First published 2025
Cecilie, a burned-out New York Times reporter, arrives in her hometown of Copenhagen with her husband Reuben, a former NPR host now reluctantly caring for their children. Their escape from New York quickly sours when Cecilie learns that Jonas, her first love, faces a terminal diagnosis. While Cecilie's friends scramble to help Jonas, only Mikkel, an influential journalist, commands his attention. Reuben falls under Mikkel's spell, captivated by his charisma and seeing in him a masculine ideal he never found in America. As Mikkel draws Reuben into increasingly twisted schemes, Reuben realizes something sinister lurks beneath the surface. Meanwhile, Cecilie finds herself pulled back into her past, questioning everyone around her and even her own judgment. The couple's marriage fractures as old attractions resurface and new loyalties form in this tale of betrayal and moral compromise.
Genres: drama, literary-fiction, domestic-fiction, contemporary, adult-fiction, psychological-thriller
Vibes: character-focused, dark, intimate, introspective, morally-complex, unsettling
Tropes: betrayal, moral-compromise, toxic-relationships, unreliable-judgment
Setting: Copenhagen, New York, Denmark
Period: 21st-century, contemporary
352 pages · Paperback · Picador
Content warnings: emotional-abuse, terminal-illness, toxic-relationship