A young politician, Merete Lyyngaard seems destined for a great political future in his country, Denmark. No doubt she will one day Prime Minister of his country. It is entirely dedicated to his work and lives very isolated, with her disabled brother. Suddenly she mysteriously disappears during a boat trip. Nearly 5 years have passed since. The Deputy Commissioner Carl Morck has just returned to the police station after a terrible ordeal during which two of his colleagues and friends were one killed and the other seriously wounded and paralyzed. Its leader appoints the head of a new department, the Department V, consisting of himself and an assistant, Hafez al-Assad, in charge of investigating unsolved cases. The first folder chosen by this great team is precisely the disappearance of Merete Lyyngaaed. Comemnce then a formidable inquiry, a reconstruction of the past and a botched investigation into laquelel everything is again 5 years later.
This novel has a great power. It combines a great detective story and an evocation of life in a modern society in the late 20th century, all the ingredients of recent Nordic novels that make them successful.
