Every page has its purpose in this thrilling crime story with murder, modernity and meaning aplenty.  

 

The 3rd in the Anna Fekete series see her return to Kanizsa - the Balkan town of her birth - for a holiday. The Serbian town, on the Hungarian border, is dealing with the ongoing effects of the refugee crisis and this plays its part in the novel.

 

After her handbag is snatched Anna Fekete gives chase, heading down to the Roma community. When the thief is found dead on the river bank, spotted by an old fisherman friend of Anna’s father, it’s said to be a drowning but the corpse tells other tales.

 

This and the disappearance of a young girl in a red shirt are only just the beginning. There are groups of people who aren’t wanted and others filled with hatred for them. The insight into the problems of living in the established Roma community, the burgeoning refugee crisis and far-right nationalism soon become evident.

 

Anna Fekete enlists all the help she can from Serbia and back in Finland but she’s pretty much a lone cop save for a new partner, of sorts, in the form of a young Hungarian cop called Peter. Their search for information leads to threats and danger as focus turns to the past.

 

The Yugoslav wars took their toll on Fekete’s family. Her mother couldn’t settle in Finland and had previously returned to Serbia leaving Anna abroad. One brother’s an alcoholic, another died in the conflict, and Anna has her own troubles with insomnia and drink. She’s a dogged, workaholic cop and comes across a little cold or guarded at times. She may be complex but she’s certainly someone the reader wants to get to know and her relationship with her mother is revealing in this instalment.

 

Many of the town’s influential figures come out of the woodwork - former acquaintances of Anna’s father – and she’s dripped fed lies. Anna must dig hard to unravel the corruption that may reveal dark secrets that come close to home. Captivating.