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  ‘Happy Christmas,’ the female officer said, with a smile, as she put her police badge on the reception desk.

  ‘Happy Christmas to you too.’

  The officer hung the badge on the notice-board; evidently they were going to be in room number five.

  ‘I’ve already written down your details so you just need to sign,’ the officer said, and she wrote in her neat, legible handwriting: Nina Hoffman, relative.

  ‘I heard that the appeal is going well,’ the officer added.

  Nina smiled. ‘We’re hoping he’ll be out before Easter.’

  ‘Come on. I’ll show you through. Filip’s on his way.’

  Nina picked up the Christmas present and followed the officer into the visitors’ corridor, stopping to get an orange and a Thermos of coffee from the refreshment table.

  ‘I couldn’t help noticing it was a book,’ the officer said, nodding towards the present.

  ‘La Reina del Sur, by Arturo Pérez-Reverte. A thriller, about drug-smuggling on the Spanish coast.’

  The officer looked impressed. ‘Filip reads books in Spanish?’

  Nina was no longer smiling. ‘All three of us used to.’

  Author’s Acknowledgements

  This is a novel. All characters are the work of the author’s imagination, and all events depicted are fictional.

  Nonetheless, I have taken great care to make sure those institutions and procedures that exist in the real world are correctly described in the novel. As a result, I have, as usual, conducted a great deal of research and taken up various people’s time with a lot of often rather peculiar questions to find out how things work.

  I wouldn’t have been able to write this novel without their help. Their titles below refer to the positions they held at the time of my investigation.

  Many thanks for your patience!

  Matilda Johansson, a police constable in Stockholm, for research visits, the opportunity to investigate patrol car 1617, help with vocabulary and procedures and other details.

  Thomas Bodström, chair of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Justice, for information about the history and use of lifetime sentences, about directives and the establishment of government inquiries, and for proofreading and more.

  Björn Engström, head of information at the Regional Communication Centre, LKC, for details about police service revolvers and the consequences of their loss.

  Håkan Franzén, responsible for the regulation of property damage insurance at Folksam in Stockholm, for information about the procedures involved in cases of suspected arson in insurance fraud.

  Anna Rönnerfalk, psychiatric nurse, for help with the diagnosis and symptoms of patients suffering severe mental stress.

  Peter Rönnerfalk, a director at Stockholm County Council, for details surrounding health service routines, including ambulance transport.

  Ulrika Bergling, security advisor at the Kronoberg Prison in Stockholm, for allowing us to visit the exercise yard on the roof and for permission to take the photograph in the section for inmates kept in solitary confinement used on the cover of the Swedish edition of this book.

  Kenneth Gustafsson, acting governor at Kumla Prison, and also Jimmy Sander and Hilde Lyngen, security officers at Kumla with responsibility for internal security, for a tour of the institution’s visitors’ wing and information about telephone and visiting procedures.

  Eva Cedergren, legal advisor at the National Correctional Organization, for help with the application of freedom of information principles for probation officers and trustees within the criminal justice system.

  Ulf Göranzon, press officer for the criminal police in Stockholm, and Karin Segerhammar, an administrator within the disciplinary offences committee of the National Police Board, for details about the rules governing freedom of information for cases dealt with by the committee.

  Niclas Salomonsson, my agent, and his staff at Salomonsson Agency in Stockholm.

  Emma Buckley, my British editor, and all the dedicated staff at Transworld Publishers.

  And finally, and above all, Tove Alsterdal, who has been the first reader of everything I have written for the past twenty-eight years, for discussion, structural advice, outlines and character analysis and everything else that features in all my novels.

  I have also had a great deal of help from Terése Klein’s dissertation at the Legal Faculty of the University of Lund, ‘Tidsbestämning av livstidsstraffet – En jämförelse av nådeinstitutet och lagen om omvandling av fängelse på livstid’ (Determining the Length of a Lifetime Sentence – A comparison of instances of clemency and the law on the commuting of lifetime sentences).

  I have availed myself of the author’s prerogative and invented buildings, insurance companies and pizza parlours.

  Any mistakes or errors which have crept in are entirely my own.

  About the Author

  Liza Marklund is an author, publisher, journalist, columnist, and goodwill ambassador for UNICEF. Her crime novels featuring the relentless reporter Annika Bengtzon instantly became an international hit, and Marklund’s books have sold 13 million copies in 30 languages to date. She has achieved the unique feat of being a number one bestseller in all five Nordic countries, as well as the USA, and she has been awarded numerous prizes, including a nomination for the Glass Key for best Scandinavian crime novel.

  Neil Smith studied Scandinavian Studies at University College London, and lived in Stockholm for several years. He now lives in Norfolk.

  Also by Liza Marklund

  LAST WILL

  VANISHED

  THE BOMBER

  EXPOSED

  RED WOLF

  By Liza Marklund and James Patterson

  POSTCARD KILLERS

  TRANSWORLD PUBLISHERS

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  A Random House Group Company

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  LIFETIME

  A CORGI BOOK: 9780552161954

  Version 1.0 Epub ISBN: 9781409043416

  First publication in Great Britain

  Corgi edition published 2013

  Copyright © Liza Marklund 2007

  English translation copyright © Neil Smith 2013

  Liza Marklund has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

  This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

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