WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A BESTSELLING THRILLER WRITER AND A PRIME MINISTER WRITE A MYSTERY TOGETHER? THERE'S ONLY ONE WAY TO FIND OUT . . . 'A beautifully constructed mystery by two super smart partners in crime' ANTHONY HOROWITZ'Nordic noir at its most authoritative' FINANCIAL TIMES_________What happened to Lara Marteinsdóttir?Iceland, 1956. Fifteen-year-old Lára spends the summer working for a couple on the small island of Videy, just off the coast of Reykjavík. In early August, the girl disappears without a trace. The mystery becomes Iceland's greatest unsolved case. What happened to the young girl? Is she still alive? Did she leave the island, or did something happen to her there?Thirty years later in August, 1986, as the city of Reykjavík celebrates its 200th anniversary, journalist Valur Robertsson begins his own investigation into Lara's case. But as he draws closer to discovering the secret, and with the eyes of Reykjavík upon him, it soon becomes clear that Lara's disappearance is a mystery that someone will stop at nothing to keep unsolved . . .

Ragnar Jónasson is an international number one bestselling author who has sold over three million books in thirty-four countries worldwide. He was born in Reykjavík, Iceland, where he also works as an investment banker and teaches copyright law at Reykjavík University.
He has previously worked on radio and television, including as a TV news reporter for the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service, and, from the age of seventeen, has translated fourteen of Agatha Christie's novels. His critically acclaimed international bestseller The Darkness is soon to be a major TV series, and Ridley Scott will be producing Outside as a feature film.
KATRÍN JAKOBSDÓTTIR has been Prime Minster of Iceland since 2017. Katrín has been a member of the Icelandic Parliament since 2007 but before that she worked in publishing and education. She served as the minister for education, research and culture from 2009 to 2013. She lives with her husband and three sons in Reykjavík. Hailing from a family of prominent Icelandic poets and academics, she wrote her Master's dissertation on Icelandic crime writing. She and Jónasson are long-time friends, who first worked together nearly ten years ago as part of the jury for an award for best crime fiction in translation in Iceland.