A Swedish mystery of crime and revenge. The Beast opens the book, waiting for his prey…schoolgirls, age 10 or so. He knows them. He has studied them. They’ve seen him before. They know they shouldn’t look at him or talk to him. They are wary, but curious. He knows as soon as they answer him that he has already won. It’s every parent’s greatest nightmare, from inside the head of the Beast.
Four years later, the Beast escapes police custody and, as predicted in his psychiatric evaluation, again commits a horrific crime. But this will be the last time. Now the law must punish a father for an act of revenge. The ripple effect through various communities will reveal very different beasts. When all the lines converge, the ending is stunning.
“Law and Order” couldn’t have done this better. The book received the 2005 Glass Key Crime Novel Award.