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.

Lazarus is the latest instalment of the Jonna Linna series by Lars Keplar and features the brilliant deviance of one of the most cleverly constructed villans barre none - Jurek Walter! In Jurek, Lars Keplar have crafted an antagonist whose resourcefulness and ability to manipulate has the makings of an urban legend villain. He becomes the shadows lurking around the corner and abyss within the darkness.

In anticipation of receiving this arc I read The Sandman, my first read by Lars Keplar, which acts as a great prelude to Lazarus.Fans of Nordic Noir will enjoy this Scandinavian based crime procedural that includes elements of thriller and psychological suspense that will have you gripping the edges of your seat! It is fast-paced and unputdownable - I read it in 2 days!

In both Jurek Walter, Scandinavian's most notorious killers goes toe-to-toe with our favourite flawed protagonists - Jonna and Saga. In Lazarus, Jurek, believed to be dead is suddenly suspected alive and working to employ new recruits as he seeks retributive justice on Joona and Saga for the death of Jurek's brother. Jurek's aim is to take everyone from Joona and Saga leaving them utterly alone, broken and empty, and willing to relinquish their own lives.

As a fan of Nordic Noir, I love the dark and cerebral experience of this trope. The Sandman left me with incredibly high expectations and Lazarus delivered! Lazarus is a gripping and propulsive psychological thriller. The chapters are quick, and action packed which can get violent and disturbing. Smart, heady and oozing in grim atmosphere that had me captivated from its opening pages to it's final sentence!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for one the most noir of Nordic Noirs!

Joona Linna's life has never been a walk in the park. He is a policeman and a hunter, a hunter of the worst kind of depraved human beings. Jurek Walter was a notorious serial killer, captured by Joona. Jurek's threats and promises cost Joona his wife and daughter, so he didn't shed any tears when Jurek was killed.
Several seemingly random killings lead Joona to believe that Jurek's death was staged and he knows what that means. Nothing will stop Jurek from taking away everything that Joona loves. Believing Joona is obsessed with a dead man, he receives little support from his department. Is this latest killer a copy cat or does Joona have reason to worry? Jurek should have used up his nine lives by now, but if he isn't after Joona, who is?
As usual in this series, the body counts are high and the killer(s) do not play nice. The deaths are brutal and it seems that though Joona is as sharp as ever, he seems to move one step forward and two steps back. Jurek is the Freddy Krueger or Michael Myers of the book world, a seemingly unstoppable man. Lazarus was a non-stop ride full of heartbreak. The ending is not a cliffhanger per se, but it does set up background should there be an eighth book.

Lazarus is the 7th book in the Joona Linna series from Lars Kepler.

"Someone is killing criminals in Europe - some with ties to Joona. He thought that he was rid of Jurek Walter - Sweden's most notorious serial killer. But now it looks like there may be a chance he is back - even when the evidence points to his death. Joona is convinced Jurek is back, but no one believes him. So he must protect his daughter at all costs. And even that may not be enough..."

This was my first read of the Joona Linna series. I normally like to start a series at the beginning. It felt like I missed a little background, but I was still able to follow the story.
This maight be the scariest fictional killer I have ever come across. Jurek is relentless and able to prey upon the fears of the people he is manipulating. There is no one he will not kill if it means getting what he wants.
This book is long but fast-paced - the story moves along quickly. You find yourself yelling at characters to "Shoot him!" but of course they don't. Some shocking deaths will leave you stunned. And the ending will have you catching your breath. Will he or won't he?

Fans of Nordic crime fiction should enjoy this read. Excuse me while I look for the reast of the Joona Linna series.

My Thoughts

There has never been a more terrifying fictional serial killer, in my opinion, than Jurek Walter.  We first met him in book #4 The Sandman where Saga Bauer was convinced she killed him.  Now there is a new madman cleaning up Sweden's worst of the worst, but Joona is convinced the killer is Jurek's newest puppet.  

Joona's biggest concern now is his daughter, Lumi ,who is studying in Paris.  Thankfully they had tirelessly trained for this moment, but soon learned you can't hide for long.  Unfortunately nobody but Joona believes that Jurek is alive so they don't follow his orders to protect the ones he cares about after he flees, and they disappear.  Now time is of the essence because two people are buried alive and if Jurek is alive, he has more people working for him than Joona and Saga could have imagined.

I could go on and on about this one, but I will stop.  If you love the Joona Linna Series, you definitely need to grab this one!  Fast paced, edge of your seat, nail biting suspense.  Add some graphic details and you have one heck of a thriller.  This one comes out December 1st! I can't wait to have the physical copy to add to my collection!

Thank you Penguin Random House Canada, NetGalley and the dynamic duo known as Lars Kepler for my #copy.

Book Rating: 5/5

Wine Pairing:  2018 Coppola Diamond Cabernet Sauvignon

Absolutely brilliant fare once more from Lars Kepler! This book doesn't stop from Page 1 to the end...a compelling and fast paced feast, served with a side of murder and mayhem! Many thanks to the Publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read and review this excellent tome.

This was my first book by Lars Kepler, a Swedish husband and wife duo writing Joona Linna Nordic noir thriller series under a common pen name. I received a free review copy from NetGalley and ended up starting with book seven of the immensely popular series, but I gave it a go nonetheless.

Lazarus wasn’t necessarily the best book to start with, as it wasn’t a stand-alone like some thrillers are, where action matters more than the characters’ personal lives. Every character came with a heavy baggage I knew nothing about, likely accumulated through several books already. Most importantly, the old emotional and psychological scars of the main character, Joona Linna, surface when the severed head of his late wife is found in a freezer of a murder victim, and they influence much of his actions. Since I hadn’t been there from the start, it took me a while to enter into the emotions of the characters and I wasn’t able to anticipate some of the punches.

That being said, all the backstory that mattered for the plot was explained well enough and I had no trouble following the story or feeling the tension build. I hadn’t been there for the original hunt of the serial killer in focus here, but even I could surmise that though he is presumed dead, the killer is back. There were some other details left out though, that I would’ve wanted to know, like how old is the main character, for example, or why he had been in prison yet allowed to return to the police force, but I could ignore them and concentrate on the plot that kept me in its grip to the end.

This is very dark Nordic noir, with graphic details and psychological evil. Writing is in present tense, which adds to the sense of immediacy, though the narrative style was slightly distancing at times. The NetGalley copy had no chapter breaks, so there were no breathers to ease the pace either (maybe this is the case with the finished product too?). There were many point of view characters and I didn’t connect with all of them, but their subplots mattered in the overall story. And as a Finn, it tickled me that the main character is Finnish. I think I got more out of him than most readers of the English version. The translation by Neil Smith was good and there was no attempt to anglicise the Nordic names, which suited me, but might be a bit difficult for English readers.

If you’re a fan of Nordic noir, I can recommend this book. But if you’re new to the series, maybe don’t start with this one; read the other six books first.

This book should come with a bold print warning about the violence. I made it halfway through but could not take any more after the elderly woman with dementia was batting a severed head of a man around with her cane. I have enjoyed the other books in the Joona Linna series. My non-completion of the books makes it difficult for a review. With than in mind and knowing that there are other readers who would love a book with a psychopath like Hannibal Lecter, I am channeling my brother’s reaction. He would love it. The characters are well-developed, and the plot is electrifying, but just be warned it isn’t for everyone. Jurek Walter, Linna’s nemesis, was introduced in the fourth book, and readers thought he had been killed, but he hasn’t and he returns to wreak havoc and death in the seventh book.