After she returns to her hometown to learn that her friend, Alex, was found in an ice-cold bath with her wrists slashed, biographer Erica Falck researches her friend's past in hopes of writing a book and joins forces with Detective Patrik Hedstrom, who has his own suspicions about the case.

When a young girl's body is pulled out of the harbor in the small Swedish resort town of Fjallbacka, Det. Patrik Hedström becomes the lead investigator as he struggles with lazy and inept colleagues and an even remoter-than-usual boss. It's his grim task to discover who could be behind the murder of the child both he and his partner Erica knew well.

"Faye has loved Jack since they were students at business school. Jack, the perpetual golden boy, grew up wealthy, unlike Faye, who has worked hard to bury a dark past. When Jack needs help launching a new company, Faye leaves school to support him, waitressing by day and working as his strategist by night. With the business soaring, Faye and Jack have a baby, and Faye finds herself at home, caring for their daughter, wealthier than she ever imagined,...

When a four-year-old girl disappears in the woods just outside Fjallbacka, the community is horror-struck. Thirty years ago, a young girl went missing from the exact same spot, and was later discovered, murdered. Two teenage girls were found guilty of the killing. Could it really be a coincidence that one of the girls--now a world-famous actress--has just returned to Fjallbacka? Detective Patrik Hedstrom starts investigating, with his wife, bestselling...