WHERE DOES GUILT BEGIN AND JUSTICE END?

Frank Petersen, a passionate criminal judge, is convinced of the infallibility of the law. His verdicts, in his self-understanding, are objective and just. Until, one day, his life starts to fall to pieces and he is suddenly forced to judge himself.
A controversial verdict causes loud criticism of Petersen, even his family turns away from him. His wife accusing him of being self-aggrandizing, biased, and letting himself be guided by prejudices is a slashing blow that opens up an old trauma: Corinna Maier, who shot her son‘s radical right-wing murderer in his courtroom, just before Petersen was able to pass his judgement. Suddenly, Petersen questions everything: his integrity as a judge, as a husband, as a father. In his mind, there is only one way out: He must confront himself with questions he never dared ask before …

»Markus Thiele’s judicial thriller of a different kind is calm and suspenseful at the same time.«
Buchkultur

»Thiele provides insights behind the scenes of the judiciary and into the minds of both suspects and victims. He combines motifs from true stories and condenses them with the life crisis of a judge. In this way, he succeeds in creating a psychological thriller that lives from great closeness to its hero and at the same time takes a clinical, critical look at society.«
Stadtkind Hamburg

»The book is about guilt and justice, about the compelling question of what is truth.“ «
Evangelische Sonntagszeitung

»The book shows the fine line between law and justice very clearly.“ «
Neue Presse