January. Fjällbacka is frozen. A half-naked girl runs through the snowy forest and jumps into the middle of the road. The passing driver has no time to react, not even enough to turn the wheel.

When Inspector Patrick and his team receive the signal for the accident, the girl's identity has already been confirmed. She had disappeared four months ago on her way home from the local riding school and no one had seen her since. Her body bears signs of incredible violence and there is a possibility that she is not the last or the only victim.
At the same time, Erica is investigating an old family tragedy that led to the death of a man. She visits his wife countless times, who was convicted of his murder, but she cannot ascertain what really happened. What is she hiding? Erica suspects that something is wrong. It seems that the past casts a heavy shadow on the present.

I struggled to finish The Lion Tamer but it is the book I am truly proud of. It took me two years to write it during a period of my life when many things were happening simultaneously. It is darker and harsher than my previous books. In recent years, the press has repeatedly reported cases of women being held captive and abused. Central themes in this book are missing girls, serial killers, and family tragedies of the past. The idea for the book came from the following image: a young girl chained to a wall in a filthy basement. This sparked my imagination and the journey of my ninth novel starring Patrick and Erica began.

Camilla Lackberg