1995: A young German woman disappears in the Westfjords of Iceland, but no one seems to miss her. The case is quickly forgotten, as it’s not uncommon for foreigners who come to Iceland to go their own way. Besides, the police are busy investigating a fatal car accident, recovering two bodies from the sea.

2022: Detective Hildur Rúnarsdóttir’s life has been calm for a long time, and she has just returned from a surfing holiday in Hawaii. Everything seems to be in order: the renovation of her childhood home is progressing, and her colleague and friend Jakob Johanson has permanently moved to Iceland. Hildur has taken to regularly visiting her family friend, Helga, in a nursing home—and during their conversations, surprising new details about her mother, Rakel, start to emerge. Meanwhile, a cruise ship carrying a large group of tourists arrives in Ísafjörður, bringing problems that challenge Hildur’s sense of justice.

Christmas is the cruellest of the holidays, especially for Jakob Johanson, who finds himself embroiled in a complex case that hits close to home.

It’s the darkest time of the year in the village of Ísafjörður. As Christmas approaches, the peace of the villagers is shattered. On the western flanks, a corpse is found in a fish farming pond. Detective Hildur Rúnarsdóttir and Finnish police trainee Jakob Johanson have barely time to start their investigation before another equally bizarre homicide takes place in another remote corner of Iceland. And soon a third. While investigating a series of brutal acts of violence, Hildur escapes to surf the choppy waves of the Atlantic but the lost connection to her middle sister, Rósa weighs heavy on her mind. Meanwhile, her police partner Jakob prepares for the hearing of his fraught custody battle with his ex-wife Lena. But to what lengths is Jakob prepared to go? That’s what Hildur is left to ponder when she receives the worst possible call from Finland’s Kolari police station. At what point do even the best of intentions no longer justify the means? Jakob is the third volume in the Hildur series hailed by some as ‘Nordic Blue’ genre.