Varg Veum is woken by an explosion that rocks the City of Bergen when a weapons store outside town goes sky high. Several lives are lost in what becomes Chief Inspector Hamre's - and Varg's - biggest and most dangerous case ever.For that same night, Varg's old friend Hjalmar is found in his apartment, brutally murdered, and Varg swiftly discerns that the two events are connected.Before he knows it, Varg finds himself in Budapest, and drawn into a lethal game between an international paramilitary organisation and a powerful arms manufacturer.And when his girlfriend Karin goes missing, Varg realises that this time he has indeed gone in way over his head.