breathtaking and there are not one but TWO surprises at the end. I really enjoyed this book. I felt that it was told extremely well from especially Kouplan’s point of view. I like when the ending of a book can catch me off guard like this one did.

The Truth Behind the Lie by Sara Lovestam begins with the disappearance of a six year old girl. The girls mother, Pernilla, cannot tell the police about the missing child and finds a private investigator online specializing in ‘off the grid’ investigations. Kouplan is an Iranian refugee, hoping to apply for asylum, so working off the radar is perfect for him. As the investigation progresses, Kouplan is beginning to realize things aren’t making sense. Pernilla is hiding something, and he needs to know what it is.

This book had three different story lines going on at the same time. At least that’s what I was thinking as I read it. I was often confused and lost as to what the heck was happening. Even the ending left me wondering what I just read. I hate giving a bad review, but this is one book I wouldn’t recommend to anyone.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Mintour Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I apologize for being so honest, but I truly wasn’t a fan.

I made a mistake before I started reading The Truth Behind the Lie. I read the reviews before I read the book. This is something that I usually don’t do. I had scrolled down on Goodreads, and one review caught my eye. You all know how that goes. You can’t read one. I got sucked down a rabbit hole of enthusiastic reviews, awful reviews, and mediocre reviews. By the time I emerged, my opinion of the book wasn’t that great. Then I read The Truth Behind the Lie; I can say for sure that my opinion of the book was changed for better.

One thing that caught my attention of The Truth Behind the Lie was that it was set in Sweden. Over the last year, I have noticed that most of the thrillers I read have taken place in those northern European countries. But what set this book apart for the other books was that Kouplan was not native to Sweden. Instead, he was an Iranian illegal immigrant. It was interesting to see Sweden through an immigrant’s eyes.

Kouplan caught my attention right from the beginning. His backstory was sad. He escaped from Iran after his older brother, who ran a radical newspaper, went missing. He was in the country illegally after his bid for citizenship was denied. The tension from that and from not seeing his family were well written. The only way he was surviving was working odd jobs and hoping someone answered his PI ad in the paper.

When Pernilla answered his ad, he thought that he had an easy case. He believed that Julia was taken in a custody dispute. That all he would have to do is find the father, and it would be over with. But, the case ended up being one of the hardest things he ever had to work on. The case was one of the best things about the book. Even when I felt that it was getting nowhere, I knew that something was happening. That Kouplan would break the case and find Julia. There was a break, but it wasn’t what I thought it would be.

There were a couple of considerable twists in the case that took me by surprise. One involved Pernilla, Julia, and the girl in the room. The other involved Kouplan. Neither I saw coming. Both almost made me lose my shit when they were revealed.

I did learn some interesting facts when reading The Truth Behind the Lie. I learned that mental health in Sweden was managed as well as the rest of the country. What surprised me was that the government took children away from parents if the parent had a mental illness. I was not expecting that. I also was surprised to learn that the children needed to be registered with the government. These two things I mentioned are huge in this book, so keep them in mind when reading this book.

The end of The Truth Behind the Lie was exciting. Remember the twists I mentioned above? They are both revealed in the last chapters. I loved how Pernilla, Julia, and the girl in the room was revealed. I got chills up and down my spine when I read it. The twist involving Kouplan came out of left field. I was NOT expecting what was revealed to be revealed. After I got over my shock, I loved it!!

I would give The Truth Behind the Lie an Adult rating. There is no sex. There is mild language. There is violence. I would recommend that no one under the age of 21 read this book.

I would reread The Truth Behind the Lie. I would recommend it to family and friends.

**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**

Pernilla can’t go to the police about her missing daughter for fear that the child will be taken from her by the authorities. Instead, the desperate woman gets in touch with Kouplan, an Iranian refugee living illegally in Sweden, who advertises his services by an Equalizer-style classified ad (“Need help, but can’t contact the police?”). We follow Kouplan in his quest to solve the mystery while trying not to attract any police attention to his own immigration status. The story is told with great sympathy for Kouplan’s situation. Even procuring food is portrayed as a struggle for this young man, who seems to live a lot of his life in fear, but he is nonetheless determined to help Pernilla find her child. In the end, Pernilla’s evasiveness and psychiatric history point Kouplan towards a strange explanation and bring the story to a not-totally-satisfying conclusion. Kouplan’s investigation is a success, though not in the way he expected.

Thanks to Netgalley and Minotaur for an advance digital review copy.

Sara Lövestam writing was on an excellent level. She uses an illegal alien from Iran re-named Kouplan as the detective and a woman named Pernilla as the mother. It was a very noir story. If I talk about it I would spoil it for you so you know that it's unusual, but it's amazing how things turn out. I read it in one sitting, didn't move until I finished it. It's sort of like a Jessi Adler-Olsen book as the nearest I can come to saying who Sara Lövestam is like.

New author for me but pleasantly surprised. Thank you for the approval and look forward to a book relationship with other reads in the future,

I literally couldn't put this down. Read it in a few hours. This book is brilliant. Each mystery had its own mystery.

Kouplan was such a unique character and really educated you on what some immigrants go through.

There wasn't one slow or dull paragraph, page, or chapter. And that ending. Whoa.

The synopsis for this book immediately drew me in! Pernilla’s 6-year-old daughter is missing and she can’t go to the police for help...red flag right there. She then submits an ad online for a private investigator and in comes Kouplan. He’s an Iranian refugee trying to stay under the radar, and in the meantime, he’s working as a P.I. and waiting until he can legally seek asylum. He’s willing to help her, but as time goes on certain things don’t add up.

At times I questioned who needed more help: Pernilla or her missing daughter. Pernilla appears to be just a distraught mother, but when she mentions giving birth by herself at home and avoiding Child Protective Services, I started to get suspicious. She has a history of being checked in to a psych ward in the past, but seems apprehensive about seeing a psychologist now. So many questions kept swirling around in my mind while reading this. Why would she want to keep her daughter a secret from everyone? Was she protecting her from the child’s father? Was she avoiding the police and CPS because she was in trouble with the law? Kouplan too had a lot of questions and very few leads, but when the truth comes out at the end I was surprised I didn’t see it coming. There are a lot of little hints throughout the book that I picked up on but didn’t piece together until the truth came to light.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, but at times it dragged on, especially the first half of the book. While Kouplan was investigating and questioning people who might’ve known or seen what happened to Pernilla’s daughter, the buildup was very anticlimactic, and I was worried the rest of the book would follow the same unhurried pace. But as more hunts were dropped, the story picked up, and I really enjoyed the way it ended.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2763267550