In Coney Island, Brooklyn, Sara Goldfarb, a lonely widow, wants nothing more than to lose weight and appear on a television game show. She becomes addicted to diet pills in her obsessive quest, while her junkie son, Harry, along with his girlfriend Marion and his best friend Tyrone, have devised an illicit short cut to wealth and leisure by scoring a pound of uncut heroin. Entranced by the gleaming visions of thier futures, these four convince themselves...

As Christmas approaches, Detective Harry Hole investigates the murder of a Salvation Army singer, who turns out to have been shot by mistake.

Kristina Georgia Snow is the perfect daughter, gifted high school junior, quiet, never any trouble. But on a trip to visit her absentee father, Kristina disappears and Bree takes her place. Bree is the exact opposite of Kristina. Through a boy, Bree meets the monster: crank. And what begins as a wild ecstatic ride turns into a struggle through hell for her mind, her soul - her life.