This is a free short story as a prequel to the Pekka Wall series. You can download the free eBook from the author's StoryOrigin link.
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Before the murders, there was a crack. In wintery Helsinki, editor Pekka Wall collides with swaggering "thought leader" Kari Varassuo at a boozy Andromedusa Publisher's party—and stumbles into an NDA-laced job he can’t refuse. As he “polishes” a centennial puff-piece for a notorious factory, Pekka uncovers Varassuo's betrayal, tipping him into a game of humiliation, leverage, and midnight stakes.

When past love, loss and present danger collide, the wall around his heart finally fractures—leaving him one choice: stay and be destroyed, or run and be reborn.

Darkly funny and sharply observed, The Crack in the Wall is Pekka Wall’s origin story—the first fracture that sends him escaping toward the life to come.