A violent robbery. A hit-and-run. A brutal murder. In the stifling heat of an August morning on the beautiful Swedish island of Gotland, terror shatters the calm. An armed robbery is over in minutes, leaving a little girl on the road, hit by the getaway car. Desperate to find those responsible, the police track down one of the culprits. But he is dead, brutally murdered at a remote farm. Tattooed on his arm are three initials: his own and two others. The only clues to the identity of his friends. As the hunt to find the remaining two robbers intensifies, there's every chance the murderer is on their trail too. Can Detective Superintendent Knutas beat them to it?

'There is an icy, dispassionate grip to Jungstedt's writing that recalls Henning Mankell' Metro The first body they found was the dog. The poor creature's throat has been cut, and one paw severed completely. Then they found the body of the woman. She had been stabbed, again and again; she was naked, a piece of cloth had been stuffed into her mouth. The picturesque holiday island of Gotland is in the middle of a busy tourist season when the young woman is discovered murdered. Suspicion falls on her husband - the couple had been seen fighting the evening before. Inspector Anders Knutas is hoping it will be a straight-forward case; the local authorities are hoping so too, but more out of an interest in protecting the tourist trade than any desire to see justice served. Then another victim is discovered, again she is a young woman and she has been murdered in the same chilling manner. Inspector Knutas must face up to the horrifying prospect that there is a serial killer loose on the island. Knutas, aided by investigative journalist Johan Berg, begins to piece together the tragic history that unites the two victims, and alarmingly points to more murders to come. The killer remains unknown, moving freely, unseen, on the island. All that is clear is that the two victims are just the beginning, unless Knutas and Berg find the killer before he strikes again.