Could the prime suspect in a murder be a victim too? The body of a homeless woman is found in the river, viciously beaten and with all her teeth removed. A young immigrant, the prime suspect in a recent spate of robberies in Umeå, was seen running in the vicinity around the time the body was dumped. Trouble is, he hasn’t been seen since. When he does appear, in the town square, he’s wearing an explosive vest and holding a detonator. Called in to investigate, Detectives Charlotte von Klint and Per Berg have a complex web of leads to contend with. But Per is preoccupied with a serious illness within the family, while Charlotte is struggling to make her peace with an old flame being assigned to their unit while she navigates the early days of a new relationship. Despite the upheaval in their private lives, the duo must use all their focus to discover whether the two incidents are connected—and, if so, how. Was the bomber responsible for the woman in the river? Or is it possible he’s another victim in the case? With time running out, the pressure is on for Charlotte and Per to catch the killer and restore peace in a city fast spiralling out of control.

A teenage suicide. A murdered pharmacist. A missing girl. Is the obvious connection the right one? When a boy leaps to his death from a bridge in the northern town of Umeå, Sweden, police discover drugs scattered in the snow near his body. The town has seen a dramatic increase in narcotic use among its youth, but nobody knows where the pills are coming from. Relocating from Stockholm with her teenage daughter, Detective Charlotte von Klint expected Umeå to be a quiet backwater, a snow-covered change of pace from fighting the criminal underworld of the capital. But when a pharmacist is found brutally murdered in her apartment, and a young girl and her dealer boyfriend vanish without a trace after a party, suddenly Umeå doesn’t seem so benign. And the boy on the bridge doesn’t feel like an isolated incident. Is the dealer the perpetrator? Or just another victim? And can it be a coincidence that a shadow from Charlotte’s past, Syndicates boss Tony Israelsson, has recently been released from prison and is reportedly headed for Umeå? As the snow deepens and the body count rises, Charlotte and her boss, local cop Per Berg, find themselves in a deadly pursuit, with time rapidly running out.