YOUR MIND IS HIS PLAYGROUND. A gruesome triple homicide. There’s only one surviving witness—the boy whose family was killed before his eyes . . . and he can’t remember what happened. The police are desperate for information. Detective Joona Linna enlists the help of hypnotist Erik Maria Bark. But when Bark unlocks the secrets in the boy’s memory, he triggers a terrifying chain of events that … chain of events that will put all their lives in jeopardy.
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I really could not get interested in this book. I think the subject matter may be why but I don’t know. I didn’t finish it.
Slow moving and unnecessarily verbose
Read the prequel to this book and found both similar in style and plot craft. Not as good as the best of the Scandinavian novels
I’m a fan of Scandinavian police/detective/detecting novels since I read the Sjowall/Wahloo Martin Beck novels of the 70’s, and continuing through the 90’s with Stieg Larsen. This book falls neatly into that genre. Joona, the police detective, is a taciturn, rather smug Finn who involves himself in solving the very brutal murder of several members of a Finnish family. He enlists the help of a once-world-famed hypnotist to assist in identifying the murderer. A few of the descriptions are quite graphic, and may be upsetting. There are many characters, many discoveries, complications and more gore before the mysteries are all untangled and resolved, that make this a very satisfying read. I am happy I read it, and will eagerly read more by Lars Kepler.
As a former hypnotist I found the descriptions of hypnosis fairly accurate but embellished a bit. The plot was convoluted with lots of personal turmoil on the part of the main characters. I generally skip over the personal turmoil parts which meant I skipped large portions of this book. The plot has many twists and turns and is well connected. Overall a strange read.
Much too long. Too much unnecessary detail and changes of direction. Really got tiresome to read.
Soon there will be Stieg Larsson crime fiction people and Lars Kepler crime fiction people: I’m hereby in the latter camp. The Hypnotist is every bit the equal of the Millennium trilogy–riveting narrative momentum, fascinatingly grisly forensics, existential Nordic dread. But there’s more: superior prose, no cartoony characters, and beneath all the noir plenty of old fashioned heart.
The Hypnotist is — yes — impossible to put down. The Hypnotist is — yes — ingeniously put together, like a Swiss watch. The Hypnotist is — Yes! — fabulously entertaining, even gruesomely so. But it is also a serious meditation on evil, human weakness, the infinity of the mind, and the capriciousness of fate. My wife stole it from me before I was finished reading it and tore through it. Then I stole it back, to my great pleasure!
I absolutely loved this book! It’s the first Lars Kepler novel I’ve read and now I’m hooked. I am thrilled when I can read a book and not figure out “who did what” half way through. It amazes me that “Lars Kepler” novels are written by a husband and wife team of well known authors. Bravo!
Well I have finally read my first Lars Kepler book, and man was it a doozy! The Hypnotist is the first in the Joona Linna detective series, and it was everything I had hoped it would be, if a bit slow. The book has a police procedural element, but at the same time really focuses mostly on the hypnotist, which is a man by the name of Dr. Erik Bark. He has his own turmoil’s and then his son gets taken, but at the same time there is also a plotline for a family who is all murdered except the son and an older daughter not home at the time. I loved how the two stories were weaved together, and it made the book incredibly complex which was not a bad thing!
I’m not sure what I was expecting, but what I got was part psychological thriller, part detective fiction, and lots of the disturbing and graphic. You definitely need to be prepared for some gore, and overall the pacing was fairly slow. There is a lot of backstory about Erik, but it was essential to his part of the story, so I didn’t mind it. It helped me get the whole picture of who he was, and why ultimately his son gets kidnapped. I did this as a group read and I know some people skimmed his backstory but I didn’t find myself doing that, and there is just something about the way Kepler writes that kept me fully engaged even during the slow bits.
I also did the audiobook and I think that helped a lot. It was pretty long at over 17.5 hours, but totally worth it. Saul Reichlin voices the whole book and I found him to be extremely talented. His voice got very excited (or however you describe it!) during the exciting parts and made me feel a bit like I was listening to a sporting event with all of his inflections and exclamations. Overall I was incredibly impressed with this edition, and it truly is amazing what a good editor and translator can do for a book. I am looking forward to reading the other books published by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard and translated by Neil Smith since I hear they just get better and better! Highly recommend to fans of the Scandinavian Crime Fiction genre, and those who don’t mind when thrillers are graphic.
This is book one of an incredible series written by a married couple living in Sweden. The central character, Detective Joona Linna, is a Finnish investigator. The writing is superb and the story-telling is amazing. I love a complicated plot and Kepler has produced one of the best ones I’ve read in a very long time. Tortured characters, gloomy atmosphere, graphic details…it’s all there and if you like those in a book, you’ll love this too. I’ve already bought the rest of the series.
Would probably give this 3.5 stars. However not quite good enough to achieve 4 stars
Didn’t like this book. Don’t know if it was poor writing or poor translation but the style was very choppy and characters uninteresting. Would not recommend it.
Good read
Enjoyed
Great page turner.
This book was disgusting. The author must be mentally deficient. will never read another of his books.
The Hypnotist is a richly detailed mystery thriller where the suspense builds along a complexly woven timeline. Several times I found myself wondering “why is this happening?” But nothing is extraneous. Everything has a place, even the horrific violence, which I found to be gut-wrenching at the best of times. I felt the Swedish chill of winter reading it.