I tried to get into this one. I tried to relate to the characters and understand the background. It was too hard to start with this book. I feel like reading previous books about the serial killer would be a better way to start. I had to DNF about 30% through.

This is a brilliant read.
Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.
Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believable.
Great suspense and found myself second guessing every thought I had continuously.
Can't wait to read what the author brings out next.
Recommend reading.

I was provided an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher.  This is my own honest voluntary review.

I think this book belongs in a new genre - Nordic ultra noir. It was so very, very dark! This is also book 7 of a series. I haven’t read any of the others. Having heard lots of good things, I really wanted to try this series and I was too confused and couldn't really get into it. May try again in the future, though!

This was a highly suspenseful read and I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. This is a brutal story of revenge and the ending was equally shocking and heartbreaking. Lars Kepler are masterfully at writing complex stories and I'm in desperate need of the next book in this series.

I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review. The opinions are entirely my own, and any quotes are taken from the ARC and may be different in the final published copy.

I read and enjoyed most of Lars Kepler's Joona Linna series. When I read The Rabbit Hunter, the 6th/previous book in the series, I found it lacking. Whether it was due to the story or its translation, I am not sure. Giving Kepler's Joona Linna series another chance was a good choice. Whatever my issue was with The Rabbit Hunter is not a problem in this one.

In Lazarus, ruthless criminals are being murdered. The police are not overly concerned with a vigilante who is making their jobs easier. Joona Luna thinks one killer is behind the murders, and there is a specific, dark reason these criminals are targeted. Joona, with the help of Saga Bauer, tracks down the murderer but puts themselves in his crosshairs. Was that the murderer's intention along?

This book could be read without reading the previous books in the series. However, this book, more than the others, includes characters and details from the rest of the story. You would benefit from reading the others to get the most out of this novel.

As I mentioned in other reviews, Kepler’s books are detailed and gritty. Be warned! There is gore, but the series is worth reading.

This 200-word review will be published on Philomathinphila.com.

LAZARUS is probably the scariest and most thrilling book I’ve read in a long time. The villain is one compared with Hannibal Lector and I love the team of detectives chasing after him. Kepler creates stories that will haunt you in your nightmares. This book can be read as a stand-alone but I feel as if reading the series as a whole helps character build. LAZARUS is a high intensity police procedural that will make you want to sleep with the lights on.

I was excited to receive an ARC of Lazarus by Lars Kepler, as I love Nordic Noir and I had heard so much positive feedback on this husband and wife author team. This was book 7 in the Joona Linna series, and I do believe that not having read the previous books in the series did hamper my enjoyment.  The title Lazarus refers to a killer thought dead who rises again with a reign of terror, coming after Joona and those he cares about. Although I could follow the storyline with no problem, I did feel like I missed out on the emotional nuances between characters.
What I liked about the book was nonstop action. It definitely held my interest and I could see this being a good action movie plot because the killer was relentless.
What I didn't like: I found the killer just "too much". He was robotic. People can be evil but they are more interesting if there is some small glimmer of humanity, or some knowledge of what bent them. So many people are killed in this book that it becomes a bit ho hum for me. Eventually one becomes numb to so much violence. I just didn't find the killer an interesting character and his never making a mistake became a bit unbelievable near the end. 
I rate this 3.5, but possibly if I had read the other books in the series and been able to connect with the characters more, it would have been a 4.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the authors for the opportunity to read this book. I do intend to read another, possibly the first book in this series.

Another winner from Lars Kepler! This duo can do no wrong. Love the dark setting, the grisly details and I just want more books from them!

The fourth book in the series that I've read, and I keep coming back for more.
Detective Joona Linna has been released from prison and is back to work at Sweden's National Crime Division.
When his name is connected to two crimes victims, he realizes that his nemesis is behind the murders.
But no one believes him, the man he thinks is responsible is dead. DNA evidence proved it.
Despite this, Joona takes his daughter and goes into hiding. He asks his colleague Saga Bauer to investigate.
She was the one who shot his archenemy. She doesn't believe Joona either. But when her father and little sister disappear, she begins to understand who she is up against, and now it may be too late.
This relentlessly dark and chilling Nordic thriller has some extreme violence in it so be prepared, it may not be for everyone.
This briliant writing duo can be mesmerizing. During the last 20% of the book, I literally could not put it down until I found out what happened.
The ending was fantastic, even while it leaves me breathlessly awaiting the next book in the series. 
Thank you Penguin Random House Canada for the e-ARC via NetGalley.
4.5 stars, rounded down to 4 stars.

Amazing! Have read the books in the same series before this, and it did not disappoint! It wraps everything up nicely, even though this isn't the last book with the protagonist. Highly recommend!

Kepler books are not for the faint of heart - there's a lot of gruesomeness and horror to go along with the dark and twisty plot.  The writing, as always, is excellent and the characters are well developed.  It's a long book, and the first part seems a bit cumbersome and confusing at times; but the second half is nonstop action.

This book gets 3 stars simply because I did myself a disservice by reading this as my first ever Kepler / Joona book. I was downright confused the entire time reading this. So many characters and too much history for it to be a true standalone. Also, this book was SO LONG. I really had to push myself to finish.

I do appreciate how graphic the book is and it likely have been a higher rating with reading the complete series. Thanks to Netgalley for my copy!!

Can we talk about how amazing Lazarus by Lars Kepler is!?

I’ve been a big fan of the series since pre-booksta (stay tuned for #throwbookthursday reviews in the near future !) and they have delivered and then some with Lazarus. It’s the perfect balance of a gritty and dark police procedural, psychological thrills, character development and one of the best written serial killers around.

Jurek is terrifying. And such a compelling villain to read. His ability to use real life to manipulate his victims sends shivers down your spine.

While I was less interested in Joona’s storyline in this book, I can’t wait to see what he does next.

I would love a book totally focused on Saga. She’s such a compelling character.

And can we talk about that ending 😱!? Literally can’t wait until the next book.

A big thank you to @penguinrandomca and @netgalley for the arc.

LAZARUS
Lars Kepler; translated by Neil Smith
Knopf 
ISBN-13: 978-0593317839
Hardcover
Thriller

I should probably give myself a little distance between the acts of reading and reviewing LAZARUS by Lars Kepler, but I won’t. I am already impatiently awaiting the arrival in the United States of THE MIRROR MAN, the next installment in the Joona Linna series --- also known as the Killer Instinct series --- so why wait to tell you about LAZARUS, as fine a novel as you could pick up and read to close out this extremely interesting year? 

For the rapidly diminishing numbers of the uninitiated, permit me to note that Lars Kepler is the pseudonym for the spousal writing team of Alexandra Coehlo Ahndoril and Alexander Ahndoril, each of whom were established authors in their own right before combining their considerable talents. Joona Linna was/is an operational superintendent for the National Crime Police in Stockholm Sweden. He has recently been released from prison when he makes his first appearance in LAZARUS, the seventh book in his series. Linna is professionally paired with Saga Bauer who is with the National Security Police.

Actually, I am reluctant to reveal any more about this intricate, smart, and extremely suspenseful book, other than to note that it comes to us as the result of the impeccable translation of Neil Smith, without whom we might not be reading LAZARUS at all. However, you might need just a bit more prompting, so here we go. The first several pages of LAZARUS consist of a series of increasingly disturbing and seemingly unrelated vignettes, each of which during the course of the book leads Linna to the conclusion that Jurek Walter is still alive. Walter is Linna’s most brilliant and dangerous nemesis, a psychotic killer who is seemingly always a few steps ahead of the police. It seems impossible, given that some time ago Bauer shot Walter point-blank several times and later recovered his body. It also appears that Walter has acquired a new associate in the form of a giant of a man who is given to fits of uncontrollable and homicidal rage. Bauer, notwithstanding her great respect for Linna, believes that he has become obsessed with his obviously deceased former adversary and that the series of bloody killings taking place across Sweden are the actions of a copycat killer. One of them is wrong, and the manner in which the Kepler writing team sorts things out is nothing less than amazing and riveting. Meanwhile, the doer, whoever it might be, seems to be anywhere and everywhere. Walter’s goal was never to attack Linna or Bauer directly, but rather to take their loved ones off of the map. Linna and Bauer both learn quite dramatically how powerless they are to protect those they love most. Linna ultimately figures out the method behind the homicidal madness, but he and Bauer may be too late. 

LAZARUS presents a conundrum of sorts. One cannot read it fast enough and yet the intensity of the suspense which Team Kepler rachets up well past eleven requires anyone with a pulse to intermittently pause and take a break. The reason can be found in the writing. The plotting of LAZARUS is airtight, and the writing more so. Instructors at writers’ workshops often admonish the students to write the slow parts fast and the fast parts slow. LAZARUS is a textbook example of this. Add in the element of surprise --- and LAZARUS is shot through with surprises --- and you have the makings of cardiac arrest of the best kind. And while Kepler does/do an excellent job of filling in what has occurred before LAZARUS, save some time after you have read it to catch up on the backlist. Very strongly recommended.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
© Copyright 2020, The Book Report, Inc. All rights reserved.

Another twisty Joonas Linda book!  Criminal masterminds are being slaughtered throughout Europe and the dedicated Joonas Linda is called in to help solve the mystery of who and why.  Terrifying in its complexity, another hit by Kepler.  I feel like this author just gets better and better.

Lazarus is the story of a serial killer who is killing other killers and the police who are trying to stop him. The main character, Joona Linna, has history with this killer but his fellow police don't believe him as the killer is thought to be dead.

I thought the gore was a bit overdone and was annoyed that the police seemed so dumb. Otherwise this is a good story.

From my blog: Always With a Book:

This has become one of my favorite series, ever since reading book 4, The Sandman, which is the first book I read in this series. These are the types of books that once you start reading them, you find yourself completely consumed by them, despite the fact that they are incredibly dark, haunting, and disturbing. They are completely addicting and binge-worthy books and I find that I can think of nothing else once I am reading one.

I will say that if you are new to Lars Kepler, I would strongly suggest at least reading book 4, The Sandman, prior to reading this one. That's not to say you could not read this one as a stand-alone because each book really is written as a self-contained story. But I think that you would have a much richer reading experience if you were to at least have read The Sandman if not all the books prior to this one.

I have been eagerly awaiting this book ever since I finished the last one with that cliffhanger ending. I knew something crazy was brewing for Joona Linna, but little did I know just how insane it would end up. When a string of murders start happening across Europe, no one has any idea that it will lead to where it does, least of all Joona but his entire world is about to be turned upside down and nothing is going to be the same again.

This is the type of book that absolutely gets under your skin. Not only because of the nature of what is going on, but also because if you have read the previous books, like I have, you most likely have developed a "relationship" with the characters and it's hard not to get caught up in what they are going through. This book is one big cat and mouse game between a villain who has effectively risen from the dead and our two beloved detectives, Joona Linna and Saga Bauer. As this villain starts threatening their loved ones, they realize he needs to be stopped at all costs.

This book, like most in this series, is incredibly dark and quite violent. It's gruesome and has enough twists and turns to keep you engaged and flipping the pages to see what is going to come next. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. And between the short chapters and the mini-cliffhangers at the end of some chapters, you find that you just need to keep reading. It really is that type of book that you just don't want to put down once you start reading it.

I cannot recommend this series enough. It is a fast-paced and complex story that totally delivers on every level. The tension remains high throughout and the final chapter will leave you once again eagerly counting down til the next book...and I have no idea when that will be. But I do know that at least there will be another one. In the meantime...grab this one -you won't be disappointed!

Guys! This book is already out so you need to run, not walk, but RUN to get this book.
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I devoured this book quicker than I devour a White Claw on a Monday night. Like, Holy Smokes. The Sandman, is my favorite book from this series, so I had my hopes seriously high, and wow, it was way better than I possibly thought it could be! Jurek Walter is the definition of a nightmare, he gets inside your head without you even realizing that he did. But wait, isn't he dead? All across Europe, some serious criminals are suffering gruesome deaths. When all of a sudden, two of these criminals are connected to Joona. How? Jurek, it has to be Jurek. However, Jurek is dead remember? Why is Joona the only one convinced that he is still alive, when all of the evidence says he's dead. Ugh, like seriously guys. This was absolutely amazing. My eyes were glued to the pages and I constantly found myself saying, "just one more page" every night before bed.
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This was a major page turner of a book, one you aren't going to want to put down until you're finished. We have some very gruesome deaths, but that's expected when Jurek is involved(or thought to be involved). I felt so bad for Saga in this one, she is constantly fighting her own demons, and Walters knows just how to use this against her. The further into this I got, the more I started questioning whether Joona and his team were going to win this war. Until I found myself singing, "Ding-Dong! The witch is dead!". However, Kepler quickly turned that around on me, and I found myself yelling for another White Claw. My heart couldn't handle much more near the end and then that last paragraph happened. LIKE WHAT?! Yup. Patiently waiting for the next book now.

It’s the old battle of wits between a discredited investigator and his ultimate enemy: an intelligent, ruthless and unpredictable sociopath who doesn’t stop at mere murder. Instead he destroys his victim’s lives: literally buries their loved ones and watches with clinical fascination as his opponents attempt to out-manoeuvre him. It’s hard to imagine that anyone could breathe life back into one of crime fiction’s most over-used scenarios – but the writing duo that forms Lars Kepler have brought this well-worn cliché back from the dead, and with particularly vicious panache.

What if your worst enemy – who the world believes is dead and gone – isn’t dead at all? Instead he’s merely been biding his time, waiting for the right moment to rip apart your family, destroy your friends and utterly crush your spirit until there’s nothing left in life but grief, guilt and endless agony.

The title kinda gives the game away for regular readers who’ve enjoyed the earlier books in the Joona Linna series. Just as Swedish detective Linna starts to get his life back on track, a shadow from the past seemingly rises from the grave and starts killing once again. The stalking story which follows sees Linna and his nemesis swap the role of hunter-killer multiple times as the entangled plot proceeds. The tension builds inexorably – threatening Linna’s friends and colleagues alike – until a final showdown which is every bit as gripping as those between Dr Lecter and Will Graham.

There’s plenty in this grisly tale which completely defies common sense, but the plot progressed with such a rapid pace – and the story is so deftly told – that I really didn’t pay much attention to the more preposterous parts. There are some truly gruesome moments and a series of mischievous cliff-hangers which make it nigh-on impossible to stop for a breather. And if you can’t abide the idea of being buried alive, then you should definitely not read this.

In short, Lazarus is a thumpingly good thriller – although possibly not the place to start if you’re new to the writers or key characters. It definitely helps to know the back story. Stack this on the shelf alongside other Scandinavian authors like Jo Nesbo or Stefan Ahnhem – it belongs alongside the fast-paced, pulse-pounding thrillers, not with the measured, leisurely police procedurals of Wallander and Wisting.

8/10

A trail of bodies are being left across Sweden and all clues seem to point to the notorious serial killer Jurek Walter, but he was shot and killed by police years ago.  Joona begins to question the validity of Jurek’s death and when his partner is taken, he is faced with an impossible choice.

This is one of my favourite series and I can honestly say that I have loved every book, obviously some slightly more than others, but they are all excellent.  Lazarus unfortunately would have to be my least favourite.  This is just a personal issue.  I think I was just a tad tired of the Jurek story line but, this one is necessary for the series.  These books are all around 500 pages and midway there wasn’t really too much going on, a lot of build up.  After that it picks up speed and the last half certainly made up for a lot.  It made me realize why I love this series and will read every single book without a second thought.