The Hypnotist

WTF?

I don't even know what I just read.

For the first 100 pages, this book is quite good, setting up a potentially-engrossing thriller.

After that, the novel reads like this literary couple from Sweden dropped acid and proceeded to record their experiences in The Land of The Stupid.

What were they thinking?

It proves that one shouldn't write a novel with a significant other. Even more than that, it proves that one shouldn't write a novel with anyone else, period, unless one promises to check in occasionally with the other person to ensure that they are writing the same novel; that they are working on the same plot.

Hither and yon we wander, through the land of dime-store psycho-pseudo-hypno-therapy. At one point, we are even made privy show more to an authorial fugue state, wherein the narrator's voice leaves the planet completely. (Erik's 70-odd-page ramble on his hypno-therapeutic practice which took place ten years previous to this novel's opening.)

Plot lines begin and end -- in the middle of chapters, literally. It's like walking down the street in any given city. Someone punches you in the face. You faint, dead away. You wake up in another city/town/universe, speaking a different language, and walking on all fours, because you are now a cat.

Other plot lines jump out of nowhere, like some psychotic serial killer, lurking in the bushes, waiting to pounce. In a most bizarre fashion, those plot lines peter out too -- into oatmeal and other grey matter mush.

The experience was mind-blowing, to say the least.

And not in a good way.

I only wish it were possible to give it a negative star rating, for the pain and anguish it caused me. show less

This definitely deserves 5 stars from me because it's a book I'm glad I read. Let's talk layers folks- It has SO MANY LAYERS! It could seriously be called an onion, except that I hate onions and I loved this book. To be fair though when I first started I kept thinking I wasn't sure. It was written in an unusual style with the day at the top of each chapter and often it would be the same day. It also moves between characters rather quickly to get points of view. It starts with such a horrible murder scene and you assume this is going to be what the book is about. You start to wonder why is it even the Hypnotist? Hasn't he already done his job? What else can he do? Then you start another layer, and you start to feel like you understand, show more you knew what happened, you were right. Wait! There's a left turn and you find yourself in another layer! Then amazingly you discover that you, yourself have practically been hypnotized! That's right, you've gone back in time, way back, to discover more layers. So yes, while this is a thrill ride, it's also a pretty deep book that you can sit back and enjoy. I will be thinking about this one again from time to time I'm sure. And Oh Emm Gee! You discover that this is a series of books. Eeeek! I have to go reserve the next one from the library immediately. show less

Sent en kväll hittas en man brutalt mördad i ett omklädningsrum vid Tumbas idrottsplats. När polisen anländer till hans hem för att underrätta de anhöriga hittar de hans fru och dotter ihjälhuggna – och hans tonåriga son är i kritisk tillstånd men vid liv, det verkar som han har låtsats varit död för att lura mördaren. Motivet för morden verkar vara att utplåna hela familjen och när polisen får information om att familjens äldsta dotter ska befinna sig på annan ort för tillfället inser kriminalkomissarie Joona Linna att han måste hitta henne snabbt – innan mördaren gör det.

I ett desperat försök att få kontakt med familjens son som knappt orkar hålla sig vid medvete övertygar Joona Lina läkaren Erik show more Maria Bark att hjälpa till. Erik Maria Bark var en av Sveriges främsta hypnotisörer för ett antal år sedan innan han lovade att han aldrig skulle hypnotisera någon igen. Men Joona ger sig inte och Erik Maria Bark tvingas bryta sitt löfte. Tillsammans kommer de sakta men säkert fram mot en lösning till gåtan; en skrämmande, ofattbar lösning som ingen av dem ens kunnat gissa sig till.

Jag läser deckare nästan lika sällan som jag kollar på romantiska komedier; men det händer då och då. Varje gång jag börjar läsa en deckare undrar jag varför jag inte läser den oftare, men den känslan har aldrig varit lika stark som när jag började läsa Hypnotisören. Det kändes nästan som ett avsnitt av Criminal Minds fast gånger... tjugo? Det var svårt att lägga ifrån sig boken, vilket jag knappt gjorde. Jag kunde inte somna förrän jag fått reda på slutet av detta röriga blodbad, men det gjorde ingenting för det finns inget bättre än ligga ihopkurad i sängen med en spännande bok. För den var spännande. Fy fan vad spännande den var.

Lars Kepler är definitivt en av våra främsta kriminalförfattare; det finns ingen tvekan om det. Visst, en del av händelserna kan man para ihop och en del lösningar på mindre saker kan man ana – men berättelsen tog vändningarna som man aldrig skulle ha förväntat sig... men där var de. Helt fantastisk. Bara en fråga återstår... vad är det med namet Lydia och rött hår? show less

This book was creepy and amazing. Inspector Joona Linna is a likeable character who is confident in his abilities - and it is a nice trait to see in a detective! The story itself is so intriguing and the depravity of the crime is both sickening and tantalizing all at the same time (I know that makes me sound like a psychopath but it is true)! There was a point in the story where I felt like things were a bit disjointed - I'm not going to say what it is or when it happens, but you will know when you get there - and it felt like the rest of the story from that point onwards was part of a completely different narrative. That was the only negative point to this novel, however. I loved the writing style and the fast pace kept me at the edge show more of my seat. Perhaps it isn't AS amazing as The Millenium Trilogy but it is definitely up there in the ranks for me! show less

The most exciting book that I have read all year! This pulsating medical thriller pores on the adrenaline fuel chase in this sensational Scandinavian crime thriller like nothing since the Stieg Larsson trilogy.
When Stockholm’s eminent psychologist, Dr. Erik Maria Bark, is called in to assist in a gruesome triple homicide, he has to place a teenage boy, the only witness to his families devastating annihilation and in a semi-coma with a multitude of life-threatening stab wounds, under hypnosis. The results of his action let lose a plague on his family as if the horsemen of the apocalypse had ridden into town.
With the help of detective Joona Linna the author takes us forward, through a series of flashbacks on a chase to rescue Bark’s show more teenage son, kidnapped by unknown forces, and to find the murdered families eldest daughter before she took is wiped from the earth. The police suspect the two cases are linked but the how and why will rock you to the core.
Not for the faint of heart the journey exposes story-lines of incest, torture, and sex-crimes that delve into the past of all concerned and produces a liturgy of sins and repentance, exposing human deeds we only dare see in nightmares. This is a barnstormer of a novel that, in the end, casts a hypnotic spell on its readers through to the very end. show less

'Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm' this ain't. A very deep slice of Nordic gothic horror, 'The Hypnotist' ticks all the boxes: tortured psyches at every turn; violence and torture of kids; violence and torture by kids; unhappiness; and a twisty-turny plot that keeps the suspense and anguish going right to the very end. The descriptions of Nordic life - offhand street/district names, peeks into everyday activity - are key to this book being successful in the Anglo world, describing a culture and landscape (urban and geographic) that is the same, but different, from our own and pushing us just that little bit out of our comfort zone. Lars Kepler (a pseudonym for a pair of writers) keeps us unbalanced throughout by letting us see show more misunderstandings and wrong assumptions as they are made by each character and I think this is the main contributor to the uneasy, unbalanced feel of the book. We never quite know where it is going and this draws us into the story in a very clever way. show less

I so wanted to like this book more. The description was intriguing…the cover was eye-catching...it was the authors first book. How exciting that must be for a new author to see your "baby' in print? The story wasn’t all bad....but lacked way too much "good". It did start off with promise although a little slow...but it soon just turned “outlandish”, for lack of a better word. The characters were bland and really, truly unlikable… even the ones that had the honor of being the “main characters” …the ones the reader is supposed to care about and root for. On top of that we were presented with too many plot lines….a really unnecessary sex scene when the son was kidnapped…and too much jumping around with confusing show more flashbacks. The book was written in 2018...I know that my not caring for this book and only giving it 2.5 stars...(the .5 was given out of my sense of remorse for the author)…certainly didn’t cause Mr. Kepler to crawl off and hide his head under the covers and never write another book…so I will search out another from a later year before giving it up. show less