The Truth Behind the Lie

Human Trafficking, Lost Identities and Belonging

The Truth Behind the Lie by Sara Lövestam was first published in Sweden as Sanning med modifikation in 2015. It was awarded The Swedish Detective Acadamy’s prize for the best crime debut. In 2017 the French awarded it the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière for the best foreign novel.

Lövestam drew on her first-hand knowledge of working with Iranian refugees to detail the trials and tribulations of an illegal immigrant who makes a living as a private investigator.

Synopsis

Kouplan was a journalist in his Iranian homeland but was forced to flee the regime. Now he is an illegal immigrant in Stockholm, with one eye open for the police whilst the other is searching for his next meal.

A man needs to eat, so Kouplan places an ad in the local paper.

“Private detective. If the police can’t help, call me!” 

Pernilla lost her six-year-old daughter, Julia, a week earlier. She responds to the ad in a state of torment and desperation as she has refused to contact the authorities.

When Kouplan returns to the shopping mall where Julia was last seen and starts his search, it becomes clear that everything is not as it seems. Why wouldn’t the mother of a missing six-year-old contact the police? The facts don’t tie together, and the only explanation Kouplan can see creates more questions than answers.

Review

The Truth Behind the Lie by Sara Lövestam is not a normal blast of Nordic Noir. It is a methodical and slow-moving psychological mystery that explores the disappearance of a young girl and the relationship between the girl’s distraught mother and the illegal immigrant she hires to find her.

Written through three sets of eyes — those of Kouplan, Pernilla, and a missing child — the story broaches some grisly themes. It tackles human trafficking, paedophilia, violence and mental illness. Whilst the topics are disturbing, the writing isn’t graphic or lurid. Instead, the novel is a light and easy read that is almost chatty in tone.

Where the novel wins out is its exploration of what it means to be an illegal immigrant. Kouplan is without real friends or security, hunted by the state and in mortal fear of being sent back to the country you fled from. The description of his daily existence is bleak.

Short on action but long on perspective, Lövestam highlights some unpleasant truths that you will never read in the tabloid press. She highlights — what, for many, is — a profoundly unpleasant reality. That chatty tone lulls you into a false sense of security. If you start empathising, what begins as a light read has distressing depths.

Excerpt

“Do you like fish sticks?”

Kouplan is fairly sure he likes fish sticks. At any rate, they smell wonderful and start a minor revolution in his stomach and they certainly wouldn’t contain any pork. Still, he asks just to be sure. Pernilla stares at him.

“Are you Muslim?” 

He shrugs. When is anyone a Muslim?

“So why don’t you eat pork?”

Her question might be antagonistic, or might be just a question. He can’t tell.

“Why don’t you eat dog?” he asks back.

Pernilla makes a face and raises her eyebrows as she flips the fish sticks in a well-practiced way.

“You must really like pigs, then,” she says.

“Not all pigs,” he replies.

He doesn’t like his own joke; it is not right to call people names, not even the police, though they hunt for him all over the city. You have to be above it all.

At any rate, Pernilla smiles.

“Some pigs are easier to love than others, I imagine.”

The Truth Behind the Lie by Sara Lövestam