The Guardian Angel

True crime meets psychological suspense in a gripping thriller about hypnosis murders in post-war Copenhagen.

The Guardian Angel, which is based on true events, is about a bizarre double murder that shook Copenhagen in the 1950s. Palle Hardrup, a former Nazi collaborator recently released from prison, walks into a bank, demands money and shoots two employees point blank. The police catch the man in no time, but according to the witnesses, he acted in a trance-like state. Inspector Anders Olsen’s suspicions are aroused: what if the man was operating under hypnosis – and what if the real killer is still at large?

The novel combines the genres of true crime and psychological thriller, against the atmospheric backdrop of post-war society in Copenhagen. The story of the singular crime committed under hypnosis mirrors also modern-day issues of manipulation and psychological effects of the new technology.

The book has been written alongside the feature film, a Finnish-Danish-Croatian co-production, starring Pilou Asbaek (Game of Thrones), Josh Lucas (A Beautiful Mind) and Rade Serbedzija (Downton Abbey).