I love Joona Linna books, but I started them way down the line in the series. I was honored to receive an ARC so that I could start from the beginning! This book was so captivating, and I found Erik's story to be very intriguing. This story was gruesome and perfect, great gritty read!

This book is a page-turner. The killer is very creepy. There are many interesting twists.

I received an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley for an honest review.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to review this book and to be an early reader via NetGalley! However, I will not be writing a review for this title at this time, as my reading preferences have since changed somewhat. In the event that I decide to review the book in the future, I will make sure to purchase a copy for myself or borrow it from a library. Once again, thank you so much for providing me with early access to this title. I truly appreciate it. Please feel free to contact me with any follow-up questions or concerns.

I think this book lost something in the translation, or maybe I just don't get it. Read this for a book club, was not a fan.

was a gripping thriller that took you to every aspect of trying to figure out what was really going on and what was going to happen next! This was such an amazing book and I can’t wait to see what else is released from this author!

Erik Maria Bark has sworn never to hypnotize anyone again. But when a young boy is the only survivor from a deadly attack to his family, where his father, mother and little sister have been murdered and his other sister is at risk, he has to think again. Bark is now specialized in working with victims under pain and he is requested to act drastically so as the boy that is under shock is able to give the police details of the attack. He doesn’t want to perform hypnosis again, but he understands that a girl’s life is at risk and their only hope to help her is to practice what he promised not to. Detective Inspector Joona Linna is counting on his help to protect the girl.

Joona Linna is a Detective Inspector that is never wrong. So when he founds out about a coach that is found murdered in the lockers and later on, almost all his family is murdered as well, he knows that the killing has not stopped. He needs to find what happened. He needs the right person for the job and therefore calls for Erik Maria Bark. Once Bark does as he is asked, things start to take a dramatic effect, as Bark is threatened and his own son goes missing. Joona says they are going to find Erik’s son and he is never wrong.

This is the first installment in the Joona Linna series. The book is written that way, that the reader get’s to know Joona Linna, but not too deep. He is the one calling the shots, but he is not the real protagonist throughout the book. When he hears about the murder in the locker room, he calls local police and makes himself part of the investigation. At a glance, he can tell that this does not end there. When the local police finds the family slaughtered and the son still alive, he is more than certain that the father was the first victim and it means that more will follow, as the eldest daughter in the family was not found within the victims. He turns to be right as forensics move on with their investigation and he takes over the case. Joona Linna is still the protagonist up to this point and up to the point he persuades Bark to practice hypnosis again. Then it all goes around Bark.

The focus of the story changes and moves around the doctor and his family. It is very important to note that when we meet Bark he is sleeping and he founds sleep via the help of pills. This is a very important part of the plot, as it shows home much Bark has suppressed his mind and that is also why he cannot bring forward all the memories from the past. He doesn’t want to remember anything from the time he was researching the benefits of hypnosis on people under stress and pain. As we later learn, it was a very traumatic period in his life, which has turned everything upside down.

However when his son is kidnapped, he is forced by Joona Linna to think over his past and find out who might wanted to harm him. This is when the memories flow, for several pages, and they are so revealing. Erik Maria Bark had a very good reason to have stopped practicing hypnosis. He has convinced himself that he was wrong. That all his work has been harmful and that he should never do it again. And that, along with the incidents of those days, were enough to make him want to bury that part of his life deep down in his mind and never to think of it again. This is the part of the book that Bark is taking the leading role while Linna is has some highlights that really add to the story and the investigation itself.

Once again I am indebted to NetGalley who kindly provided me with a Kindle version of this book to read and impartially review, and once again introduce me to another new author Lars Keplar, who is in actual fact a pseudonym for real life writing couple Alexandra and Alexander Ahndoril and their super cop Joona Linna of which this book is the first in the series of six novels so far.
The story starts with the brutal slaying of a family spread across two murder scenes, with a seriously wounded young boy as the only survivor, but where is his older sister? Very quickly our hero requests the boy undergo hypnosis to try and discover more of what took place, enter The Hypnotist of the title a man who swore never to hypnotize anyone again following previous problems when doing so. Following surprise revelations and more murders a frantic hunt for the killer is underway, but then The Hypnotists son is kidnapped surely the two cases are linked! You will have to read the book to find out.
This is an entertaining read well written descriptive with excellent characterization and unusually a detective with seemingly no character flaws except perhaps over confidence. A gripping fast paced story with a numbers of twists.
Recommended.

I read the Hypnotist is my kind of book. A very dark crime thriller. A young boy is the sole survivor of the massacre of his family but in such bad shape it was at first thought he was dead. Because he is severely traumatized and not stable enough to be questioned, DI Joona Linna has asked Dr. Erik Maria Bark to hypnotize him. However Bark has vowed never to hypnotize another patient again. But Linna is not so easily put off and eventually Bark agrees.
There are a lot of characters but all comes together in the end. I wasn’t too keen on the short chapters. I found them distracting at times. But all in all I loved this book.
Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book

Book was archived before I could get to reading it. I am new to the galley and didn’t realize that the archive date meant that I could not access the title to read even if I had already downloaded it. Guess I will have to buy the book. Sorry I missed the opportunity. Too bad.

Set my teeth on edge

I could not get into this book no matter how often I picked it up. There was something about each of the characters that set my teeth on edge. The floundering around of the detecting team was irritating too, as was the dithering of Mr. Hypnotist whose decisions caused all these problems. Finns are usually quiet yet decisive people but Joona Linna hardly ripples the air.

Lars Kepler is a phenomenal writer, not since early Stephen King have I been so entranced by a story and it's development

Lars Kepler is here to stay! After reading and loving The Sandman, I couldn't wait to get my hands on the original first novel of this series. Outstanding! Kepler is a dark, disturbing husband/wife duo of authors who really goes there in their writing. The characters are fantastic. The plot is full of twists and just great writing. The mystery is solid. Highly recommended to readers looking for a new great mystery series. This one is here to stay!

I had the pleasure of reading The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler who has now gone to the top of my favorite authors! It took me a while to finish the book but you should know that that had absolutely nothing to do with quality of the book. I purposely took my time because I wanted to savor it and make it last a bit longer. The characters in this book were amazing and it was great to be a part of their lives if just for a short while. I am not going in detail about the plot because that’s what you should experience on your own. I would not be surprised if this gets picked up for a movie option. Congratulations to the author and thanks to NetGalley for letting me preview this wonderful book. No doubt about it. 5 stars all the way

"The Hypnotist" by Lars Kepler, translated by Neil Smith, Vintage Books, 512 pages, July 31, 2018.

Sweden National Police Detective Inspector Joona Linna is called to a triple homicide. Anders Ek, a high school teacher who referees soccer, is found brutally murdered at the soccer field. A police officer goes to Ek's home to notify his family, but finds Ek's wife, Katja, and daughter, Lisa, have also been murdered.

Josef, their 15-year-old son, is badly injured, but still living. He is rushed to a hospital. Then police learn that his older sister is missing. They are concerned that she was kidnapped. Some of the police believe the family was killed because of Ek's gambling debts.

Josef may be suffering from a loss of memory. A doctor suggests hypnosis to get Josef to tell police what he remembers about the stabbings. Linna calls Dr. Erik Maria Bark. Bark has sworn off performing hypnosis because of an earlier case, but he agrees to hypnotize Josef, with unexpected results.

The characters and plotting are really good. There are some side issues, such as Bark's marital issues that I first thought was story padding, but the issues do factor into the story. This is a fairly gruesome story, so be forewarned.

This is a new translation of a novel first published in 2009. Lars Kepler is a pseudonym for Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril and Alexander Ahndoril, who are married.

In accordance with FTC guidelines, the Advanced Readers Copy of this book was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first story featuring the Swedish (Finnish) detective Joona Linna and is a fantastic read right from the start. It begins with the horrific murders of a family where one member is left comatose. Hypnotist Erik Maria Bark is reluctantly persuaded to try to get a victim statement from the boy to help Joona and the police catch the killer. Things soon turn darker and it eventually transpires that all the grim events happening afterwards are a consequence of Erik's past and the reason he vowed never to hypnotise again. He has to dig deep into his memories to help Joona and try to save his own son Benjamin. The book is dark, gruesome and disturbing in places but it's all a necessary part of the plot. This is an excellent introduction to the series, thoroughly deserving 5 stars, and will definitely leave the reader reaching for the next book.

Twisty thriller in Sweden with a Finnish detective

UPDATE:
I originally read this book back in 2013 and wasn't too impressed by it. I just re-read it because I'm actually going to read the next three books in the Joona Linna series.

This book is being re-released in the U.S. I believe it's coming out on Kindle now. I'm not sure whether more editing was done for this release but I didn't notice it being overly wordy this time and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Maybe my reading tastes have changed in the last five years.

One note, this book is more about the doctor and hypnotist Erik Maria Bark (and the main annoyance in the book is that he's called by his full three names throughout the book) rather than Detective Joona Linna of Sweden's National Crime team, who the series is based on.

This was a clever murder/serial killer thriller that kept me guessing (my memory isn't as good as it once was so I didn't remember details from five years ago).

There's gore, violence, sexual scenes, and abuse in this book so be forewarned.

I received this book from Vintage Books through Net Galley in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.

Review from 2013:
Mediocre Swedish thriller. Would have been much better with about 200 less pages - much too bloated.

My first Lars Kepler book and it was amazing. The Sandman got so much talk on social media I couldn’t wait to read this series.

Very disturbing but enthralling piece of writing. Very well plotted and keeps you wanting more. Evil is alive in this book.

Could this young boy really have slaughtered his family is he that evil? It is Detective Joona Linna's job to find out. But the boy Josef is badly injured and he needs to find out where the sister is but he can't talk so he has no choice but to call in an expert. Erik Maria Bark has left his old life behind and now Joona wants him to break a promise that he made to everyone. Can he really help with the case by hypnotize the boy to find out the answers? What will the answer be?
The race is on to find the sister but Joona knows that there is more to the boy's story he just hasn't figured it out yet. Erik knows that this case is about to open up old wounds and things will only get worse for him. His wife thinks that he is cheating on her again and his pill addiction is getting worse and his son is still so sick. No matter what he does nothing seems to work out. The past has come for him and he will lose everything unless he and Joona unravel the past and find the answers they both are looking for?
A great read love foreign writers there book are always so thrilling and draw you into another world. Joona is a man that never gives up and he proves everyone wrong every time. Erik seems to be a weak man as he seems to blame everyone else for his problems but luckily he surprises me in the end. Who doesn't like a thriller that has many turns and just when you think that you know who the killer is, the book takes you around another turn. I was lucky enough to receive a copy via Netgalley & the publishing house in exchange my honest review.

This was an ‘edge of your seat thriller’ that kept me guessing throughout the entire book. There were lots and lots of plot twists and turns that didn’t seem to go anywhere. Overall, a solid 3 stars and I will look forward to reading the next in the Jooni Linna series.