Complex story with character whose complex backstory mixed with 'mundane life' stories of others. That combined with verbs whose tense suddenly shifted, made for a challenging read that ultimately made say 'enough.' I suspect that there is a good plot and perhaps if this is a follow on from another in the series, my understanding would give me the impetus to continue. Sorry but at my age 35% is enough time to give to a book I'm not enjoying....

Police procedural which took far too long to get going.

Thank you to Netgalley for an arc of this book in return for an honest review.. I requested it based on the description which sounded like my sort of tale. I’m sorry but this rather large book dragged. It was only my stubborn streak that refused to give in having already invested so much time in it. This is a translation from the Swedish. and early on it became apparent that it’s one of a series. Usually books like this can stand alone as novels with perhaps the odd reference to previous happenings. Not so here. All the books should be read in the right order. The start of the book felt odd until I realised that it was actually in the middle of one continuous story. Most crime thrillers conclude on a high note with a dramatic heart in mouth episode in which you are terrified that the chief protagonist won’t get through it in one piece. I’ve never read a book with one heart stopping incident after another. It just went on and on and became boring rather than thrilling. This isn’t a book that I’d recommend unless you are hooked on Scandi Noir at any price.

Stalker

This is the fifth book featuring Joona Linna I've read the previous four and in my opinion this is the best. This can be read as a stand alone but as with all series you get the most out of them if you read them all.
Someone is stalking people in their homes. A film is sent to the National Crime Investigation Department showing a woman in her home unaware that she is being filmed. The police don't respond to the film and then her body is found brutally murdered. Can Joona be lured out of retirement? This is an addictive series that keeps on getting better and better. This is a chilling complex thriller.

Someone is stalking people in their homes. This scandi-noir crime novel is a dark and chilling thriller that really ramps up the tension and is not a book to read on a dark night when you are alone and the wind is whistling outside.

This is the 5th book in the Joona Linna series, and works OK as a standalone novel, though I did wish I had read the others in the series to understand the background to Joona Linna. Because this is not a straightforward police procedural/psychological thriller. A heavily pregnant DS Margot Silverman is leading the National Criminal Investigation Division hunt for a serial killer who films his victims and uploads the films to YouTube. In this hunt she is joined by former Police Detective Joona Linna and Psychologist Erik Maria Bark.

This gives us an ex-policeman and a rogue psychologist, both with expert knowledge of this type of killer, but, for their own reasons, working both inside and outside the scope of the formal police investigation.

This allows the author some licence in the types of investigative procedures used, and it’s fair to say some of their procedures are less than orthodox.

For Joona, it is an especially difficult time. He has just come out of hiding and has recently allowed his daughter to go and study abroad. This has left him completely rootless, with no money and no home. But once he hears the details of this case, he is compelled to stay and look into it – and he becomes convinced that only he can find and catch the perpetrator.

For Eric Bark, the case is more than an obsession. A link to a previous case he was involved him has made him re-think whether he should have told the police all he knew about the killer who is now safely locked up in a psychiatric hospital. As he begins a new relationship, his conscience troubles him and he must find out once and for all whether he has helped to convict the right man.

Although I did enjoy this, as well as finding it very chilling and indeed quite harrowing in places, for me the plot didn’t quite hang together well enough. There were moments when I had to suspend my disbelief, and others, such as a murder of a colleague’s wife, when I felt that this event had simply been skated over.

In the end, I felt that the book could have benefitted from a more judicious edit, though I still enjoyed it. I’d have liked more of the D.S. Silverman character too. She was somewhat overshadowed by Linna, yet her doggedness and determination clearly make her a cop to be reckoned with.

I haven't read the previous Joona Linna books, so was unfamiliar with the character - however that didn't detract from the book in any way. I'll read the earlier books if I can get hold of them.

As a fan of Nordic Noir, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel - though some sections were a little on the gruesome side. The stalker element kept up the tension throughout. A good and varied range of characters kept me guessing who the stalker was. I actually guessed correctly in the end, but didn't foresee the plot twist at the end.

A good read for fans of this genre. I've been very keen on closing the curtains at dusk since reading this novel...

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me read an advance copy in return for my honest review.

Superb book, genuinely scary at times and held my interest right up to the end. Didn't realise that this was in a series. Will be purchasing the earlier books in the series as soon as possible.

First - a big thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book. This was my first book by this author and because of that I was pleasantly surprise to discover that Margot was not the main character but Joona Linna. I like the way he was introduced even though I do realise there's a whole lot of back story there. I absolutely loved this book. The twists and turns didn't make me want to throw the book away: it kept me on the edge of my seat. The identity of the villain came as surprise. It is a well-researched and well written novel. A great one.

I am a huge fan of the Scandi noir genre of literature and drama, and Stalker by Lars Kepler did not disappoint. This novel was the first I read by Lars Kepler (or rather crime-writing duo: Alexander and Alexandra Ahndoril) and, for me, just as good as my favourites by Jo Nesbo and Yrsa Sigurðardóttir . Stalker is a gripping police procedural with the unique Scandinavian that kept me absolutely riveted and rooting for Joona, Margot and Erik. The twist in the tale was impossible to spot, ingeniously constructed and worked really well within the structure of the novel. I am going to revisit this series now in order because I really enjoyed this and highly recommend Stalker.

If you are looking for a chilling read that will keep you up at night (both reading and feeling a bit frightened and exposed after reading), this is the right book for you. I have not read any of the previous Joona Linna books (how did I miss them?!?) but was drawn to Stalker by the well earned comparisons to Stieg Larsson and Jo Nesbo. I haven't missed a step jumping into the series mid stream. It didn't take away from my enjoyment one bit. Stalker feels very similar to Larsson and Nesbo in ratcheting up the tension. No lie there.

Stalker is an extreme roller coaster ride. What a marvel! Plenty of suspense, angst and violent bits. If you are squeamish there are a few passages that might be troubling. This book mainly focuses on Margot Siverman, Jooona Linna and their police investigation into finding a serial killer stalker. It's a terrifically immersive read. At the height of the climax I was so wrapped up in the story I couldn't bother with making dinner.

Scandi thrillers really are brilliant to behold and Stalker certainly does not disappoint. There's a lot of meat to this story which made it difficult to put down. I'm so pleased to have finally discovered Lars Kepler. I've got to keep my eyes open for his past and future works. A really gripping thriller that raises the bar.

Thank you Netgalley and the Publisher. haven't read the other books in the series but that never took away from my enjoyment of this book.Stalker is the fifth instalment in the Swedish series and follows the crime of an obsessive stalker who brutality beats their victims,leaving their faces and other parts of their bodies completely disfigured.Before the crime is committed, a video is sent to the police where the Stalker simply observes the victim but as soon as it is sent the race is on.

A real page turner with never a dull moment. A serial killer is on the loose, and Erik, a psychologist realises that the stalker could be copying past murders, but has his doubts because the perpetrator of the original killings is in jail - but was he the killer? The reader faces numerous twists and turns before all is revealed. Eric has his own problems, but to reveal more could spoil the readers' enjoyment! A definite must read - brilliantly thought out and extremely well written.

I agree with other reviewers that this book started really well but dragged too much and lost it's thread about half way in. I loved the premise - the videos, followed by the crime, the race against time to save the next victim. But there was too much waffle sadly. Too much about Joona's past, Eric's relationship, etc. It had so much potential but in the end I found myself skim reading. Great concept, badly executed. Could have been so much more.

I've read a lot of crime/thriller/murder mysteries and I can say that this is, without a doubt, the most spine-chilling, goosebump-inducing crime novel I've ever read. Honestly, I can't say I've ever read a novel which made my heart beat as fast as this. It pulled me right in, and as cliche as it sounds, I felt like I was there. This, as you might imagine, is pretty terrifying when the novel in question is a crime novel. 100% recommend if you think you can handle it!

A video is sent to the National Crime Investigation Department in Stockholm. It shows a normal woman in her own home, doing nothing very exciting. By the time the police identify her, she’s dead. More victims are found, and it becomes clear that the killer is not going to stop. Each video sent to the police means another butchered woman.

Margot Silverman is tasked with catching the killer. Heavily pregnant, she’s determined to solve the case before going on leave. Erik Maria Bark is a hypnotist who thinks the crimes may be linked to a case he worked on years ago. And everyone thought Joona Linna was dead.

As you can possible tell from that synopsis, this is not a standalone novel. Instead, it’s the fifth book in a series that focuses mainly on Joona Linna, who is apparently the Swedish answer to the Punisher. He’s an exceptional investigator who knows all the martial arts and who has no problem going outside the law. He fights crime.

It’s not a novel that works particularly well on its own. I have not read previous books in the series, and I found Stalker a little confusing at first. There are lots of characters and plot elements that call back to earlier novels, and it’s a lot to take in at once. Read the earlier books first.

The book has a weird viewpoint and voice. It’s in third person present tense, which is an unusual choice, and the book keeps on swapping whose shoulder the reader is hovering behind. Joona Linna seems to be the main character of the series, but he’s not really the main character of the book – Erik gets more time, and is a more sympathetic character.

The narration is slow and somewhat remote. The author has a very dry, matter-of-fact tone, no matter what the topic, and has a tendency to throw in large amounts of background detail rather haphazardly. It’s not a book that will get your pulse racing – the prose is clinical and even the climactic moments are interrupted for musings on Swedish geography.

Stalker is a crime novel, but it’s not a thriller or a mystery particularly. The sense of urgency that you want for a thriller is missing, and there’s little sense of an investigation; the eventual reveal of the stalker doesn’t seem like it’s the logical yet still surprising result of a set of clues. You couldn’t have worked it out from the evidence available, and so the resolution feels a little as though it comes out of nowhere.

The book is long, and a lot happens in it. At first the focus is on the murders, but then lots of interpersonal stuff happens, and people get wrongly accused and the central idea gets a little lost. In places, the plot drags, and some scenes could have been omitted without harming the narrative.

I don’t know how realistic the book is overall. The whole thing seems to suggest an attempt at realism, but if even a small percentage of what the book treats as perfectly normal is actually true, then Sweden is the ideal setting for future Mad Max films. Everyone is on drugs, and large areas of the country seem to be lawless wastelands where people shoot first and ask questions later. I had always pictured Sweden as a rather pleasant place, but apparently I could not have been more wrong. The book is all grit, all the time, with everything being violent and sordid.

Stalker didn’t really grab me. It was long and slow and more complicated than compelling. Perhaps if I had read the earlier books, I would have enjoyed it more. If you like gloomy Swedish things, you might enjoy this, but it wasn’t something I particularly cared for.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. I honestly didn't know what to expect but I was quite surprised. It was outstandingly brilliant. To be fair it went on a bit, I kind of expected the twist, but didn't think of her. The last few chapters where so good I just couldn't put it down. Great book the plot the twist the storyline and characters where exceptional.

I'm often dubious about novels which have been translated from Scandinavian as I find it difficult to follow the names but for some reason it wasn't the case this time.
It is undoubtedly a page-turning thriller that will keep you hooked to the end.
The book is also not for the faint hearted as the author doesn't hold back on the dark, uncomfortable scenes, both describing the killings and the drug fueled, party atmosphere.
The book built a great tension through to the inevitable twist at the end.
Kept me guessing for several nights and didn't let me down at any point.

A solid thriller but very formulaic and way too long for my taste. It could have held my interest more if it were a lot shorter and in my opinion the story wouldn't suffer at all from it, only benefit.

Also, probably because I've never read the other installments in the series (I didn't even know it was the 5th book) I could not engage much with the main characters. The end was a bit abrupt and too well tied in but then again, normal in formulaic thrillers.

It's not a bad book, just not a good fit for this particular reader but I am sure it will be a success.

I'd like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

This is a must to read. It has a complex plot and the pace is sure to keep readers engrossed and involved. It has been translated,of course,and a superb job seems to have been done on that. The characters are well drawn and most are not people you would want as friends! The ending is unexpected. Perhaps there should be a prize for readers who guess the outcome. This would make a dramatic film.

Another fabulous book from Lars Kepler and one that can't be rushed. It's a long story but never boring. I "solved" the crime quite early on... then again and again but not right with any of my guesses. It's not one of those tedious storied that just throws likely culprits out though just a very clever read.
I never give plot secrets away so I wo t say who I hope to read about again in future books...
I loved it from start to finish and I never did get used to the Scandinavian names for people and places but it didn't stop my enjoyment.