Huge confession here. I am a Lars Kepler aficionado so whenever one of their books is released in English I anxiously find a way to procure a copy. In this second installment of the Joona Linna series, Joona has to tackle the mistaken murder of the sister of Penelope, an outspoken peace activist and concurrently the suicide of another man who was found hanging from a ceiling hook in his apartment. While tracking the killer, it appears he is targeting others as well, all connected to a mysterious photograph that was taped onto a door at Penelope's house. Peeling back the layers of an onion, disturbing information reveals itself regarding illegal arms sales to Sudan leading to a taut conclusion.
Admittedly in the beginning I was disappointed due to the slow rhythm (not like the Sandman) but as time continued the pace and excitement improved dramatically.

This is the second time that I have read this book and it was well worth it. Joona is one of my favorite characters that the Ahndoril's have made as their main focus. They took a pacifist, in Penelope Fernandez, and actually made her a heroine, beside Joona and created a story that encompasses Africa and Scandinavia and arms deals that play out in the story. Together with music, they help enhance the bad guy, Raphael Guidi, in making the Paganini contract, with the swearing of loyalty and kissing his hand. Guidi has a yacht that he lives on and has many body guards that know how to kill. Joona with the help of Saga follows one of these killers that killed Penelope's younger sister and Penelope's boyfriend, now out to kill Penelope. There's so much action I stayed up overnight reading this story the first time. You won't be sorry if you go ahead a read this book.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the Kindle ARC of this title. I thought it was very good. I had recently read The Hypnotist (1st in the series) and liked it, but I thought this was even better. The story seemed tighter or more plausible. I really like the Jools Linna main character. I’m a fan of Nesbo’s Harry Hole series, and this series seems closest to that series to me. I have the Kindle version of the 4th book from the library but I guess I’ll have to skip the 3rd since it doesn’t seem to be easily available.

The Nightmare by Lars Kepler is definitely my favorite book this year. The husband and wife author team know their stuff. Their research on their topics is beyond superb. In this book, the topics were violins and arm sales to other countries.

Every character is very well drawn out and each have a story which connects to the main storyline. This book needs to be made into a movie.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc.

A great read with plenty of twists and turns. Shall be on the lookout for more titles from this author. Recommend 4.5*

Lars Kepler, the team that writes these books keeps us in suspense from the first page to the last.
The writing flows and it's a continuous adventure into the crime.
I always look forward to the next Lars Kepler.

I was struggling to get into the story and the characters--and there were so many of them! Told in a split-narrative, The Nightmare by Lars Kepler (who, fun fact, is actually a husband-wife duo!), starts with two deaths: the apparent suicide of a government official; and a suspicious drowning of a young woman, who was found on an abandoned yacht. The story jumps between several different characters, many of whom are seeming unrelated, but focuses quite a bit on Joona Linna, one of the main detectives working both cases. Ultimately, readers are swept up into quite a scandal--with multiple murders, a strange man hunting a couple through the winds, an international arms agreement, and a wildly talented musician who hasn't touched his violin in 30 years. Linna, and other detectives and related agencies, work to unravel this complicated and devious case before another life is taken.

Like I mentioned, it took me awhile to get into this book. There are so many different characters with different (and seemingly unrelated) stories, that it was hard to keep jumping back and forth between storylines that just seemed whatever to the storylines I really wanted to know more about. However, once the pieces starting coming together, I finished the last half of the book in the span of one afternoon! With 560 pages, The Nightmare is a bit longer than most of my normal reads and maybe that was one of the reasons I was reluctant to dive in? Due to its length, it certainly moves quite a bit slower than the usual psychological thrillers I read. Additionally, once the story and crime had been figured out, there just seemed like so much of the book left. To be fair, it was all heavy action and not necessarily wrapping up all the characters' stories in long and complicated way, which would have been even worse. I guess I'm just used to those psychological thrillers that start with a bang and, once everything unravels, the story wraps up shortly after.

The Nightmare is actually the second of a series surrounding Detective Joona Linna--which I definitely failed to realized when I received the eARC from NetGalley. Thankfully, it seems to be one of those crime series that doesn't necessarily require you to read them in order. However, a little bit in the end definitely set up for further books in the series. While this series, which currently is made of seven books, began almost ten years ago (!!!) in Sweden (I believe), a new english version is being released in September of this year!

Ultimately, I think I'll stick to my shorter reads, with way less characters, but if you are a crime/detective junkie this book (and maybe this series!) may be right up your alley!

International arms sales and violins

This is the second book in the Joona Linna Swedish crime series by husband/wife writing team "Lars Kepler". I like their writing style but they do like to write lengthy books. This one is over 500 pages. This book was first published back in 2012 but is just now (September 2018) coming out in the Kindle format.

This is a rather convoluted story of international arms sales in Sweden, a peace campaigner, of multiple deaths, of a professional "fixer," and there's side dishes of music and famous violins.

I like Joona Linna's character, a detective in the National Crime Unit - a man who is almost always right and lets everyone know it.

I think the book could have been just as good by trimming some of the excessive pages out but I still enjoyed it.

I'm now off to read book three in the series THE FIRE WITNESS.

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

This was a solid political thriller, but I'm not a huge fan of political thriller murder mysteries. If you're into that genre you'll enjoy this book, otherwise it is just fine.

A young woman's body was found on a drifting yacht, cause of death is drowning but she doesn't appear to have been in any water. The next day Carl Palmcrona, the director general of the Inspectorate for Strategic Products is found hanging in his home, his death appears to be a suicide, but there is nothing for him to climb up on in the room. Joona Linna, of the National Crime Unit, is called in to investigate the hanged man and soon discovers that the two mysterious deaths are linked. With the help of Security Police, Saga Bauer, they begin their investigation and find themselves facing a professional killer who makes your worst nightmares come true.

The Nightmare is the exhilarating second novel in the Joona Linna series. I have to say this is quickly becoming one of my favorite series. I read The Sandman first, and quickly added all of the other books to my TBR. I enjoy seeing the character development and story arc progression as I read the earlier novels. The Nightmare is a fast paced crime thriller told through parallel plots and different POV's that intertwines perfectly into a novel that you just don't want to put down. Joona's character is captivating and mysterious with a sharp perception that allows him to see what others don't. Although Saga's character comes off a bit obnoxious in this book, I know her character development comes along way by book 4 (The Sandman). I really enjoyed this novel and look forward to reading all of the books in this series.

I have read other books by this author and enjoyed them... and enjoyed this one as well. A talented and complex writer who can weave a story and keep you going to the finish line.

Thank you NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday for the eARC.
When I requested The Nightmare I didn't know I had already read it...what a disappointment!
Joona Linna is investigating 2 cases: the first involves the mystery of a drowned girl found in a yacht floating aimlessly, but not a drop of water is found on her, how is that even possible? Then a politician, hanged in his apartment; looks like a suicide, but there is no evidence of anything he stood on to reach the noose, so was it murder?
This was the 2nd in the Joona Linna series - I've read 3 of them - and another excellent read. Joona is a fascinating character, he seems to have an unerring instinct, finding clues no-one else picks up on. He seems obsessed while working a case, to the point of suffering unbearable stress-induced migraines. The only relief he finds is when he is with his girlfriend, whose steadiyng influence keeps him grounded.
This series is well worth reading, preferably in order, which is not easy; for some reason foreign series don't always get published in order in the US.

Wow, what a fantastic story. After reading the first book in this series ‘The Hypnotist’ and being blown away by how good it was, I was keen to read this second book. I wasn’t disappointed, as both Authors have done an amazing job in writing non-stop and unpredictable story. I love Joona Linna as the main character, he stands out from the other detectives with his unique ability in seeing thing that the others can’t. His fighting skills and self-defence are another stand out in each book.
Joona Linna from the National Crime Unit isn’t used to being attacked and coming off second best. However, that’s exactly what happens when he starts to look into a recent murder and comes into contact with the man responsible. The way in which Joona was attacked certainly indicated to him that he was dealing with a professional, and he was lucky to come out of it in one piece. Not that Joona is meant to be investigating this murder and the disappearance of Penelope Fernandez and her boyfriend Bjorn Almskog. Even though his boss wants him at the academy, Joona gets the feeling that this murder is a lot bigger than everyone else believes it is, and he’s not about to walk away from it. Then of course there is the other matter of promising Penelope’s mother that he would find her daughter. From start to finish this is an exceptional story, with an interesting and entertaining plot. Easily worth the 5/5 Star Rating.

Second book in the series and wow I can’t wait to see how it all ends. Lars Kepler is getting so much love on social media I can’t wait for people to read these books. Total hit!

I think I did myself a disservice by reading The Sandman before starting this series from the beginning. Clearly this is no one's fault but my own, and truly is just personal preference, but I will say that it wasn't anything to do with the quality of writing or the translation that had me give a middle of the road rating. I had the privilege of picking up the updated translation, and I'm told it is a massive improvement from the original english translation done, although I haven't read both to give you any specific examples of this. I think for me, Sandman was SO incredible that it was hard to back-peddle into the early stages of the series where the building of characters and growth of writing takes place. I enjoyed this one though, and definitely am looking forward to continuing the series, although I may try to jump back in with book 5 as that's where my interest seems to be for the moment, and eventually come back to book 3 after I catch up.

This is the 2nd book in the Joona Linna series by the husband and wife writers that publish under the name Lars Kepler. I have read most of the books in this series and found them to be of a consistently high standard. This one is up there with the others and is an excellent addition to the series, a good plot and well paced with excellent characters.
A young woman is found drifting around the coast, her lungs are full of water but there are no other signs of water in her abandoned boat or even on her clothing. The following day another death is detected when a man is found hanging from a lamp hook in the ceiling of his Stockholm apartment. These two deaths appear to be either accidental or suicides but something focuses the attention of Inspector Linna who has different ideas and feels that the death appears to be an execution.
I would like to thank both Net Galley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

The Nightmare is the next in a series by the Swedish husband and wife team who bring us Joona Linna. These are heart pounding mysteries that offer not only great characters but fascinating puzzles. Not to be missed!

A superb Lars Kepler excursion! As always, superb plotting and characters that keep you turning pages until the very end!

This is an excellent crime/thriller, written by a truly talented duo of Swedish authors, Alexander Ahndoril and Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril who are considered to be one of the brightest representatives of the 'Nordic Noir' genre. ''The Nightmare'' is the second installment in the magnificent Joona Linna book series, with the protagonist being a Finnish super-detective working in Stockholm police, and his background story, which unfolds slowly in the first three books in the series, is stigmatized by the unavoidable and necessary exodus of his wife and daughter from his life for the reasons we read about at the end of the third book in the series, titled ''The Fire Witness''.
In my opinion, ''The Nightmare'' is a better book than the previous -first in the series- ''Hypnotist'' as it seems that the writers are more mature both in their plot planning and rhythm of development as well as their character descriptions. The story begins when the Stockholm's police discover two bodies in two -seemingly- unrelated cases which, as is typical of Scandi-Crime novels, begin to merge as the plot starts to unravel. The reader has the opportunity to indulge in great suspenseful scenes filled with plenty of action, and he never feels tired or uninterested. In this book, we are also introduced to Saga Bauer, an extremely competent and effective police officer, sort of a feminine equivalent to Linna, for whom we also learn more in the next novels of this series.
Each and every novel of the Joona Linna series has a cinematic feeling and effect on the reader and it should be noted that the ''Hypnotist'' (#1) led to an on-screen adaptation directed by Lasse Hallström with Tobias Zilliacus as ''dourly driven investigator Joona Linna'' (Hollywoodreporter.com).
In my opinion, the Ahndoril duetto (husband and wife) definitely belong to the elite of contemporary European crime fiction (Scandinavian or not) and the Jonna Linna series is one of the most exciting and seducing I've ever read (note that I am an avid crime fiction reader) and I will always eagerly awaiting Lars Kepler's new books.
I want to thank NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for providing a free ARC of this magnificent novel.

I actually requested this one thinking it was a new Lars Kepler Book because I did not recognize the cover art. I had previously read (and loved) this one! I eagerly anticipate all the Joona Linna books! There is something truly captivating about this series and all of the characters. I became very attached to Joona and couldn’t wait to see where his story went!