**Number One bestseller in Canada**

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Fisheries officer Simone Lord is transferred to Quebec’s remote Magdalen Islands for the winter, and at the last minute ordered to go aboard a trawler braving a winter storm for the traditional grey seal hunt, while all of the other boats shelter onshore.

Detective Sergeant Joaquin Moralès is on a cross-country boat trip down the St Lawrence River, accompanied by Nadine Lauzon, a forensic psychologist working on the case of a savagely beaten teenager with Moralès’ old team in Montreal.

When it becomes clear that Simone is in grave danger aboard the trawler, the two cases converge, with startling, terrifying consequences for everyone involved?

The award-winning author of The Coral Bride returns with an atmospheric, race-against-the-clock thriller set on the icy seas in the midst of a brutal seal hunt, where nothing is as it seems and absolutely no one can be trusted.

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**WINNER of the Crime Writers of Canada Award for Best French Crime Novel**
**Shortlisted for the CWA International Dagger**

Praise for Roxanne Bouchard:

‘A riveting story of old enmities, jealousies and friendships that come to light after a woman goes missing in a remote fishing village beautifully atmospheric’  Gill Paul

‘A haunting murder mystery about how human nature is every bit as dangerous and inscrutable as the sea draws out its suspense to the very last moment’  Foreword Reviews

‘A police procedural like no other – marvel at the clever plotting’  Crime Fiction Lover

‘An absolute joy to read, with as much tension as there is poetry’  Le Journal de Montréal  

‘With a cast of characters you’ll engage with and love and a mystery that will have you on edge, Bouchard pulls you into her world wonderful’  Michael J. Malone

‘Roxanne Bouchard is reinventing the crime novel’  Quebec TV

‘Lyrical and elegiac, full of quirks and twists’  William Ryan

‘Asks questions right from page one’  Quentin Bates

‘An isolated Canadian fishing community, a missing mother, and some lovely prose’  Eva Dolan

‘A tour de force of both writing and translation’  Su Bristow

‘The translation from French has retained a dreamily poetic cast to the language, but it’s det-fic for all that’  Sunday Times