Synopses & Reviews
Danish author S.J. Gazan established herself as an international talent to watch with her debut thriller novel,
The Dinosaur Feather. In addition to being named "Crime Novel of the Decade" by the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, NPR's Maureen Corrigan called it her favorite mystery of 2013, and
The Wall Street Journal's Tom Nolan placed it in his year-end top ten list.
Now, Gazan's much-anticipated follow-up is here, bringing back maverick policeman Soren Marhauge. The Arc of the Swallow evokes such literary mystery masterpieces as John Le Carre's The Constant Gardner and Peter Hoeg's Smilla's Sense of Snow, pitting a principled scientist against a profit-motivated conspiracy that leads to the upper reaches of corporations and government.
Biology Ph.D. candidate Marie Skov is devastated when, on the same day as her mother's death, her mentor Kristian Storm apparently kills himself. Storm had been facing academic dishonesty charges, as well as heated criticism of his research on a vaccine for African children--that suggested the vaccine was causing more harm than it was preventing.
Skov is skeptical that the death was a suicide. She knows Storm's research on the vaccine was sound, and learns that his on-site work in Guinea-Bissau was marred by intimidation, sabotaged data, and the suspicious death of another scientist. She also learns that in his final days, Storm felt he was being followed by a blue Ford with tinted windows.
Soon afterwards, a blue Ford with tinted windows parks across from Skov's home. The police have no interest in re-examining the official narrative. But Marhauge shares Skov's desire for answers, and defies his superiors to help her investigate. They receive unlikely help from a Nobel Prize-winning rival of Storm's, and find themselves on a perilous trail that leads to Big Pharma and the World Health Organization.
Interwoven in this thrilling storyline are deeply-moving portraits of Skov's troubled family and Marhauge's tenuous relationship with his girlfriend, another biologist. The result is a complex page-turner that establishes S.J. Gazan (herself a biologist) as a world-class author at the beginning of a formidable career.
Review
"An amazingly suspenseful scientific thriller . . . you will be entertained, provoked, and educated along the way. One of the best [crime novels] I have read, and one you should treat yourself to."--Julia Lahme, Femina (Denmark)
Review
"Sissel-Jo Gazan once again demonstrates the careful composition and genre skill that is needed to create a crime novel with more to offer . . . It has taken her five years to get there, and she scores highly on all the components that an entertaining and challenging crime novel should contain."--Politiken (Denmark)
Review
"The author writes elegantly and with obvious warm insight into her fellow human beings. A family chronicle that evolves into a scientific thriller, and it goes down like ice cream on a hot summer's day."--Antennen (Denmark)
Review
Praise for The Dinosaur Feather"My best mystery of the year turns out to be yet another stunner from Scandinavia. I could be wrong (but I don't think I am) when I say that Gazan disposes of a murder victim here by an infernal means that no other mystery writer--not even the resourceful Dame Agatha--ever concocted."--Maureen Corrigan, NPR. "Favorite 10 Books of 2013."
Synopsis
Maverick investigator Soren Marhauge returns in a high-stakes case that reveals a profit-motivated conspiracy with roots that extend all the way from the upper reaches of Big Pharma to the national government.
When controversial Professor Kristian Storm is found hanged in his office, his assistant Marie Skov refuses to believe that he has committed suicide. The late scientist had uncovered a shocking truth involving immunology programs in the developing world during a recent research trip to West Africa. Marie believes he was silenced before he could share what he had learned.
With help from the unlikely source of a Nobel Prize-winning rival of Storm's, former police detective Soren Marhauge takes the case, determined to prove what really happened to the professor. Interwoven with the fast-moving investigation are moving portraits of Skov's troubled family and Marhauge's complicated relationship with his girlfriend, another biologist. Marhauge once again battles his own demons as he pursues a cabal determined to protect its secrets at any cost.