It's been more than twenty years since Olof HagstrÞom left home. Returning to his family's house, he knows instantly that something is amiss. The front door key, hidden under a familiar stone, is still there. Inside, there's a panicked dog, a terrible stench, water pooling on the floor. Upstairs in the shower, the father Olaf has not seen or spoken to in decades is dead. For police detective Eira SjÞodin, the investigation of this suspicious death resurrects long-forgotten nightmares. She was only nine when Olof HagstrÞom, then fourteen, was found guilty of raping and murdering a local girl. The case left a mark on the town's collective memory, a wound that never quite healed, and tinged Eira's childhood with fear. Too young to be sentenced, Olof was sent to a youth home and exiled from his family. He was never seen in the town again. Until now.