The Lake

Description

An engrossing crime novel from the internationally bestselling authors of The Hanging and The Girl in the Ice--the fourth in the Konrad Simonsen series. The remains of a young woman are discovered in a lake north of Copenhagen. Her identity is a mystery and no one, it appears, has reported her missing. After months of fruitless investigation by the local police the case is handed over to Konrad Simonsen. It soon becomes clear to Simonsen and his team that this unknown woman is the key to a world of trafficking, prostitution, and violence. A world where everything comes with a price, no mistake goes unpunished and everyone knows how to keep a secret. The Lake is the fourth novel in the series by Hammer and Hammer; a story of ice-cold cynicism and contempt for human life.

Lotte and Soren Hammer are a sister and brother from Denmark who began writing crime novels together in 2004. To date, they have written six books in this series. The Lake is the fourth. Charlotte Barslund translates Scandinavian novels and plays. Recent translations include The Son by Jo Nesbo.

"Searing . . . The Hammers (a brother-sister writing team) expose the moral turpitude of a country lacking a national law that criminalizes the buying of sex." - starred review, Publishers Weekly "Simonsen is as brilliant yet fallible as ever in a piece of Nordic noir that will leave readers chilled to the bone, even though it is set in spring and the thaw is on . . . The Lake scores highly as both a police procedural and an enthralling, sometimes appalling study of depravity and heartlessness." - Booklist "The Danish sister-and-brother duo Lotte and Soren Hammer (The Vanished) has created characters and smart plots that lend themselves beautifully to the police procedural . . . The Hammers bring their distinctive spin to the formula, ratcheting the camaraderie and humor, and lending some compelling warmth to the mix. Their well-rounded characters are as much a draw to this fine series as their plots." - Shelf Awareness "A deftly written procedural with clear appeal for fans of Scandinavian crime fiction, particularly those who delight in riveting investigative detail and psychological intricacies." - Booklist on THE VANISHED "Several factors elevate The Girl in the Ice above the run-of-the-mill police-procedural maniac-murderer hunt . . . Cultural and personal wisdom . . . permeates the book." - The Wall Street Journal on THE GIRL IN THE ICE "Outstanding crime thriller. Everything works in this dark Scandinavian procedural--the intelligent and complex plot, the fallible lead, and the atmospheric prose." - Publishers Weekly on THE HANGING "The Hammers have struck a chord with European readers, and The Hanging is seen as Denmark's answer to successful Swedish, Norwegian, and Icelandic crime fiction. U.S. crime lovers will likely want to stick a pin in Denmark on their crime-fiction maps." - Booklist on THE HANGING "The best Danish crime fiction in years. We are already looking forward to the next book in the series." - Lars Kepler, on THE HANGING