'This town could use an elaborate murder, something more exciting than drunken fights or moonshine busts.' As Hart recalled this comment the moment Gunhild Öst announced her discovery, he feared his wish had been woefully granted.

Spring, 1983. The winter frost is melting, and the swelling Black River threatens the rural town of Silvernäs. It's a damp, grey morning when Erland Hart, the town's only police officer, is called out to Ramses Farm. Vanja Johansson has been discovered in the barn, her body hanging from a beam.

When a severed hand is found stuck to a fence post - its fingers curled into a macabre wave - Hart is drawn into an investigation that stretches beyond one woman's death. The Stockholm police suspect it is the work of a serial killer, while Vanja's sister is certain she died by suicide. And the locals are growing increasingly suspicious of teenage boys carving Satanic symbols across town. Can Hart keep his quiet community from shattering? And as the floodwater rises, what secrets will it bring to the surface?