Son Town

The only truth we can rely on is the language of the body. For seven years, Kari Voss's life has been a nightmare. The forty-something widow loses more and more hope with each passing year that she will ever see her missing son again, who was abducted after his ninth birthday party. But then the renowned psychologist, a consultant for the Norwegian criminal police in Oslo, is called in to investigate a case that hits very close to home. In the small town of Son, two teenage girls are brutally murdered – girls her missing son Vetle used to be friends with – and the main suspect is another of their childhood friends. But Jesper, a troubled boy overlooked by his own parents and selling drugs to his classmates, claims he is innocent and can't remember anything from that night. And even though the police have a mountain of evidence pointing to his guilt, Kari Voss, nicknamed the “human lie detector”, believes him. With the help of Inspector Ramona Norum, she soon discovers that no one – including the victims – is who they seem to be… This international bestseller, a credit to Scandinavian thrillers, is the first instalment in a planned novel trilogy starring the lie-detecting specialist Kari Voss. “A breathtaking thriller with a multi-layered plot and a shocking twist. Simply brilliant!” – Express “A well-crafted Nordic crime story with a dark atmosphere, a fast-paced plot, and an excellent main character. (…) It has suspense, surprising twists, and the chilling atmosphere typical of Scandinavian thrillers. A great start to a new trilogy.” – from reader reviews on Databazeknih.cz “The town of Son has everything a good crime novel should have – and then some.” – Sunday Times “We are all liars.” I pause, letting the silence linger for a moment. “Yes, all of us, and the first person we lie to is ourselves. It starts with our memories. You think you remember your grandmother holding you as a one-year-old baby? Well, no such memory exists. It’s pure fiction. You don’t remember anything from before you were two. Biologically, it’s improbable. The brain is not yet equipped to remember anything from such an early age.” I scan the audience to make sure I have their full attention. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but our memories are not as reliable as we think. Most people believe we can access our memories as if they were video recordings we can play back at will. But it’s not like that. Our memories are intertwined with our experiences, and these two things mix together like milk poured into water. Once they’re combined, you can no longer separate one from the other.” Someone in the front row clears their throat. “And believe it or not,” I continue, “we can deliberately create memories. That’s how incredibly malleable our memory is. As one of my colleagues says: ‘We are memory hackers: we make others believe things that never happened.’ No, ladies and gentlemen, this isn’t a magic trick or hypnosis. It’s just psychology.” I smile at the audience. “But before we delve into our memories, we will focus on our bodies. Because they speak a silent language that you must master in your field. And that language, ladies and gentlemen, is the only truth you can rely on. The absolute only one.” – excerpt from the book