[1] In January 2006 the police make the gruesome discovery of the bodies of 19 people who have been brutally murdered in the remote hamlet of Hesjövallen in northern Sweden.

The protagonist Birgitta Roslin, a district judge from Helsingborg, realises she has a family connection with some of the victims.

Roslin's curiosity is raised by clues found at the scene and leads her to unofficially investigate the massacre.

As the plot unfolds, extending across four continents, Roslin unintentionally becomes embroiled in a web of international corruption and political intrigue.

In Bookmarks May/June 2010 issue, a magazine that aggregates critic reviews of books, the book received a (3.5 out of 5) with the summary stating, "Critics generally agree that Mankell's stand-alone thriller--a combination of police procedural and geopolitical novel--lives up to the best of the Kurt Wallander series".