In a city where the police spend their days breaking up drunken fights and catching minor drug dealers, a series of brutal crimes takes place. Investigating serial murders of the city’s prostitutes, a detective—Carolina Meibr—who has lost faith in herself, her former mentor, detective Alan Dupri, a theoretical specialist in police work, two FBI analysts, and the whole of Spokane’s police department, Washington, hunt for a suspect for months. The suspect presents himself to them as the embodiment of all earthly vices. However, as usually happens in real life, the true picture is far more complex than it seems: vices come in different forms, and we simplify and fit other people’s actions into ready-made templates for our own convenience.
Jess Walter, author of “Beautiful Ruins,” a finalist for the National Book Award and an Edgar Allan Poe Award winner, tells of a world where there are no clear boundaries between good and evil, where every crime and every cruelty has a hidden underside, and where, in principle, there are no good and bad guys—about a world whose understanding does not bring comfort, but at least allows a person, ultimately, to make the right choice.