It is the summer of 1972 and Reykjavik is in turmoil; the world chess championship is about to start in the Laugardalshöll sports centre and the city is teeming with foreigners. The Cold War is at its height and representatives from East and West escort their men, Spassky and Fischer, to the chessboard. As preparations reach a climax, a harmless youth goes to the cinema and is viciously attacked. The police are at full stretch but Marion Briem, who is in charge of the case, is determined to make sense of the life-anddeath duel which is being fought here.

In Indridason’s fifteenth novel, real events frame a gripping account of tragic human sacrifice. No other Icelandic author has enjoyed such popularity as Indridason has in recent years, both in Iceland and abroad.