On a gray September day, on an island off the coast of Sweden, six -year -old Jens Davidsson ventured out of his backyard, walked out into a fog, and vanished&;.Now twenty years have passed, and in this magnificent debut novel of suspense&;a runaway bestseller in Sweden&;the boy&;s mother returns to the place where her son disappeared, drawn by a chilling package sent in the mail&; In it, lovingly wrapped, is one of Jens&; sandals&;sandals Julia Davidsson put on her son&;s feet that very last morning.Now, with only a handful of clues, Julia and her father are questioning islanders who were present the day Jens vanished&;and making a shocking connection to Öland&;s most notorious murder case: the killing spree of a wealthy young man who fled the island and died years before Jens was even born. Suddenly the island that once seemed so achingly familiar turns strange and dangerous&; Until Julia finds herself facing truths she never imagined&;about what really happened on that September day twenty years ago, about who may have crossed paths with little Jens in the fog, and how a child could truly vanish without a trace&;until now.