In the middle of a dark, rain-slicked night, a young man is struck and killed by a car. The driver, drunk, abandons the body by the side of the road. Tormented with guilt the next morning, he struggles to put the death out of his mind - until a blackmail note arrives and sets into motion a devastating chain of events.

Reinhart, the new chief inspector of the Maardam police force, initially has few leads. But when the victim of a second, possibly related killing is identified as somebody in his inner circle, Reinhart realises that this is no ordinary investigation. And as the killer becomes increasingly unhinged, former chief inspector Van Veeteren - a legend now in retirement - is called forth to face the most haunting and difficult case of his life.