1995. The works for the materialization of an ambitious project, the Øresund Link, commence in and around the strait that separates Denmark from Sweden. For the completion of this project, an immersed tunnel, an artificial island and a cable-stayed bridge must be delivered in five years.

The Øresund Link must connect Denmark and Sweden by a motorway and by a railway – in fact, this link must connect the thriving Copenhagen area and the declining Malmö area. Moreover, according to Danish and Swedish high-ranking officials, the colossal construction must function as a growth stimulus in two facing regions and as an efficiency paradigm for the whole of Europe.

Dan Christofte is inspecting the works on behalf of the Danish government; Sven Alexanderson is doing the same job for the Swedish government. So, until 2000, the well-meaning Dane and the cynical Swede witness the progress of things and see themselves plunge into many bizarre situations. At the same time, they feel as if they are the protagonists of a political, economic, technological, erotic and comic thriller about the glory of human inventiveness, the value of accountability, the joy of irresponsibility, the tragic ludicrousness of globalization, the price of megaprojects, the meaning of friendship and the omnipotence of entropy.

Mihalis Mihailidis was born in Athens in 1969. He is a graduate of the Economy Faculty of the Athens University, has studied film direction in Athens, and has been awarded the best novel prize of Diavazo magazine (2003) for his book The Bitch and the Whelp. His novels so far are: The Mechanism of Confusion (1997), The Pool of Memories (1999), The Bitch and the Whelp (2002), Night Ride (2006), Freak Show (2009), The Supervisors (2016). Some of his literary works have been translated and published in Italy, Poland and Germany.