Book Review: Stalker by Lars Kepler

If you missed them, I have reviewed two of these already – The Nightmare and The Sandman. I read them out of order – which I never do, but it was actually alright in this instance. I read Sandman first; it was a stunning read. Then I went back and read the others in order to catch up and wound up rereading it and it was even more stunning… This is the book that follows Sandman.

Oh. My. Goodness!! I LOVE these books – the writing is perfect for the story, the pacing is always spot-on, and the characters are INCREDIBLY detailed and presented. When we last saw Joona Linna he had lost everything again – or did he actually gain it? It’s impossible to tell at first blush, about anything – which is a big part of what makes this series so amazing. This book opens without Joona, and to me that only built the suspense. You just KNEW he’d be coming back, it was just a matter of when and how, and the suspense of that build was, to my mind, even more intense than the suspense of the killer in the opening bits…

This was another marvelous installment in this brilliantly dark series that explores the worst aspects of humanity while still maintaining a curious optimism, largely because of the nearly super-human nature of a few characters (Joona, obviously, but also Saga Bauer – who we don’t see much of here unfortunately, and The Needle). I was delighted to see Erik Maria Bark play such a large role in this story; I loved his broken strength in The Hypnotist and he served as a great addition to the depth of this latest story and the inter-relatedness of the boos across the series as a whole. There are, as per usual, more slips and slides than a waterpark in July and every one of them is perfectly planned to lead you to the stunning reveal and exceptionally dramatic close. The Rabbit Hunter (book 6) isn’t available in the U.S. yet, apparently, but I’ve already ordered myself a copy from a bookstore in the U.K., because I have GOT to know what comes next…

Thanks to NetGalley for my review copy!