The case seems simple: a soccer referee is brutally beaten to death in a forest near Stockholm after a youth game. The police immediately find a suspect in the person of the loud, alcoholic father of one of the players, who colluded with the judge of Afghan origin, Dzamál Kabir - murder out of sudden impulse. However, Costa refuses to testify, so an acquaintance of his, police patrolman Micaela Vargas, and the famous, but mildly eccentric psychologist-professor, Hans Rekké, are brought in to see if they manage to break the man.
Despite this, the case collapses and Costa is released. However, Rekke and Vargas are not left alone by the case, and the strange couple will investigate - now on their own beards. It soon becomes clear that there are plenty of dark spots in the past of the victim, who seems spotless at first glance. The threads lead to Afghanistan's bloody past, but many people want to cover up the truth at all costs - including the CIA, which is up to its neck in Afghan atrocities... David Lagercrantz's new novel, the continuation of the world-famous Millennium series, breathes new life into the classic Scandinavian noir with its wit and flesh-and-blood protagonists. , and also the opening volume of the Rekke & Vargas series.