This is the first of the Rebekka Franck thriller novels set in a sleepy town in Denmark.

Fleeing from an unhappy marriage Rebekka Franck finds herself taking a role as a journalist in a sleepy town. When the murder of a local industrialist takes place, she investigates alongside newspaper reporter Sune. After another industrialist is killed a few days later, she finds herself tracking a serial killer.

Rebekka Franck is definitely a journalist in the act first, think second school of thought as she reacts to the unfolding events. Her partner Sune fills out the other useful roles of photographer, outside and, as now seems normal nowadays, computer hacker. It is easy to see where some of the influences came from for the two leads as well as the background to the plot, but Willow Rose does a good job of making the characters her own instead of being as formulaic as they could have been, while they try to unravel what is going on.

The plot itself, is well-worn and will not hold any surprises to fans of the genre, but the journalistic work to uncover what is going on is thoughtful and it follows through well with the implications of what is and what had occurred. The crossing of the various back stories of the characters also helps to tie it well together and few punches are pulled as the book comes to its close. Fortunately the sub-plot with her not-quite ex-husband is brief, as it detracts slightly, and is used more to try and give more character development to Rebekka than to advance the story.

Overall, it’s a good read for anyone who enjoys a gory crime thriller. The characters are solid, the plot lasts as long as it needs to, and it comes to a gripping conclusion.