Review by Booklist Review
Danish journalist Heloise Kaldan has started to volunteer for Vigil, an organization that aids terminally ill patients. Her editor wants a story about Vigil's work, but Heloise has developed an interest in one specific patient, Jan Fischoff. When Jan begins to tell her stories about his past, she senses that there is a bigger story to uncover. She turns to her friend, homicide detective Erik Schäffer, for assistance, and they uncover a series of old cases that involve sex trafficking, murder, and police corruption, and soon they find themselves fearing for their lives. While doing research in a rural area south of Copenhagen, Heloise reunites with an old boyfriend, Tom, adding a bit of romance to the grim cases. There is an unexpected plot twist that will surprise readers. Scandinavian noir fans of writers like Jo Nesbø will love this dark tale.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Hancock's uneven third outing for Danish journalist Heloise Kaldan (after 2022's The Collector) starts with a vague deathbed confession from the terminally ill Jan Fischoff, with whom Kaldan has bonded while writing a story about hospice care. Fischoff tells Kaldan that he's fearful of hell, and mumbles something about "Mads Orek." After some light research, Kaldan discovers that a man named Mázorek drowned in the late 1990s in Fischoff's hometown in southern Jutland. Though the death was ruled an accident, Kaldan believes there's a cold case mystery to solve; her editor disagrees, but she takes time off work to investigate anyway. Her suspicions pay off after she arrives in Jutland and slowly uncovers a web of criminal activity related to missing young women, prostitution, trafficking, and murder. Though Kaldan's usual investigative partner, Det. Erik Schäfer, stays back in Copenhagen to field unrelated cases, he gets more involved as the story unfolds. Hancock is a strong stylist, and she generates real suspense while giving such serious themes as elder care and violence against women their due. Unfortunately, she bogs down the central mystery with too many subplots, and brings everything to a muddy, unsatisfying conclusion. Series fans will hope for a return to form next time out. Agent: Anna Frankl, Nordin Agency. (Oct.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A dementia patient dying of cancer in a nursing home holds the key to the third case for Copenhagen DS Erik Schäfer and Demokratisk Dagblad reporter Heloise Kaldan. Heloise, who's been visiting Jan Fischhof repeatedly for an article about a charitable group called Vigil, is spooked when, called to his bedside by a volunteer convinced that he's at death's door, she hears him mutter something about "Mads Orek" and his fear that he'll be held accountable for his wrongdoings. Jan's feeble attempts at backtracking the next time she sees him convinces Heloise that she needs to dive into the case of small-time criminal Tom Mázoreck, who drowned when his boat caught fire back in 1998. Confronted by Mogens Bøttner, a former colleague turned supervisor who forbids her to work the story further, she abruptly announces that she's taking a week off. Schäfer meanwhile is challenged by superstar forensic scientist Jakob Sandahl, who blithely maintains that has-been jazz great Lester Wilkins' bloody death was due to natural causes. So unlike virtually every other police officer in Denmark, he's ready to work intermittently with Heloise, who links Mázoreck's death to the vanishing a year or two earlier of Mia Sark, 19, and Nina Dalsfort, 17. Both disappearances are also connected to gang leader Jes Decker, whose pit bull met a condign fate soon after he attacked Mázoreck. Jes has mostly settled into a managerial role, but his son, René, makes no secret of his desire for Heloise to let sleeping dogs lie. As the investigation moves forward, there seems to be less and less room for surprises, but Hancock saves a whopper for the deceptively quiet climax. A model of the police/reporter partnership that's especially effective in managing the counterpoint between its two leads. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
