When the nation's sole publishing conglomerate receives a mysterious bomb threat, Chief Inspector Jensen is ordered to find a culprit within a week—or else. As his investigation begins to reveal the unsavory secrets of a growing list of suspects, Jensen realizes that he has uncovered a tragic story of betrayal and death in which he will play the central role.

A chilling dystopian classic crime story from the godfather of Scandinavian crime fiction Chief Inspector Jensen is a policeman in an unnamed European country where the government has criminalised being drunk, even in private at home, and where the city centres have been demolished to devote more space to gleaming new roads. Recovering in a hospital room abroad after a liver transplant, Jensen receives a note instructing him to return home immediately, but when he reaches the airport he discovers that all flights home have been cancelled and all communication from within his homeland has ceased. One of the last messages sent requested urgent medical help from abroad and when Jensen is piloted across the border it soon becomes clear that an epidemic has ravaged the country.