Includes bibliographical references (pages 283-287) and index.

1974. In two separate incidents, two men vanished into thin air. Then, out of it, came six murder confessions and six convictions. Yet in the decades that followed, these too evaporated. Anthony Adeane explores the stranger-than-fiction story that has unravelled in Iceland across forty-five years. He provides the first full account of the case, paints a fascinating picture of the country - covering its history, landscape, law, media, domestic politics and geopolitical importance - and places each development in the contexts that shaped them: from the Cod Wars to the Cold War, the 2008 economic crash and beyond. Using unprecedented access, he exposes the mistakes that were made, the lives that were ruined, the questions that remain unanswered, and the headlines that continue to be printed.