A detective novel? A spy novel? A bit of both, we find ourselves amid secret agents, the Swedish secret services who are monitoring each other.
Then we meet a Russian KGB spy who has defected to the West. He has a daughter, and she quickly becomes the main focus of this novel. She has been labeled mad, an easy excuse to eliminate people by placing them in a psychiatric hospital. This girl represents a threat because she knows too much, and she is in conflict with her father, whom she has tried to kill, and vice versa. Thus, journalists pursue an investigation into the secret services and their connections with the underworld.
The USSR has collapsed, and spies have new objectives. Lisbeth is dangerous because she knows too much. Her father was killed to prevent him from talking, and others will also perish. There is no mercy in this world of espionage. The author describes the backstage of the Swedish political world, its rules, its constitution, its laws—a fascinating book.
Sometimes we hate Lisbeth, other times we love her. It’s somewhat of a love story with this girl. It is also about the rivalry between two newspapers, hatreds, and jealousies. Every page is dramatic with its victims and assassins. State reason is the excuse for those who order executions. The Queen in the Palace of Drafts, Lisbeth indeed has to be very strong to overcome the trials of the conspiracy of which she is a victim. They say she is mad, but is it true? It is up to you, the reader, to judge.
Thierry Jan, writer
