Acclaimed Swedish author Camilla Grebe makes her solo American debut with a psychological thriller as cunning in its twists as it is captivating in its storytelling.
Winter s chill has descended on Stockholm as police arrive at the scene of a shocking murder. An unidentified woman lies beheaded in a posh suburban home a brutal crime made all the more disturbing by its uncanny resemblance to an unsolved killing ten years earlier. But this time there s a suspect: charismatic and controversial chain-store CEO Jesper Orre, who owns the home but is nowhere to be found.
To homicide detectives Peter Lindgren and Manfred Olsson, nothing about the suave, high-profile businessman including a playboy reputation and rumors of financial misdeeds suggests he conceals the dark heart and twisted mind of a cold-blooded killer. In search of a motive, they turn to brilliant criminal profiler Hanne Lagerlind-Schon. Once a valued police asset, now marooned in unhappy retirement and a crumbling marriage, she s eager to exercise her keen skills again and offer Lindgren and Olsson a window into the secret soul of Jesper Orre.
But they re not the only ones searching. Two months ago, Emma Bohman, a young clerk at Orre s company, chanced to meet the charming chief executive, and romance swiftly bloomed. But almost as quickly as the passionate affair ignited, it was over when Orre inexplicably disappeared. Then one staggering misfortune after another followed, leaving Emma certain that her runaway lover was to blame and transforming her confusion and heartbreak into anger.
Now, pursuing the same mysterious man for different reasons, Emma and the police are destined to cross paths in a chilling dance of obsession, vengeance, madness, and love gone hellishly wrong."