"A wonderful storyteller" Chris Whitaker

Is it worse to lie to your husband or the police?

Rikke is deceiving them both. When their upstairs neighbor J rgen is found dead, she's questioned alongside her husband Åsmund.

How can Rikke admit in front of Åsmund that J rgen and she were having an affair? Or explain to the police the complexity of her feelings for J rgen? The hint of relief that he's dead. And, as the investigation closes in on the neighborhood, how long can she conceal the affair from her neighbors, her husband, and her teenage daughter?

Rikke knows she can't hide the phone calls, emails and messages from the police. So she cuts herself a deal. In return for a few days' grace to tell Åsmund before anyone else does, she'll share everything about the affair.

But before she can summon the courage to confess, Rikke is struck by a chilling revelation. J rgen can only have been killed by someone living in their small apartment building.

Translated from the Norwegian by Alison McCullough