The night the first snow falls a young boy wakes to find his mother gone. He walks through the silent house, but finds only wet footprints on the stairs. In the garden looms a snowman bathed in cold moonlight. Round its neck is his mothers pink scarf. Inspector Harry Hole is convinced there is a link between the disappearance and a menacing letter he received months earlier. As Harry and his team delve into unsolved cases, they discover that an alarming number of wives and mothers have gone missing over the years. When a second woman disappears, Harry finds himself confronted with a serial killer operating on his turf, a killer who will drive him to the brink of insanity.,
