This was an exceptional thriller. I had several other books I meant to read before this one since they were due first, but once I started _The Sandman_ I couldn't stop. The plot is propulsive, with lots of twists and clever developments. The characterization isn't great, but in this case the page-turning pace makes up for it. Highly recommended!

I'm a big Lars Kepler/Joona Linna/Saga Bauer fan. HUGE. And The Sandman did not disappoint.

Thirteen years ago, Mikael Kohler-Frost went missing along with his younger sister. They were long thought to have been victims of Sweden's most notorious serial killer, Jurek Walter, now serving a life sentence in a maximum security psychiatric hospital. Now Mikael tells the police that his sister is still alive and being held by someone he knows only as the Sandman.

Detective Inspector Joona Linna knows that any chance of rescuing Mikael's sister depends on getting Jurek to talk, and that the only agent capable of this is Inspector Saga Bauer. She will have to go under deep cover in the psychiatric ward where Jurek is imprisoned, and she will have to find a way to get to the psychopath before it's too late--and before he gets inside her head.

This was an absolutely fantastic thrill-ride and it kept me up late into the night. Definitely one of the best in the Joona Linna series.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This series just keeps getting better and better. The books are gritty and delve deep into the worst of the human condition. I know that once I start one of their books, I will not be able to put it down.

The Sandman by Lars Kepler is the 4th In the Detective Joona Linna series.

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Series Background  (Warning – May contain spoilers from previous books):
Homicide Detective Joona Linna works for the National Criminal Investigation Department in Sweden.  He is highly trained in mixed close combat, innovative weaponry, and urban guerrilla warfare. He is respected by his peers, and somewhat envied, but considered stubborn, and somewhat aloof. His need to be “right” is a strange quirk. His crime solve rate is high, probably because of his empathy. He can understand, but not condone, the criminal mind, and anticipates the perpetrators moves. He is driven, driven to keep going until the crime is solved.  He has lost his wife and daughter.

My Synopsis:
13 years ago 11-year old Mikael Kohler-Frost and his 8-year old sister Felicia went missing, assumed drowned, although no bodies were found. Their mother, in a state of depression, moved out and ended up committing suicide. Their father, afraid of doing the same, surrounded himself with people. But it was six years before he declared his children dead, and he still has not moved on.

Only Joona Linna refused to accept that the children drowned. Instead he thought they were the victims of serial killer Jurek Walter and an accomplice. Jurek is currently in a Secure Criminal psychiatric Hospital, where his restrictions are extreme. Joona and his partner Samuel Mendel were responsible for Jurek’s incarceration. They figured out a killer was targeting families, and eventually found the man outside Roseanna Kohler's house.  After following him, and having seen Jurek pushing a woman into a shallow grave, he was arrested. At the trial, Jurek stated that Samuel’s family will be next, and Samuel will commit suicide. Joona’s family will follow. When Jurek’s first threat comes true, and no one believes his theory about an accomplice, Joona has no choice. He sends his wife and daughter away, and fakes their death.

13 years pass, and 24-year old Mikael is found, alive, and the hunt for Jurek’s accomplice is suddenly urgent. Saga Bauer agrees to go undercover as a patient, to trick Jurek into talking. This may be harder than she thinks. Joona on the other hand needs to find that accomplice...it's the only way he can ever be re-united with his wife and daughter.


My Opinions:
I love this series. Joona is an amazing character and we now know how much he has sacrificed, and I am learning to admire Saga. I must find time for her series.

As predicted in the last book, we found out a lot more about Joona’s past, and it looks like it will continue in the next. The ending was great!

This book had a really fast pace, full of action, jumping from one rather suspenseful moment to the next. The authors don’t shy away from blood and gore, so be warned. Overall, it was spell-binding.

Excellent psychological thriller that reminds me of The Silence of the Lambs. Perfectly set up for the main character to continue in a series. Fast-paced and always had me wanting to come back to the book after I put it down. A fast read that I finished in 1 week, reading mostly at bedtime. Highly recommended.

I used to love a good horror story! This one was pretty intense! It could easily have fir into a police/detective or mystery story, but nope, this one was scary! Think of Silence of the Lambs frightening. We'll written and psychological thriller fun. This book is in a series, but each book acts as a stand alone. I'm thinking, I need to find the others! This was a great read!

Part of the great thriller series by Lars Kepler. A man who has been missing along with his sister for 13 years, is found wandering around Stockholm. He tells the police that his sister is still being held by someone known as the Sandman. Joona Linna investigates and his Inspector Saga Bauer goes undercover in this amazing thriller.

Add Lars Kepler to the list of prominent Scandinavian crime authors.

Creepy and well-plotted, especially in the climactic sections and throughout the portions of the undercover cop locked inside the psych ward, The Sandman gallops along, brutal and tense as it lives up to the well-known form of Scandinavian mysteries.

What’s unique about The Sandman is that the cops know who the murderer is - and he’s already locked up. But Jurek is no less dangerous, operating with a previously unknown accomplice, and for the police to find the missing victim, they need to unravel the why behind the series of killings.

There’s something a bit extra spooky about the killer being so dangerous that even isolate in prison he’s a barely diminished threat. But there’s much more potential the story of Jurek and his (somewhat obvious) accomplice than The Sandman allowed for. That story tumbled out as a bit of an afterthought, when perhaps it could’ve been built in throughout.

But on the whole, it brings the blood-soaked desperation that’s satisfying to fans of the genre.

Stockholm police inspector Joona Linna returns in this dark thriller about a serial killer called The Sandman. I enjoyed the short yet sharp chapters allowing me to read in short bursts. Mikael Kohler-Frost is found wandering alone, along the railroad tracks. He and his sister disappeared 13 years earlier and were assumed to be victims of The Sandman. A man name Jurek Walter was convicted of the Sandman crimes and has been held in a psych ward under maximum security. Walter reminded me of Hannibal Lecter, a cold and calculating killer. Now Mikael says his sister is alive and Joona and his team must find out where she is. Did Walter have an accomplice who has remained on the loose all these years? Much of the case hits very close to home for Joona, whose partner and family were themselves victims of The Sandman. In an effort to obtain information from Jurek Walter the police team plants one of their own, policewoman Saga Bauer, inside the psych ward. Saga will truly be tested in more ways than one. Things inside the psych ward are NOT what they seem. Joona and team work nonstop to the heart pounding conclusion. Perfect for Jo Nesbo and Steig Larsson fans. Thank you to the publisher for the ARE in exchange for my honest review.

Husband and wife team Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril and Alexander Ahndoril who write under the pseudonym Lars Kepler, have released another spellbinding novel in their bestselling Joona Linna series. The Sandman is set in Stockholm, and begins as Mikael Kohler-Frost, is found wandering. He has been missing for thirteen years, and, along with his sister, who is still missing, was thought to be a victim of Jurek Walters, a notorious serial killer who has been locked up in a mental institution due to the efforts of Joona Linna. Mikael tells Linna that his sister is still alive, but like Mikael, who is being treated in the hospital, most likely has Legionnaires disease and doesn’t have much time to live. Others have gone missing since Walters has been locked up, and Linna is convinced that he has an accomplice on the outside. Walters has the reputation of being able to manipulate those around him, and has proven himself over and over with law enforcement and others. Linna knows that he must find someone to go undercover into the mental hospital – someone strong enough to withstand his manipulations – to get enough information to rescue Mikael’s sister and apprehend the accomplice. Saga Bauer is most likely the only one with the skills, and agrees to the dangerous and potentially deadly task.

Kepler is a master storyteller; the book draws you in immediately and keeps you on edge throughout. The suspense is palpable, and the story is unique. Kepler’s characters are well-developed, and the Scandinavian background and ambience give the novel aspects that may be unfamiliar to many readers. The unexpected twists and turns don’t stop, and some parts are a bit scary, as serial killers can be.

Although The Sandman can be read as a standalone novel, readers will surely pick up the previous novels when they finish. This is an excellent novel and part of an excellent series. Highly recommended.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

The Sandman is an addicting start to a new crime series from Lars Kepler. Fast-paced and unpredictable. This dark and chilling story will grab ahold of you and never let you go.

This is my first introduction to Lars Kepler, the husband and wife team from Sweden, and their bestselling series featuring Joona Linna. While as far as the investigation goes this can easily be read as a stand-alone, I do think I may have missed out on something vital that stopped me from getting hooked and getting a feel for the character of Joona.

A young man, Mikael, is found wandering late one night. He and his sister went missing thirteen years ago and were thought to have been the victims of a serial killer. Now though, it looks like Michael has managed to escape and he tells the police that his sister is still alive. With the serial killer serving a life sentence in a psychiatric hospital, there seems to be only one way the detectives can solve this case. Someone needs to get close to this notorious man and get him to talk.

I found this to be quite a slow burner and I had a hard time keeping track of the various characters and their titles and jobs, which may be something that might have come more easily to me if I had read the previous three books in the series. There was also a lot of background explaining how we got to a certain point in the story that didn’t quite grab me as I thought it would.

The killer, though. Now that’s a whole other kettle of fish. Jurek Walter, or The Sandman, is an absolutely fascinating and intriguing character. A master manipulator, capable of getting inside your head without you even realising it. I most certainly do not envy anyone who’s forced to spend time with him. It was definitely because of him that I kept reading, wanting to know how things would play out.

From what I can tell, this series is immensely popular, selling millions of copies around the world. Yet, somehow it didn’t quite work for me. Creepy, yes. There is also a brilliant background story to explain Jurek’s motivations and while things did pick up near the end of the book, for me it needed that bit more oomph and a faster pace to it and it sadly just wasn’t for me. Don’t let that put you off though as I’m quite obviously in the minority!

THE SANDMAN BY LARS KEPLER BOOK REVIEW
Truthfully, I had no idea what I was getting into when I started reading The Sandman. Rarely, do I read a book without at least reading the synopsis, but I dove in & didn’t come back for air until the final page. Honestly, The Sandman CAPTIVATED me. For real, I want you to just trust me & read this book.

So yes, this book is part of a series. No, you don’t have to read the other books to understand what’s going on. I am betting after you read The Sandman, you’ll be hooked on this series. I certainly am!

A BIT OF BACKGROUND
Years ago two kids went missing. You can imagine the surprise when 13 years later, one of the “kids” is found walking near train tracks. He is incoherent & rushed to the hospital. The suspense really kicks in when he tells investigators that he has to go back & rescue his sister. In grave detail, he describes his captor, a Sandman with porcelain hands that only arrives in the darkness.

JOONA LINDA
Here readers meet the bad-ass investigator, Joona Linda. He previously worked the case & Jurek Walter is serving time for the crime. Quickly, Joona begins to question whether he has the right man behind bars. See, the timelines don’t match. Who was keeping these two alive while Jurek is in jail? Is Jurek working with an accomplice? Does Joona Linda have the right guy? And how the hell are they going to get to get the truth from Jurek Walter?

FULL HANNIBAL LECTER VIBES, BUT WORSE!
Let me just tell you, Jurek Walter is downright terrifying. This is where Kepler does their thing. The authors craft this veil of mystery, fear & intrigue around Jurek. Although Jurek doesn’t say or do much in this story, I found my jaw clenched in any scene where characters made contact with him. Kepler makes it clear that Jurek Walter a seriously bad dude. One evening, I had to put The Sandman back on the nightstand after a particularly creepy scene where one of the guards has a nightmare starring Jurek Walter. BAH! I’ve got chills right now thinking about it.

LARS KEPLER
If you look below, we always include an author’s bio on our page. Lars Kepler is a pseudonym for a husband & wife team, Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril & Alexander Ahndoril. If you want to read more about them, check out their author page. The authors are doing a US press tour this week & I’m planning to see them when they visit Portland!

The Kepler writing duo is SO smart. The Sandman is fast paced & plays in my head like an edge of your seat thriller. One thing I love about their writing style is the authors don’t just describe the characters, we learn who they are through their actions.

THE VERDICT
I am Really Into This book! The Sandman is thrilling, suspenseful, scary & incredibly well written. I’m so excited to have found a new author & a new series. If you’re into Nordic thrillers, be sure to check out Snowblind by Ragnar Jonasson.

Special thanks to Lars Kepler, Knopf Doubleday & NetGalley for providing my copy in exchange for an honest & fair review.

Another winner from Sandberg.. Nicely plotted and a great ending. Don't miss any of these books by this author.
Very satisfying.

This was my first Lars Kepler book but I know that it will not be my last. The story was a slow burn for me compared to the thrillers that I usually read. There was a lot of carefully planned out details in every avenue the authors decided to take and I liked that. The imagery that was painted for me was a perfect blend of just enough to have a a solid footing of where I was and what I was seeing yet enough detail withheld so that I could paint my own colors to the story and envision it the way that I liked. From the very first chapter, the author was able to give me that very uncomfortable feeling like I didn't want to be alone in the house when I was reading this. I felt uncomfortable in that good way that I was scared to keep reading but yet needed to read faster just to find out what was happening. That's good writing, as not many books make me feel that way. The twist at the end reminded me a bit of the movie Halloween. I enjoyed this very much and will look forward to reading more in the series. Thank you very much to the publisher for a chance to read and review this. When my youtube review is live, I will return to add the link.

This is the third book that I have read in the Joona Linna series (I have not yet read The Nightmare), and although I think The Hypnotist and The Fire Witness were better I still enjoyed The Sandman. In fact, for the mostpart I found it very compelling, intriguing, fast-paced and entertaining, and I thought it was a 4 star read. Somewhere towards the end it seemed to lose its spark and I found the rest of the story predictable so overall it was a 3 star read for me. I really liked the new character Saga, I thought she was interesting, well-written, and I liked her back story. This was a decent mystery/crime/thriller and I am still interested to read more in the series.

"Even though Jurek Walter has committed the most heinous crimes of any serial killer in Swedish history, he is completely unknown to the public. The proceedings against him in the Central Court House and at the Court of Appeal were held behind closed doors, and all the files are strictly confidential."

Detective Inspector Joona Linna is determined to find The Sandman who held a young boy and his sister captive for 13 years, and the serial killer, Jurek Walter, locked away in a mental institution with no physical contact with other people holds the secret.  The young boy, now a young man, has escaped the elusive Sandman and tells a terrifying tale of terror and suffering beyond all comprehension.  The boy's sister is still a captive, and Jinna must find her before it's too late.  In order to get Jurek Walter to talk, Linna elicits Inspector Saga Bauer's help to be part of a risky undercover operation posing as a mental patient and getting Walter to tell her the place where the missing girl is being held captive.

First of all, though this is book 4 in the series, it reads well as a standalone.  Secondly, this edge-of-the-seat thriller had me thoroughly engaged in the characters and wanting--no, needing--to read the other books in the series.  The character development is so intricate from Joona Linna, who sacrifices everything, including his family, in order to stop a psychopath, and Saga Bauer who risks her life to find a missing girl, to Anders Rönn, sadist psychiatrist, who wields his power over patients, and Jurek Walters, calculating sociopath, who is waiting for his day of revenge.  If you like gripping and deeply engaging thrillers with bone-chilling characters and surprise endings, pick up this book.  In fact, follow me to the bookstore to pick up the series.

Thank you to the authors and Abigail Endler from Knopf Publishing for inviting me on this tour and giving me the opportunity to review this book.

This heart pounding thriller following the Swedish detective Joona Linna , is a welcome addition to the series that began with The Hypnotist. This is one not to be missed,

This review is written with thanks to Abby Endler at AA Knopf and Netgalley for my copy of The Sandman.
One evening, Mikael Kohler-Frost is found wandering along a train track. He disappeared thirteen years ago and has since been presumed dead, along with his younger sister, Felicia. They were thought to have been victims of Jurek Walter, who is serving a life sentence in a high security psychiatric institution, forbidden to have contact with the outside world. It falls to Saga Bauer to go undercover in the psychiatric institution to encourage Jurek to open up about his crimes, so that her colleagues can discover what happened to Felicia. Can they save Felicia before it is too late?
I love Nordic Noir, and The Sandman ​encompasses many of the reasons why. The scene is set beautifully, with incredible descriptions of the snow and the surroundings, which create an atmosphere that makes the novel truly gripping. The short chapters mean that the novel is fast paced and a tense scene is never far away. I remained hooked until the very end.
There are several different characters in The Sandman. This meant that, at times, I found it difficult to follow who was who in the different strands of the plot. However, I enjoyed the way that even minor characters were given a back story, so that I was able to build up a picture of their lives, and become invested in the bid to find Felicia. The character of Jurek was also incredibly well constructed and I found him truly chilling. The insight into his character means that I was never sure just how far he would go to get what he wanted.
The ending of The Sandman is full of twists and turns, and we leave the characters on a cliffhanger. This guarantees that whilst this novel is my first taste of Lars Kepler, it will not be my last.

Oh my god, The Sandman is ALL OF THE FEARS: it is gripping, chilling and horrifically compulsive.

“You’re like a sister to me…but it would be better if you died than if he got out”

The Sandman starts with an intriguing prologue and four of the most breath-holdingly tense chapters I have ever read and barely lets up from then on!

The story moves loosely back and forth in time with short, intense chapters and focuses on different characters or plot strands at a time, thereby keeping the pace at maximum and your interest constantly engaged.

It is tense throughout, as you follow the police’s developing investigation and learn more about the unnerving Jurek Walter and his inhuman crimes. Although there is a fair bit of blood and guts in the book, it is the psychological aspects of the case that will stay with me for some time yet.

Around the middle of the book, the police’s plan and actions, and the set up at the secure unit, were pretty far-fetched, but I was perfectly able to suspend my disbelief in the interests of such a compelling story. You just need to go with it and hold on for the ride!

Joona and Saga are both great characters, but this book is all about Jurek Walter, a uniquely twisted serial killer that you will remember long after you finish the book.

With huge thanks to the publisher, Abby and NetGalley for the ARC of The Sandman.