This latest novel by prolific author Salv Sammut, I must say, is one of his best. Only, it could have happened anywhere, not necessarily in Malta. In fact, Malta is not mentioned at all.

This trend in Sammut has appeared only recently with novels like Kherson. It has broadened his reach and made him an international author, even when writing in Maltese.

It focuses on a couple, Patrick and Linda MacCallum and their increasingly fragile marriage.

They have been married for a number of years but a shadow overcasts their marriage - the tragic death of their son at London's Serpentine.

After that, things did not return back to normal. Even the birth of a daughter, Marjorie, did not fill up the vacuum left by their son.

Things begin to deteriorate from that point onwards - Patrick starts to spend more time at work and his trips abroad increase. Obviously, this increases Linda's anger. 

Then a providential acquaintance appears out of the blue. Chief Inspector Jim Richardson "happens" to bump into her accidentally and soon becomes her friend.

Then he uses methods available only to police and breaks into the private email of Patrick discovering that Patrick has an intimate friend, Greta Dimitrova.

On being told this by the "friendly" inspector, Linda throws Patrick out of the house despite his protests and soon Jim takes his place in the house and in the bed.

Then a crime takes place - a painting by Paul Cezanne gets stolen and Patrick, who works in insurance, and who was responsible for the security of the painting, faces huge trouble on his job.

But things are not like they seem and the story rapidly moves to a solution that is completely unexpected.