Detective Moralès becomes immersed in a chilling case set on the icy seas of Quebec’s remote Magdalen Islands, in the midst of a brutal seal hunt. A breathtaking, atmospheric, race-against-the-clock thriller… 

**Number One bestseller in Canada**
**Shortlisted for the Crime Writers of Canada Award for Best French Crime Book**
 
'A shocking, exquisitely plotted mystery set in the brutal seas off Quebec. The writing is sublime … you can feel the sting of salt on your cheeks' Gill Paul
 
‘Detective fiction [with] a dreamily poetic cast’ Sunday Times
 
'Unique, stylish Canadian Noir … absolutely superb' Kjell Ola Dahl
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There’s only one thing more deadly than the storm…

Fisheries officer Simone Lord is transferred to Quebec’s remote Magdalen Islands for the winter, and at the last minute ordered to go aboard a trawler braving a winter storm for the traditional grey seal hunt, while all of the other boats shelter onshore.

Detective Sergeant Joaquin Moralès is on a cross-country boat trip down the St Lawrence River, accompanied by Nadine Lauzon, a forensic psychologist working on the case of a savagely beaten teenager with Moralès’ old team in Montreal. 

When it becomes clear that Simone is in grave danger aboard the trawler, the two cases converge, with startling, terrifying consequences for everyone involved…

The award-winning author of The Coral Bride returns with an atmospheric, race-against-the-clock thriller set on the icy seas in the midst of a brutal seal hunt, where nothing is as it seems and absolutely no one can be trusted. 

For fans of Louise Penny, Ann Cleeves, Emma Stonex and Annie Proulx
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‘From the very beginning I had a feeling of tragic inevitability … the sense of isolation, both physical and emotional, pours from every page’ Jen Med’s Book Reviews
 
‘Beautiful prose, simple yet powerful, and a boatload of suspense … an absolute winner’ From Belgium with Booklove
 
‘Thrums with rhythm and tears at the heart  … the best Detective Moralès yet’ Live & Deadly
 
What Readers are saying…
*****
‘Breathlessly gripping’
‘Masterful storytelling’
‘The suspense is palpable’
‘If you like Louise Penny’s Armand Gamache series, you’ll LOVE this’
'No one does atmospheric quite like Roxanne Bouchard'
‘Intricate, beautiful and compelling' 
‘Gloriously shocking’
 
Praise for Roxanne Bouchard:

**WINNER of the Crime Writers of Canada Award for Best French Crime Book**
**Shortlisted for the CWA Crime in Translation Dagger**

'A haunting murder mystery about how human nature is every bit as dangerous and inscrutable as the sea draws out its suspense to the very last moment' Foreword Reviews

'A police procedural like no other – marvel at the clever plotting' Crime Fiction Lover

'An absolute joy to read, with as much tension as there is poetry' Le Journal de Montréal 

'With a cast of characters you'll engage with and love and a mystery that will have you on edge, Bouchard pulls you into her world wonderful' Michael J. Malone

'Roxanne Bouchard is reinventing the crime novel' Quebec TV

‘Lyrical and elegiac, full of quirks and twists' William Ryan

'Asks questions right from page one' Quentin Bates

'A tour de force of both writing and translation' Su Bristow

Translated by: David Warriner