A woman is found murdered after an internat date. The marks left on her body show tha police that they are dealing with a particularly vicious killer.
Under pressure from the media to find the murderer, the force know there is only one man for the job. But Harry Hole is reluctant to returen to the place that almost took everything from him. Until he starts to suspect a conncection betwee this killing and his one failed case.
When another victim is found, Hary realises he will need to put everything on the line if he's to finslly catch the one who got away.