Cold Courage (1) (Studio)

A gripping psychological thriller debut by award-winning Finnish author Pekka Hiltunen—skillfully paced, intense, and intelligentWhen Lia witnesses a disturbing scene on her way to work, she, like the rest of the city of London, is captivated and horrified. As details unfurl in the media, the brutal truth emerges—a Latvian prostitute has been killed, her body run over by a steamroller and then placed in the trunk of a car to be found. As the weeks pass and no leads are found, the news story dies, but Lia finds herself unable to forget. When she meets Mari, another Finn living in London, she thinks it fortuitous, but Mari has engineered the meeting for her own advantage. There is much more to Mari than meets the eye: she possesses an unnatural ability to "read" people, to see into their innermost thoughts and preempt their actions. Mari heads up a unit she calls the "Studio"—a group she employs made up of four disparate people: a hacker, a set designer, a private detective, and an actress. They are loyal to Mari, and she has bound them to her by granting them life-changing favors. When Lia shares the thoughts plaguing her about the murder, Mari thinks she and the members of the Studio can help where the police have failed. But Mari and Lia are about to set foot into extremely dangerous territory, especially as Mari is not above using the Studio to unscrupulous ends.