Stalker – Lars Kepler Review

So I finally feel ready to review this book, now if you have been following this blog and have read my Nordic Noir post then you will know that I am a massive fan of the writing duo Lars Kepler. This is the 5th book in the Joona Linna series and without spoiling the review, this is the best that I have read so far!

This time I have made myself a book review journal to fully express all my thoughts throughout the read and get them in some sort of structure, so here goes.

If the lights are on, a stalker can see you from outside. But if the lights are off, you can’t see a stalker who is already inside the house.

The Stockholm Police are sent a video of a woman being candidly filmed through her window. They conclude that in order to make the film, its creator must have been standing in the garden just outside. The next day the woman is found dead in her home, and the viciousness of her killing shocks even the most seasoned of the investigators called to the scene.
A few days later, another clip is sent to the police. There is no way of identifying the woman before she, too, falls victim to a brutal attack. When the woman’s husband finds her, he is so traumatised that in a state of panic, he starts scrubbing away the evidence of the violence that has invaded his home. Even washing the blood from his wife’s body, he quietly puts her to bed, as if she were only sleeping. Chance is he has seen a clue vital to finding the killer, but the extreme shock has triggered a short-term memory loss and the police are unable to fully question him.
Criminal psychiatrist and hypnotist Dr. Erik Maria Bark is called in to hypnotise the husband, hoping to unlock his memories of the murder scene. But what Dr. Bark uncovers in his sessions has him deciding to hide the truth from the police.
It grows increasingly clear that the case cannot be solved without the help of Detective Inspector Joona Linna, the man who has been missing for more than a year and is presumed dead. – Larskepler.com

Joona Linna is one of my favourite characters of any book (on a very close par with DI Helen Grace from M.J. Arlidge which you can find out more here) He is reckless but passionate, willing to anything to solve the case and help those close to him. However, this does cause problems, he makes stupid decisions that have me shouting at the book, like why would you discharge yourself from the hospital when your body is in desperate need of help? Now in this book I strongly disliked Detective Adam Youssef, he gave off bad vibes from the beginning and without giving away any spoilers, acted like an absolute idiot (struggled to describe just how I felt here without swearing) during an undercover operation to find a potential informant.

I do appreciate the use of unlikable characters as I believe that this gives more depth to the reading experience and a different range of emotions to feel rather than just either liking every character or not necessarily having an opinion on them.

Just when I thought that I couldn’t love this book series enough I am blindsided by the reveal! Oh my! If you are planning on reading this book or have already started then brace yourselves, I had to put the book down for a little breather just to try and get my head around what I had just read. It was shocking but also a perfect fit and couldn’t have been written any better.

Thankfully I have book 6 The Rabbit Hunter on my NetGalley shelf so I don’t have to wait too long to read this.
If I could give this more than 5 cups of coffee then I definitely would do, it is fully deserved.

I hope that you enjoyed this review and it has piqued your interest to try this series or just Scandi/Nordic reads in general. If you would like me make a post about creating my reading book review journal then comment below and I will make that happen.
See you in the next post.