Lemaitre's novel, which is his first to be translated into English and the start of a planned trilogy, centers on the beautiful Alex Prévost, who has been kidnapped by a mysterious man. Investigator Camille Verhoeven is looking into Alex's disappearance but isn't coming up with a lot of leads. Nelson says she's been getting "fed up with these books about women in jeopardy," particularly when the plot involves a male captor, and she thinks that many readers share her feelings. But "Alex" is different, Nelson says. "It's much more sophisticated than that." She warns, however, that some scenes in the novel are quite graphic.
