Publisher’s Description
A woman is haunted by a heartwrenching decision she made as a teenager in this darkly atmospheric, deeply emotional thriller from #1 internationally bestselling global superstar Sara Blaedel.
Detective Louise Rick is on a beach in Thailand when the panicked call from her father comes through. Louise′s beloved brother, Mikkel, has attempted suicide. His wife, Trine, left him days earlier, walking out the door one day with no warning and leaving Mikkel devastated.
Louise rushes home to Osted, the small, insular Danish town where she grew up and where Mikkel still lives. But the more Louise learns about Trine—a devoted wife and the mother of two young children—and her state of mind in the days before she left Mikkel, the more Louise begins to wonder whether Trine really meant to leave him. Or whether something much darker may have taken place.
As the local police begin to suspect that Mikkel may have had a hand in Trine’s disappearance, Louise struggles to clear his name but is forced to confront some hard truths: Small towns always hide secrets. The past always comes back to haunt you. And lies are never harmless.
Thrilling Reads Review
A Harmless Lie is a twisty suspenseful thriller from Denmark’s Queen of Crime, Sara Blaedel. I found her detective, Louise Rick, to be a complex and appealing protagonist as she deals with crime and mystery that hits close to her personal life. Although this is the tenth novel in the series, A HARMLESS LIE is the first one I’ve read. I didn’t feel lost or feeling that I needed to read the other books in the series to follow along. Far from it, Sara does a great job of making this an excellent jumping in point and standalone even though it’s part of a long-running series.
I enjoyed reading a crime novel set internationally (Denmark). It’s fascinating reading about different policing cultures. But that didn’t distract from the story once it got going.
I now understand why Sara Blaedel is one of the most popular crime fiction writers in Denmark and Europe. She delivers a well-paced, taut crime thriller that will keep you turning pages late at night.
Author Interview
I interviewed Sara Blaedel on my podcast, Meet the Thriller Author. You can listen to the interview here.
