The Truth Behind the Lie
A Novel
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
The Truth Behind The Lie is Sara Lövestam’s award-winning and gripping novel about blurred lines, second chances, and the lengths one will go to for the truth.
When a six-year-old girl disappears and calling the police isn’t an option, her desperate mother Pernilla turns to an unlikely source for help. She finds a cryptic ad online for a private investigator:
“Need help, but can’t contact the police?”
That’s where Kouplan comes in. He’s an Iranian refugee living in hiding. He was forced to leave Iran after news of his and his brother's involvement with a radical newspaper hated by the regime was discovered. Kouplan’s brother disappeared, and he hasn’t seen him in four years. He makes a living as a P.I. working under the radar, waiting for the day he can legally apply for asylum.
Pernilla’s daughter has vanished without a trace, and Kouplan is an expert at living and working off the grid. He’s the perfect PI to help… but something in Pernilla’s story doesn’t add up. She might need help that he can’t offer...and a little girl’s life hangs in the balance.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Swedish children's author L vestam (Wonderful Feels like This) makes her adult debut with a delightfully quirky mystery. When Pernilla's six-year-old daughter, Julia, vanishes in a Stockholm shopping mall, she hires Kouplan, a mysterious Iranian refugee who calls himself a PI but has no actual credentials. As Kouplan repeatedly questions Pernilla, he realizes she won't reveal why Julia is unregistered with Social Services or why there are no photos of her. It's not even clear who her father is. As for Kouplan, who's undocumented, hiding from the police, and mourning his long-missing brother, he has all the right instincts for sleuthing with zero clues. Doggedly, he grills those at the kidnapping scene about child smugglers. As Pernilla's story fails to add up, Kouplan comes closer to uncovering a possible human trafficking ring complete with a lone little girl staring from an apartment window. In L vestam's remarkable hands, this enigmatic pair lures readers in, slowly, one detail at a time. Hopefully, Pernilla and Kouplan will be back soon for another adventure.
