Harm’s Reach

Travel Guide

Interestingly, the prologue ends with a Swedish proverb which more than sets the scene for the rest of the book –

“Alla känner apan, men apan känner ingen”
Everyone knows the monkey but the monkey knows no one. Those that stick out are often both well-known and avoided. But sometimes in life this doesn’t always happen of course.

Everyone has secrets and everyone is hiding something in this novel even the Special agent herself. But when a letter arrives it carries a message that also sets the scene for how one secret can cause damage across the years –
“…the reach of good men is often hindered. In contrast, I fear that harm’s reach has no bounds, and – far worse – invisible fingers.”

These secrets weave through the novel and tie in one place to another – from Denver to Jefferson county and across the USA to New York. The Colorado scenes in particular are set in remote landscapes with the shadows and black spindly fingers of the old trees threatening Laura’s car on the empty path. This seems to be bandit country with names such as Shark bait bandits and there has been a recent raid on the local banks. Then a  body shows up, and a ranch for troubled teams set back in rural land becomes part of the landscape and suddenly secrets spill out across these remote and harsh environments.