Part of Ewert Grens, book 3
First published 2012
Detective Superintendent Ewert Grens faces a puzzling case when singer John Schwarz brutally attacks a man harassing a woman on a ferry between Finland and Sweden. The victim falls into a coma. Schwarz gets arrested for aggravated assault, but Grens discovers the singer lives under a false identity. This revelation triggers Grens to dig deeper. His investigation stretches across continents, from Stockholm to Ohio. There he uncovers the story of John Meyer Frey, a seventeen-year-old who died of heart disease on death row before his execution for murdering his girlfriend. The victim's father had craved revenge while a prison guard felt compassion for the young killer. Grens follows his instincts and discovers a shocking link between the two cases. The connection reveals how the death penalty creates lasting damage and how the clash between public justice and personal vengeance destroys lives.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, investigation, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Finland, Ohio, Stockholm, Sweden
Period: 21st-century
370 pages · Hardcover · SilverOak
Content warnings: death, violence