In my dreams, everything I’ve experienced in my life comes back to me. The muzzle of a moose rifle extends towards my chest, and when it withdraws, I see an exploding mailbox, which launches into the air with my daughter Iida.

Mari Kallio has left behind the Espoo Police Department. However, her plans for establishing a law firm to serve the less fortunate founder when her intended partner and school friend Leena is permanently disabled in an automobile accident. Maria begins work with a domestic violence research project under the auspices of the Ministry of the Interior, safely behind a desk.

Through Leena, Maria becomes acquainted with a journalist, Jutta Särkikoski, who has exposed the illegal doping of two champion discus throwers. Särkikoski has been injured under mysterious circumstances: his car was forced off the road after he had been interviewing Toni Väärä, a runner who had recently made a surprise breakthrough in the 800-meter. Väärä, who was also in the car, is injured so badly that he will be out of competition for the following season. Särkikoski had been receiving death threats before the accident, and there doesn’t seem to be any end to them.

Letting go of the past isn’t easy for Maria, evidenced by the repetitive dreams that torment her. When the threats against Särkikoski are carried out, Maria is unexpectedly forced back to her old workplace and its familiar faces. Memories of her last, nearly catastrophic homicide investigation won’t leave her alone, but there isn’t any room for resting on the back stretch in a race with a murderer.

Before the tape is broken at the finish line, far too many people manage to put the police on the wrong track in this tale of scandal in the world of sports.

Rights sold:
Original publisher: FINLAND, Tammi
WORLD ENGLISH, AmazonCrossing
GERMANY, Rowohlt
LATVIA, Jumava
POLAND, Rebis