Never Coming Back: A Novel - Hardcover

Koppel, Hans

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1605983918 ISBN 13: 9781605983912

Publisher: Pegasus Books, 2012

Synopsis

A harrowing and unforgettable thriller that has taken Sweden and Britain by storm―a twisted plot of revenge and tragedy by a writer whose edgy and gritty style evokes Henning Mankell and Hakan Nesser

Mike Zetterberg lives with his wife Ylva and their daughter in a house just outside Helsingborg in Sweden. One evening, Ylva doesn't come home as expected. Mike passes it off as a drink with a work friend, but when she's still missing the next day, he starts to worry. As Mike battles suspicion from the police and his own despair, he is unaware that Ylva is still alive, just a stone's throw from his own home: Ylva has been drawn into a twisted plot of revenge and tragedy that leads back into her and her abductors' shared past.

Given the sudden and mysterious circumstances of her disappearance, Mike becomes the chief suspect. But what no one knows is that she's being held hostage in the cellar of the house across the street. A secret camera has been set up in her own home so that Ylva can only watch her family on the screen. They cannot see her―and they most certainly cannot hear her scream.

This superbly-told tale of horrific tragedy and brutal revenge―which has obsessed readers across Scandinavia and England for the past year and climbed numerous bestseller lists―now makes its American debut.

About this title

About the Author

Hans Koppel is a pseudonym for an established Swedish author, Petter Lidbeck, who was born in 1964 and lives in Stockholm.

From Booklist

Ylva Zetterburg tells her husband she’s going for drinks with coworkers, tells her coworkers she’s heading home for a family night, and then disappears. Her husband, Mike, afraid to acknowledge that she might not return, waits several days to report her missing. After the report, Mike is under the scrutiny of the police and the community in Helsingbord, Sweden. Everyone is convinced he must have murdered his wife. They are mistaken. Ylva has been snatched by a couple from her past bent on exacting an elaborately cruel revenge. She’s held in a basement cell just across the street from her home, forced to watch live camera feeds of her family’s activities while her captors attempt to destroy her with violence and manipulation. Koppel heightens suspense by withholding Ylva’s decades-old offense until the last chapter and cultivating the equal possibilities that she will be rescued, escape, or be completely forgotten. The scariest kind of thriller, with brutality delivered matter-of-factly and painfully realistic characters, this is both excruciating and irresistible. Endless discussion avenues for book groups. --Christine Tran

About this edition

• Publisher: Pegasus Books
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1605983918
• ISBN 13: 9781605983912
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336