The Outlaw Trails

When police inspector Zeke Lodén responds to a call about gunfire on Värmdö, he finds not only a woman with a fired shotgun. In the house is also the kidnapped five-year-old Molly Casteberg – alive. But when Alva Rydinger, who led the search for the girl, tries to reach the parents with the good news, she is met with silence. The Castebergs have disappeared without a trace.

A letter is found in their home that points to a Swedish security company, whose operations have been terminated and whose employees seem to have left the country. The FAST group, which investigates crimes across national borders, is involved in the case and recruits Alva to lead the hunt for the culprits. The clues lead her to the United States and a collaboration with the FBI. The investigation takes her from the swamps of Louisiana to the deserts of New Mexico and the snow-capped peaks of Colorado.

But the Castebergs are probably being held captive somewhere in Sweden. To find them, Zeke begins to dig into the security company's sordid past. What is their connection to the United States? And what role did the lonely woman play, the one who held little Molly captive in the house in the Stockholm archipelago?

The Outlaw Trails is a highly topical thriller about modern-day America and a world where the law is not always enough. It is the first part of a series about Swedish police officers who cross both geographical and moral borders to solve international crimes.