Scandinavian crime writer Liza Marklund has created a strong but touchingly vulnerable heroine in the indefatigable tabloid reporter Annika Bengtzon, who works as a copy editor on the night shift.

When her senior male colleagues relegate her to fielding random phone calls, Annika is plunged into an intriguing story about Paradise, an organisation that can eradicate people's pasts, making them impossible to trace.

But is Paradise genuine or a money-making scam, fleecing the social services?

A refugee Annika sends to them is subsequently murdered by the Yugoslavian mafia. With the help of a civil servant and a disenchanted former Paradise client, Mia Erikkson, she exposes the group and its founder.

'Vanished' is the second English translation of 'Paradiset' first published in 2004 as 'Paradise'. It is published by Random House Struik, and is available from Exclusive Books for R200