Author(s): Hakan Nesser (tr from Swedish Laurie Thompson)

Thriller

In the quiet coastal town of Kaalbringen, an ex-con is brutally murdered with an axe. Then the body of a wealthy real-estate mogul is found, also the victim of a violent attack. There appears to be a serial killer on the loose, and Chief Inspector Van Veeteren is called in to help out the local investigation. In his whole career he has only ever had to leave one case unsolved, but he's never faced this kind of killer. As details surrounding the murders are collected, Van Veeteren finds that he has few leads; nothing links the two victims. But then there's another murder, and one of Van Veeteren's colleagues, a promising female detective, goes missing