Spooky Reads Day 15: The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler

Title: The Hypnotist
Author: Lars Kepler
Page Count: 503
Rating: A+
Keywords: Mystery, Amnesia, Cruelty
Genre: Psychological Thriller/Mystery
Younger Readers: Some teens and older

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Prepare for The Hypnotist to cast its spell

In the frigid clime of Tumba, Sweden, a gruesome triple homicide attracts the interest of Detective Inspector Joona Linna, who demands to investigate the murders. The killer is still at large, and there’s only one surviving witness—the boy whose family was killed before his eyes. Whoever committed the crimes wanted this boy to die: he’s suffered more than one hundred knife wounds and lapsed into a state of shock. Desperate for information, Linna sees only one option: hypnotism. He enlists Dr. Erik Maria Bark to mesmerize the boy, hoping to discover the killer through his eyes.

It’s the sort of work that Bark has sworn he would never do again—ethically dubious and psychically scarring. When he breaks his promise and hypnotizes the victim, a long and terrifying chain of events begins to unfurl.

An international sensation, The Hypnotist is set to appear in thirty-seven countries, and it has landed at the top of bestseller lists wherever it’s been published—in France, Holland, Germany, Spain, Italy, Denmark. Now it’s America’s turn. Combining the addictive power of the Stieg Larsson trilogy with the storytelling drive of The Silence of the Lambs, this adrenaline-drenched thriller is spellbinding from its very first page.

My Review:

Not many books can literally give me goosebumps and send me hugging my dog quite like Lars Kepler's Joona Linna series.

I have read the first four books in this series: The Hypnotist, The Nightmare, The Fire Witness, and The Sandman. Each one has freaked me out while irresistibly drawing me into finishing these 500+ page book within a day or two. These books are scary, twisted, addictive, and brilliant fun.

Each tale is equally captivating and unnerving as you follow our Finnish protagonist throughout the mysteries he encounters in Sweden, each book revealing more and more about him. By book four I was sobbing at the end and am now patiently (well not at all patiently) waiting for book five, The Stalker, to be available in the United States' Kindle store. Apparently it will not be available until February 2019. However, for all of you that have yet to discover this series you have plenty of time to catch up!

I cannot recommend this series enough! Check it out if you're looking for a spine tingling mystery series that'll keep you hooked.

Note: The cover above is the one that I originally read the series in. The American editions have since been re-released with new covers.