In February 1986, the Halland police receive a call from a man who claims to have attacked his first victim. I'm going to do it again, he says before the line cuts off. By the time policeman Sven Jörgensson reaches the crime scene, the woman is taking her last breath. On the same night, Sweden plunges into a state of shock after the murder of the prime minister. As Sven becomes obsessed with the case, two more fall victim. For years Sven remains haunted by the murders he cannot solve, fearing that the killer might strike again. Decades later, the case unexpectedly resurfaces when a failed novelist returns home to Halland and begins to unspool the many strands of this engrossing tale about a community confronting its shames and collective guilt.