Burned out and traumatised by her horrifying experiences around the world, aid worker Úrsula has returned to Iceland. Unable to settle, she accepts a high-profile government role in which she hopes to make a difference again.
But on her first day in the post, Úrsula promises to help a mother seeking justice for her daughter, who had been raped by a policeman, and life in high office soon becomes much more harrowing than Úrsula could ever have imagined. A homeless man is stalking her - but is he hounding her, or warning her of some danger? And why has the death of her father in police custody so many years earlier reared its head again?
As Úrsula is drawn into dirty politics, facing increasingly deadly threats, the lives of her stalker, her bodyguard and even a witch-like cleaning lady intertwine. Small betrayals become large ones, and the stakes are raised ever higher...
Exploring the harsh worlds of politics, police corruption and misogyny, Betrayal is a relevant, powerful, fast-paced thriller that feels just a little bit too real...
***
'So' was all the prime minister said as soon as Ursula answered the phone. SATURDAY, 1
***
(@OrendaBooks, 1 July 2020, 262 pages, ebook, copy from the publisher and voluntarily reviewed, #BlogTour 1 October, translated by Quentin Bates)
**
***
I thought this was a corker of a book. I haven't read many books set in the cut-throat world of politics so I was intrigued but didn't know what to expect. Ursula's life as a politician is not the real core of the book which surprised me, it's really about trauma from her past and how it unexpectedly forces its way back to the present when she takes up her new position and starts to look into a rape case where the accused is a high-ranking police officer. The more she prods and pokes, the more she discovers and the more she wishes she'd left well enough alone. She discovers a dark underbelly in the government and police and her life and sanity is threatened. The chapters are very short which made the book fast-paced, the definition of a page-turner.