Intense, raw, graphic, and often disturbing, this is beyond the usual crime mystery. Issues of extremism, obsession, bullying, and animal abuse are tragic and emotional, and watch for triggers - the animal abuse is graphic and unsettling even though the message is "anti". A complex and very tense mystery with some very human emotions and a strong team.

My Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5

This book was a struggle for me to get through for a few different reasons. To begin with, I'm going to be honest here, with the exception of Monika, Liam and Helene, I had absolutely no idea how to pronounce any of the other names in the book. This is entirely due to the fact that I am an American and these names are Danish. While this didn't take me out of the book entirely, it did lead to a few moments of confusion when the author would occasionally switch from calling someone by their first name to calling them by their last.

Moving on to the plot, while there were some moments of urgency near the end, I felt like it took entirely way too long to get there (and that is overlooking the fact that most police work I would imagine is pretty tedious). For example there is one story-line that has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of it, but when taken in the context of the story would have made sense for the chief of police to react more urgently when the same thing appeared to happen to someone she cared about. Yet it didn't. It took almost two days (or longer) for her to even admit there was a potential problem. Then there is a break-up that seemingly comes out of the blue, and the reveal of the perpetrator shortly thereafter, which was shocking only because there had been nothing, not even subtly hinted at, to make you even look at this character twice.

On the plus side, while there are two authors listed for this one, I could not tell which one had written what part, that is how seamlessly their styles blended together and I liked that. However, I will say that (and hopefully this was revised before the publication date as I am reviewing an advanced reader copy) there were some glaring errors with the way a restraining order was handled. At one point it says that one of their victims had gotten a five year restraining order against Monika, only Monika was the one who was being harassed and therefore she would have been the one to take out the restraining order. And while this is mentioned once, it quickly reverts back to "this is why the victim got his restraining order". Even though he was the one that violated it and was subsequently fined for said violations.

Overall, I feel like I will definitely be in the minority with my thoughts on this one, but that's fine. I learned a long time ago that not every book is geared towards every reader. So if this one sounds interesting to you, I recommend checking it out for yourself.

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.

Another twisty thriller from my favorite Danish author!
Liam and Dea are with the Denmark police and a body has been found. The shallow cuts on his body are puzzling, with some almost healed and others fresh.
Liam is already stretched thin with a missing teenager and the fact that he is now living back home with his parents after his wife informed him she is divorcing him, and it’s because of the job.
When more bodies with similar markings are found, the dead seem to have one thing in common.
When the Chief’s daughter also goes missing, the workload and the tension really ramp up.


AS they close in on the killer, Drea is taken as well. Things could get very nasty.


Brilliant, as usual.


NetGalley/ August 12, 2025 Crooked Lane Books

In looking at who is who, in this story, I would say that Chief Constable Margrethe Dybbøl was more of a character than Liam Starker or Dea Torp, although everyone was important Dybbøl had her daughter kidnapped during her tenure. Terrible things happened to Liam, his wife filed for divorce and he ended up getting shot. Dea was told by her lover, Rolf that they were over and ended up in an hot oven an then in the hospital with 1st degree burns, 2nd degree burns and 3rd degree burns. Sara and Mads made everything interesting with trying to figure out who was killing all these people. Finally you figured out who was the killer when they finally showed who the killer was. You can read the story and find this out for yourself and see if it fits Scandinavian noir.

Another excellent entry by a Danish author I enjoy reading very much. A complicated case or I should say cases, with the mixture of human emotions and the intricacies of police work. A very detailed explanation of the effects of cyber bullying and in intransigence of activists with fatal results.

Did I mention the perpetrator in this narrative? Oh, I didn’t see this one coming!

Highly recommended!