Two young women are missing. Strangers to each other, but last seen at the same party. When the body of one of them is found with fresh stitches along her hairline, the hunt is on to find a murderer with singular methods.

Catching this criminal calls for a detective with a singular mind.

Only Harry Hole can stop this ingenious psychopath. But Harry is gone: struck off the force, down and out in LA. It seems like nothing can entice him back to Oslo. Until someone close to him comes under threat.

But there is more to this case than meets the eye and the clock is ticking to find the missing woman, before the body count rises.