A body is found hanging on a hook above the canals of Amsterdam’s old town. In a remote coastal village, a doll lies in the ashes of a burnt-down house. But the couple who died in the blaze were childless. Did a little girl escape the blaze? And if so, who is she and where is she now?

Inspector Jaap Rykel knows that he must halt a clever and brutal murderer. And the investigation reveals two dark truths: everybody in this city harbours secrets – and hearing those secrets comes at a terrible price …

‘This gripping detective novel will thrill fans of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and bears comparison to Fatherland …

Utterly unputdownable’ The Sun

‘Complex … intriguing … keeps the reader hooked’ Euro Crime

A body is found on a rooftop, the dead man’s hands blowtorched, his head removed.

The man tasked with tracking down the killer is Amsterdam Inspector Jaap Rykel. But as he searches the headless body for clues, Rykel finds something which makes his blood run cold: a picture of himself on the victim’s phone.

And then a message from the killer reveals the location of a second mutilated corpse. It’s another day in Western Europe’s murder capital …

‘A strong sense of place matched by storytelling that keeps the plot accelerating’ Daily Mail

‘Taut, expertly woven and beautifully written’ Craig Robertson

A body is found, the victim’s head wrapped in cling film, hands tied behind her back. The small island’s police force needs help from Amsterdam’s Murder Squad’s veteran Detective Inspector Jaap Rykel.

A suspect confesses, but the killer has no history of violence, no motive and no connection to the victim.

Across the country, a similar murder is reported and Rykel wonders if these are random senseless acts, or something far darker …?

Rykel walks a thin line between spotting patterns no one wants to see, and a sinister, sprawling case which will consume everything in its path …

THE BEGINNING

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