Christmas is the cruelest of all parties. When will there come a point where even the best intentions no longer sanctify the means?

We live in the darkest time of the year in the village of Ísafjörður. As Christmas approaches, the peace of the villagers is disturbed. A mutilated body is found in a fish breeding pond in the Western Fjords. Detective Hildur Rúnarsdóttir barely has time to start a criminal investigation together with Finnish police trainee Jakob Johanson, when another, at least as strange, murder takes place in another remote corner of Iceland. And soon the third.

While investigating a series of brutal acts of violence, Hildur balances his thoughts by surfing the icy waves of the Atlantic. The lost connection with the middle sister Rósa weighs on the mind. Jakob does everything he can to win a difficult custody dispute regarding his child. How far is Jakob ready to go in his wrestling? That's what Hildur has to think about when he receives the worst possible phone call from Kolar police station in Finland.

Jakob is the third part of the Nordic blue-style Hildur detective series with a touch of Nordic mysticism.