As you might have guessed, I like foreign mysteries. I am on the lookout for Americans who separate themselves from the crowd. Most of them follow the same well-worn path. At least foreign stories include a view of the country and culture.

These two women, Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis, have created an unusual character in Nina Borg, a Danish Red Cross nurse with a passion for the unwanted and dispossessed. Her passion tends to get her in trouble. In this story, she goes to help several sick children of Hungarian Roma families who were smuggled into the country. legally, she is required to report them, but she is too soft-hearted to do so. After several visits, she becomes ill and enters the hospital where they discover she has radiation poisoning.

Meanwhile, PET–Politiets Efterretningstjeneste, or Security and Intelligence Service–are trying to uncover a security threat to Denmark that they know originated in Hungary. The two threads come together and the attack is thwarted, but at a cost to most involved.

This is the second book in a three book series featuring Nina Borg. The first book was The Boy in the Suitcase.

I like the realism the authors have created for their characters. Nina is so focused on her work that she loses her family in this story. Soren is so drained when it is over that he wishes he was married so he could rest in his lover’s arms. Sandor has his law degree taken from him. Skou-Larsen died of a heart attack.

I mostly read reality-based stories, though I have been a fan of Star Trek since September 8, 1966. But I have never read one of the many books based on the series and movies. The same is true of Star Wars. I have reported on some dystopian books that I enjoyed reading, and The Martian was fun.

I’m a historian. I like reality.

Mike Lawrence