Farewell to Freedom

A young woman has been found with her throat slashed in an area of Copenhagen known for prostitutes.  Detective Louise Rick is at the crime scene.  Her colleague, Michael Stig, quickly assesses the young woman as an Eastern European whore.

Camilla Lind is in for her Monday morning editor's meeting when she receives a call from her son, Markus.  He and a friend have just found an abandoned baby on the floor of a church.  At the church, Camilla discovers that the baby is a little girl, not more than a day old.  She awaits with the pastor until the police and the EMTs arrive to take the child to the hospital.

As Rick, and her partner, Lars Jorgensen, begin their investigation, they learn about the seedier side of  prostitution in Copenhagen.  They also get information about a pair of Albanian brothers who are running a prostitution ring, bringing in girls, and threatening them with their lives, a case of human trafficking.  The girls say farewell to freedom at that point.

Purely by accident, Camilla comes across a man who has information about the murder.  He will not speak to the police for fear of his own life.  She passes the information on to the police.  A short time later her source is found brutally murdered.  How did anyone find out who her source was?

A new twist is thrown into the story when Camilla stumbles on another infant in the church when she went there to prepare it for the funeral of her source.  This time the infant is dead.

As the investigation continues, it proves that the two stories are linked.  Unfortunately for Camilla it comes to a shocking end.  Rick is also caught completely off guard.

Author Sara Blaedel has written a graphic novel about murder and human trafficking, an intense read.  Thoroughly enjoyable.