Why are some driven to the brink of insanity by the reality they perceive, while others are able to blissfully enjoy their lives? Is it even reality that we are experiencing? Or could there be something... beyond the veil?
There are moments when time stops. When you meet your true love, hold your newborn child in your arms for the first time... and when you come face to face with death. But a fire... a fire does not wait.
The fever dreams had felt so... real. Did Magda experience the same night terrors before her disappearance? And what did Filip Kramer mean in his message on her answering machine? "Too late" for what?
Björn von Krusenstierna, well-respected businessman and book collector. James Carver, the man who gets you the rare tomes you need. What connects the two, aside from an affinity for expensive paper from the 17th century, is their friendship with Magda Orlova - a woman haunted by dark dreams...
There is victory in the air; the Cold War has ended, Germany is reunified and the dissolution of the Soviet Union is imminent. Yet the citizens of Hamburg feel a profound sense of foreboding, as if a dark cloud hangs above the city. Our story is about to begin...