Seventeen years ago, Criminal Inspector Ewert Grens was called to the scene of a brutal crime. A family had been murdered, and the only survivor --- and witness --- was the five-year-old daughter. The girl was placed in the witness protection program, and the case went cold. But years later, Grens is still haunted by the seemingly random slaying and the little girl who was spared. So when he learns that the apartment where the crime occurred is now the scene of a mysterious break-in, Grens immediately fears that someone is intent on silencing the only witness. He races to find her...before they do.

Stockholm, Sweden: Seventy-three refugees have been found dead, suffocated in a container at Varta harbor. Niamey, Niger: Ewert Grens arrives in a city he's never heard of, in search of a man he never thought he would see again. Piet Hoffmann has again got himself in too deep, infiltrating a West African trafficking ring. He thinks he has two weeks to extricate himself, but will learn that his life --- and that of countless defenseless people --- now hangs on his actions during three desperate hours.

Bernt Lund is a monster, an unrepentant child molester and serial killer. In the mind of society, in the minds of his nine-year-old victims' parents, and in the minds of his fellow inmates, he is a waking nightmare. And now he has escaped from custody. Detective Superintendent Ewert Grens is about to encounter the most profoundly appalling case in his career, and perhaps in Stockholm's history. During the course of one long, hot summer, Sweden will face an explosive series of events that spread across the country like wildfire, events that call into question the very nature of humanity, duty, forgiveness and self-defense. And justice.

Presumed dead by the Stockholm police, master criminal and undercover informant Piet Hoffmann is now on the run from the Swedish authorities, living with his wife and two young sons under an assumed name in Cali, Colombia. Only Hoffmann's former police handler, Erik Wilson, knows where he is --- and that he has accepted two dangerous new jobs: one as a high-level enforcer for a Colombian cocaine cartel, and one as an infiltrator for the DEA, working to bring the cartel down. The FBI even lends credence to his cover story by adding Hoffmann's alias to the Most Wanted list. But when the Speaker of the House is kidnapped by the cartel during an official visit to Colombia, everything changes --- fast.

Two 19-year-old boys have spent their young lives establishing a ruthless criminal enterprise, the Råby Warriors. With the recruitment of children as foot soldiers, the Warriors are now poised to become the most powerful syndicate in their Stockholm suburb. After Leon and Gabriel execute a maximum-security prison break, José Pereira, who now heads the Organized Crime and Gang Section in Råby, is joined in his investigation by Chief Superintendent Ewert Grens.

Detective Superintendent Ewert Grens discovers a startling connection between two cases --- a brutal murder in the United States and an aggravated assault in Sweden six years later.