Ulrik Torp

Something's rotten in Denmark: A struggle over political succession exposes a web of conspiracy and corruption at the highest level of government. When the leader of one of Denmark's major political parties is seriously injured in a car crash a mere three weeks before an election, two of his deputies vie to succeed him. But only one can emerge victorious, and a vicious, dirty-tricks campaign-marked by the unearthing of past indiscretions, malignant arm-twisting, and forged documents-ensues. Everyone else is just a pawn in this high-stakes game of chess, in which even the reporters covering the Danish Parliament have their own agendas. Enter Ulrik Torp, an ambitious young journalist assigned to the contest. Though bent on advancing his own career, Ulrik soon finds himself caught up in the intrigue as he begins to uncover a secret plot involving the country's incumbent Prime Minister. Obsessed with learning the truth, Ulrik must choose between compromising his own high ideals and taking decisive action to save the soul of his country. From a well-connected Danish journalist and former political operative, Solitaire is a twisty, gripping thriller in the tradition of Borgen, House of Cards, and Narcos.

Sinister elements of the Danish Deep State plot a silent coup against democracy in this propulsive thriller set at the perilous intersection of media and politics. Mere days before a critical parliamentary election in Denmark, a muckraking independent journalist is killed by a car bomb. Then, a promising young civil servant in the Danish Interior Ministry is found murdered, execution-style. It seems the two victims had recently gotten wind of widespread fraud and corruption at the highest levels of government. Hired off the welfare rolls by the Daily News, recently laid-off newspaperman Ulrik Torp starts looking into the crimes. Together with a student intern, he follows the trail of deception to a small circle of former politicians and top officials and a shadowy, private, US-backed intelligence agency known as the Firm. Inexorably, Ulrik is plunged into the dark world of "fake news"-and the fate of Danish democracy hangs in the balance. From journalist and former political operative Niels Krause-Kjær, Darklands is a twisty tale of conspiracy and intrigue that dares to ask the chilling question: What happens when the good guys go bad?

The mysterious deaths of two Danish government officials lead journalist Ulrik Torp down a rabbit hole of conspiracy in this mesmerizing political thriller. When Denmark's erstwhile Minister of Justice and Foreign Secretary dies suddenly from what appears to be a heart attack, down-on-his-luck journalist Ulrik Torp finds himself drawn into the case. Relegated to writing obituaries for a local paper, Torp is tasked with crafting the notice of the man's untimely death-and then a former Member of Parliament expires under similarly suspicious circumstances. But who may have killed these two political archrivals, and why? Working alongside a young, tech-savvy new partner, Torp follows the trail of clues back to the end of the Cold War and a Russian plot to control the levers of power in Denmark. The question now is whether this new threat to Danish democracy is coming from outside the government . . . or within. The third book in the series that began with Solitaire and Darklands, Devil's Democracy is an atmospheric thriller that navigates the intersection of media and politics, and exposes the deadly game taking place behind the scenes.