Rights catalogue

The Lie

Magnus Braaten / Kenneth Fossheim

The Lie is a gripping tale of murder, deception, and controversial investigative methods. Award-winning crime journalists Magnus Braaten and Kenneth Fossheim challenge readers to consider how far the Norwegian police should be allowed to go when faced with serious, unsolved mysteries. What happens when the very person tasked with uncovering the truth is a notorious liar? Elisabeth Aaslie does not like being called Norway's most dangerous woman, yet that is how the media described her when she became the first woman in Norwegian history to receive the country’s maximum sentence – 21 years in prison. The police began pursuing Aaslie in the spring of 2014, when her ex-boyfriend was found dead in a hotel room. Pills were scattered around him. The doctor at the crime scene believed it to be suicide, but in the following days, increasingly suspicious information reached the police. This marked the beginning of an investigation unlike anything Norway had ever seen. Undercover police agent Anna Andersen used extraordinary methods to become best friends with Elisabeth, a mother of seven and the suspect in a double homicide. Based on the police agent's secret recordings, investigative case files, and extensive interviews with Elisabeth Aaslie herself, journalists Braaten and Fossheim tell a story of deception and self-deception. The reader is brought face-to-face with the perpetrator, and given a unique insight into a murder investigation that defies all expectations. «The journalists have written a book in which they give a detailed account of both the police's 'under cover' activities and the rest of the investigation into the extraordinary murder case. The book is rivetingly well written, like a crime novel in itself, with a force that quickly propells the reader through the 286 pages of this fantastic story. The book is exciting both because the journalists present new information to the public to which they add their reflections, but also because the case itself is so unusually wild.» FEDRELANDSVENNEN five/six stars «This book must lead to a review of an almost secret practise. ... The book is skillfully told with precise cliff hangers – the suspense is maintained even though the conclusion seems given.» DAGBLADET five/six stars