Description

Sheriff Cnut is at a low enough ebb to consider suicide. His wife has disappeared at sea and may be dead; he is at loggerheads with his new boss, Arvadsson, whose criminal past makes them enemies; he is suffering from severe alcoholism and has doubts and guilt about his casual relationship with Ilse Karnweg.

Cases come and go, and he deals with them like an automaton; his experience getting him through each day, but he is merely going through the motions.

When an English crook, who has embezzled millions from the Government, comes to Norway to fish for salmon in Finnmark, the British police ask for permission to send an English detective to arrest him, and Arvadsson seizes the opportunity to get Cnut out of his hair, to accompany the Brit, who turns out to be a woman, and as soon as Cnut has left Oslo, Arvadsson posts Ilse to Stavanger in spite.

Though outraged enough to take retaliatory action that will see Arvadsson having to flee the country, Cnut has unleashed a demon that almost destroys him.

Following the trail of the English criminal puts both him and the English detective in danger. They are successful in tracking him down, but the case ends badly.

Arvadsson does not stop at targeting Cnut - he has Ilse attacked too, which makes Cnut, with malice aforethought, throw aside his lifelong respect for the law, and cross a line that no straight detective should ever cross.

Given the certain knowledge that his wife is dead, Cnut's depression deepens, but gradually he realises that his feelings for Ilse run deeper than he ever imagined, and he suggests a way forward, hoping for a future that could bring both of them back from the brink.