Two of Switzerland’s biggest crime writers. One breathtaking thriller.

It is December 15th and the Swiss media is in a frenzy. The highly publicized trial of the the Army Chief of Staff Aloïs Lanteret is set to begin in two days with Norbert Jemsen as the prosecutor. Lanteret has been suspended from his duties because a woman named Julie Bossart accused him of rape.

Chief Inspector Andreas Auer, recovering from a major liver cancer operation, learns that his colleague Karine Joubert is called to the scene of a crime. The victim is none other than Julie Bossart, brutally murdered in a parking lot by three individuals disguised as Santa Claus. Was Lanteret behind her death to keep her from testifying or did she get mixed up in something even more sinister?

At the same time, the Islamic State takes over the media and demands the release of Moussa Jassem al-Maliki, the “banker” of ISIS, imprisoned and awaiting extradition to the United States. If their demand is not met within five days, “Allah’s wrath will descend upon Switzerland”. This is a remarkable turn of events for a neutral country like Switzlerand.

While the country is on maximum alert, debating over the need to strengthen its military or not, Jemsen is about to start the trial, and Auer begins investigating the murder of Julie Bossart. The two men are unaware that they will be drawn into an investigation that will take them into the corridors of power and that their destinies will be irrevocably linked.