SARA LÖVESTAM – The Truth Behind the Lie. Kouplan #1. Minotaur Books, hardcover, August 2019.

First Sentence: The rain was so strange the day they took Julia.

   Kouplan is a young, very young, Iranian refugee living in Sweden but who needs to stay in the shadows. To earn money, he works as a Private Investigator to those who can’t involve the police. Pernilla, a single mother recently split from her husband, desperately seeks Kouplan’s help. Her daughter has disappeared and, for reasons of her own fears going to the police. The deeper Kouplan digs into the case, the more he questions whether things are as he has been told.

   Lövestam has created a very intriguing opening. Both the protagonist and the client are as mysterious as is the case. The author does a very good job of making one want to know more about who these characters are. Due to Kouplan’s background, Iranian proverbs are included which injects realism into the character— “Cho istadei, daste oftade gir … As long as you are standing, hold out a hand to those who have fallen.”

   There is also interesting imagery— “As she gets up, she’s dizzy and the pajamas fall to the floor. Janus [her dog] picks them up with his teeth and as she stumbles into the kitchen, he follows her. The pajamas hang from his muzzle like a lifeless, extremely thin child.” One can be secure in the knowledge that no animals are harmed in the story.

   The descriptions of Kouplan’s overwhelming fear of being stopped by the police is almost palpable, and it makes the story extremely relevant to today also giving it a universality. One realizes the issue of refugees and their fears are common to many countries. However, through Lövestam, one is given a view of that Sweden which is contrary to the idyllic version most hold as being true.

   Both characters are forced to live in the shadows due to the restrictions and rules of governments— “It’s unreal how he, born in a hot country to parents with double degrees, is now following a mountain of muscle while avoiding the police like a criminal in this October chill of Stockholm.” There is a lot of focus on food— “There’s something special about hunger.” But this isn’t the food which comes from indulgence, but from knowing real hunger.

   The author provides excellent twists and mysterious trails down which we’re led, with a clever and “oh, my” turn of events and realization. This is not what one usually thinks of as “Scandinavian noir,” in that it lacks the usual traits related to some of those characters and contains little violence. Instead, this is very new and different from what most of us have read before.

   The Truth Behind the Lie is a fascinating book of complex, enigmatic characters where no one and nothing is as it seems.

Rating: Very Good.