1970: In an overcrowded Stockholm subway station, a harried father and his two boys are late for their train. Joel, the youngest, is howling in his stroller and his seven-year-old brother, Kristoffer, refuses to take the elevator. A woman approaches and helpfully offers to lead Kristoffer up the stairs. Reluctantly his father agrees, but when he arrives on the platform Kristoffer and the woman have vanished without a trace. The kidnapping becomes a national sensation, but the boy is never found . . . Today: Joel, now an adult, goes missing in suspicious circumstances. His frantic wife turns to Danny Katz--an old friend with a troubled past--for help. A brilliant computer programmer and recovering heroin addict, Katz is also the divorced father of two young girls. Katz begins to dig behind the digital veil in search of Joel, even though the investigation quickly interferes with his duties as a parent. Before long, Katz discovers he isn't the only one trying to find Joel. The deeper Katz digs, the more upsetting the secrets he uncovers about the wealthy and powerful family at the heart of the investigation. Chillingly, the case takes a violent turn that reveals a disorienting connection to Katz's own troubled childhood--soon there will be no backing out of his unofficial investigation.
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Perfect crime drama; great plot and with an emotional coldness to the characters that provides the correct chill, Vallgren's new, strange hero and his helpmate, Eva, seem to be about to provide a series worth reading. Gritty, real, creepy and wonderfully tight, The Boy in the Shadows gives us a new crime writer to adore: Carl-Johan Vallgren
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