The Boy in the Suitcase is driven by the motivation of several characters in the book; there is a minimum of police work or official interaction in the story. The lack of authority, and the business it entails, allows the book to move forward with heart stopping momentum.

The characters are drawn quickly but efficiently as the race to the boy's fate moves from Lithuania to Denmark. We are presented with the possibilities for which he is being trafikked. Is he to be used for sexual pleasure by an evil pedophile? Will he be forced to perform domestic duties as a slave? Is he to be sold to wealthy parents unable to reproduce?

As the book rushes on, fearless nurse, Nina Borg, attempts to identify the origin of the boy's home, keep her husband from throwing her out, and stay out of the way of the monster who is pursuiing them. Not confident that the police will protect the three year old boy, she chooses to go it alone. In doing so, she takes the reader on a great ride.