Pierre Lemaitre’s novel introduces us to Alex Prévost. She appears to be a typical young Parisian woman: single, resourceful, independent. She is fast approaching 30 but she is still so beautiful that men turn after her in the streets. One day, a man follows her, and violently bundles her into a white van. All the police have is a confused eyewitness account. They have no suspects, no ransom demands or other leads to follow up.

Commandant Camille Verhoeven is in charge of the case and as he digs deeper into Alex’s disappearance, we also see the action from Alex’s point of view as she fights with all her strength and wit against her captor. There is violence and brutality, described in an unflinching manner, and as MarinaSofia says, “We are in the confident hands of a master storyteller here, who knows how to wind up our nerves to the maximum.”

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