A small seaside town is shattered by a series of inexplicable, gruesome murders. Children are found

dead, having disappeared from their parents’ hold in full view, often in public. All the bodies bear the same wound — a tiny hole in the ear, inflicted by a sharp object.

Olga, a local psychotherapist specializing in obsessive syndromes, is approached by her school friend (and onetime teenage flame) Andrei, a police officer in charge of the investigation. Andrei asks Olga to compile a psychological profile of the serial killer and to search for possible matches among her patients, as the town is small and Olga is one of the very few practicing specialists.

The more Olga learns about the sinister case, the more clues point to a particular patient of hers, Vadim, a smart but spoiled student from a well-to-do family. Vadim is obsessed with violence, runs a YouTube channel documenting eerie tortures of stray animals, and seems oddly informed about confidential details of the murders. Considering the severity of the case and her strong suspicions, Olga reports her client to the police. During the arrest, Vadim is shot by officers who later give a perplexing and hallucinatory account of the events.

As Olga continues her investigation, she consults with her skeptical boyfriend, who refers her to another odd character — apparently the town’s criminal authority — who links the series of murders to an ancient cult of the local evil demon Sabnach, the demon of graveyards and decay. He reassures Olga that no serial killer could operate in the town, while local historical archives furnish her with proof of similar recurrent cases over the years.

Andrei is forced to close the case by the town’s shadowy moguls — he is rewarded for solving it and eliminating the supposed killer, the psychic teenager Vadim. However, Andrei feels dissatisfied. Like Olga, he suspects there is more to the case than a sick teenager’s rage. His attempts to continue the investigation ultimately lead to his suspension.

Olga begins to experience strange hallucinations and terrifying dreams, and is forced to return to the

case. A chilling realization dawns on her — there is in fact someone else connected to all these murders,

someone who knew the families of the victims and could have been at the crime scenes: herself.

Eerie and gripping, this horror whodunit will linger with you long after you finish the book. It introduces a true master of the genre and an original voice for all fans of Stephen King and William Peter Blatty.