Having started and read ‘Stalker’ in one day, I am beyond excited to be reviewing the book for the blog tour today! Huge thanks to Abigail for the blog tour invite and ARC. Here is my review of ‘Stalker’ by Lars Kepler:
The internationally bestselling authors of The Sandman and The Hypnotist return with a terrifying new thriller: Detective Joona Linna–recently returned from compassionate leave–reunites with hypnotist Erik Maria Bark in a search for a seemingly unassailable
sadistic killer.
The Swedish National Crime Unit receives a video of a young woman in her home, clearly unaware that she’s being watched. Soon after the tape is received, the woman’s body is found horrifically mutilated. With the arrival of the next, similar video, the police understand that the killer is toying with them, warning of a new victim, knowing there’s nothing they can do.
Detective Margot Silverman is put in charge of the investigation, and soon asks Detective Joona Linna for help. Linna, in turn, recruits Erik Maria Bark, the hypnotist and expert in trauma, with whom Linna’s worked before. Bark is leery of forcing people to give up their secrets. But this time, Bark is the one hiding things.
Years before, he had put a man away for an eerily similar crime, and now he’s beginning to think that an innocent man may be behind bars–and a serial killer still on the loose. . .
What does TWG think?
Oh my BLEEPING goodness!!!!!!!! Why have I never picked up a Lars Kepler novel until now?! Omg – I still can’t get my head around what I read, so I apologise in advance if there is a lot of ‘omg!’ and sentences which make no sense at all. Obviously I would prefer it if the review was coherent….but I can’t promise anything!!!
So, ‘Stalker’ was the first book I had read by the dynamic duo, Lars Kepler. Yes, it is part of a series, and no you do not need to have read the previous four books before you read this one – in my opinion, obviously. At around 500 odd pages, I honestly thought that it would end up being a story which just went on and on. It wasn’t. I was actually quite surprised by how concise the book was considering it was of great length, so much so, I started and finished the book in one day! Unfortunately I had to put the book down a couple of times as the child and pets needed feeding….how selfish of them to want food!!!!
It’s safe to say that my bank account will take a bit of a hit this week as I aim to purchase the other four books in paperback, as well as this one. Do you think I loved it?! Short answer: OMG YES! Seriously, I was absolutely hooked by the twisted turn of events, the psychologically damaging storyline, and the incredibly nauseating and vivid descriptions of certain characters actions. Yes, that’s right, I used the word ‘nauseating’ as a positive. Who would have thought it?!
‘Stalker’ isn’t a read for the faint hearted or people who have an aversion to blood. Although saying that, you might get an aversion to blood whilst reading this – a lot is lost! The storyline is fast paced in places, slow paced in others, yet the level of intensity throughout the entire book was absolutely phenomenal.
I loved the array of dynamic characters, each one adding their flaws into the storyline to create a multi layered read which, if I were wearing any, would have totally blown my socks off! I was absolutely shocked by the conclusion as I had tried to work out my own ‘whodunnit’, but ended up failing miserably. I think the fact the authors dropped red herring after red herring, whilst also pointing bloody fingers at one character in particular, it was only natural for me to follow those instincts and think that they were the one who had done it. Obviously at the time I didn’t know the pieces of information I was using as glue to my puzzle pieces, were in fact red herrings. It just goes to show how complex the minds of Lars Kepler are, and the complexity of the storyline itself. Clearly not everything is as it seems, right?!
It probably goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway, that ‘Stalker’ is now a very strong contender for my top book of 2019. Wow, seriously, ‘Stalker’ is an jawdroppingly, gritty, read which left me wanting more. Outstanding beyond belief. The book may have been long in pages, but it felt like one of the quickest books I’ve ever read. I can not recommend this enough!
About the author.
LARS KEPLER is the pseudonym of the critically acclaimed husband and wife team Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril and Alexander Ahndoril. Their number one internationally bestselling Joona Linna series has sold more than twelve million copies in forty languages. The Ahndorils were
both established writers before they adopted the pen name Lars Kepler and have each published several acclaimed novels. They live in Stockholm, Sweden. Translated by Neil Smith.
The Writing Garnet 
Love this review!!!!
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