The Woman from Bratislava, by Leif Davidsen

Bibiography, Leif Davidsen

Uhellige alliancer (1984) The Sardine Deception
Den russiske sangerinde (novel) (1988) (also movie) The Russian Singer
Den sidste spion (1991) The Last Spy
Den troskyldige russer (1993)
Forræderen - og andre historier (1995)
Den serbiske dansker (1996) (also TV movie) The Serbian Dane
Lime's billede (1998) Lime's Photograph
Dostojevskijs sidste rejse (2002) (travel book)
De gode søstre (2003) The Woman from Bratislava
Fjenden i spejlet (2004)
Den ukendte hustru (2006)
På udkig efter Hemingway (2008)
Min broders vogter (2010)

Leif Davidsen writes with an eye for detail. He is one of the best Danish thriller writers. The Woman from Bratislava, his most recent and very authentic and suspenseful novel, begins when a seemingly invincible NATO fighter plane is shot down during a bombing raid in Yugoslavia. It soon becomes clear that there is a leak within the military alliance.

In Bratislava, Teddy Pedersen, a visiting Danish university lecturer, receives a visit from an Eastern European woman who reveals herself to be his half-sister and informs him that their father was a Danish SS officer who had officially been declared dead in 1952 but had in fact lived on in Yugoslavia for many years. When Teddy’s older sister is arrested in Copenhagen on suspicion of being a Stasi agent, a murder leads him — and the Danish intelligence service, with Per Toftlund in charge — to investigate the relationship between these two women, one in Denmark and one in Bratislava.

As international tensions mount, the link Teddy discovers proves to have far-reaching personal and political consequences is this engaging and intricate thriller.

This is a large-scale suspense-filled thriller, well translated by Barbara J. Haveland. To my mind this is the best book so far from Davidsen! The Woman from Bratislava is a good read and very enjoyable!

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