The Hypnotist: A novel (Killer Instinct Book 1)

The structure and pace of the story, unfolding from the perspectives of multiple characters, seems promising until the story became so outlandish that by book's end I was angry at the authors. Beyond Joona and a developmentally disabled character, everyone else was thoroughly weak, petty, non-communicative and unlikeable. I had hopes for Joona's former diver colleague but even that woman devolved into a trite sexual harasser. Without divulging the storyline and outcome, I will say that there is a key woman whose mannerisms and activities are so over the top that I couldn't suspend my judgment at that point of the authors just piling the evil on willy-nilly. The attempts to be clever by the author on plot and twists are overkill, pardon the pun. Normally I'm a pretty easygoing reader, but this book was so dumb that, for the first time, I need to write a bad review for a book. Clearly, I am not going to continue with the following books in this series.

I made it to 20% and it was still the first day. Short choppy paragraphs repeating the same information so many times I thought I’d turned to the same page again. Very dull. Fake suspense. Boring characters. Red herrings galore. Bad writing. Maybe the translation is really bad

Too many plot lines. Unnecessary sex scene when son was kidnapped. Too much jumping around with confusing flashbacks. I’ll try one more of their books.

I read one of the author’s more recent books and while I didn’t think it was the best writing, it held my attention so I figured I would try the first book. Won’t be reading anything else from this author. The book starts with one story that you think is the main plot, and after winding the reader up about it, the story shifts to the most boring sub-plot that was WAY too long (I skimmed through chapter after chapter to get through it). Then a second main plot arises and takes over and the original plot resolves in the most anti-climatic fashion. Confused?? Yep, you’ll continue to be if you read this book.

I don’t always make it all the way through mysteries but this was more than a simple mystery and/or police procedural. The characters were richly drawn and the excitement and tension never let up. I found myself constantly picking up the book, at every opportunity, knowing that something big was about to happen. I was never disappointed. I’m not sure how a husband and wife team can collaborate to make a complex story with interesting characters come to life but - more power to ‘em - they did a great job. I loved the action as well as the story and the scenery and setting were fabulous as well. On to book 2 of the Joona Lin series. Highly recommended.

Complex yet compelling. Several things about this novel I really like. First - the place. I’m as fascinated about the geography as well as the culture. So very descriptive. Second, the interaction and links between the characters. Things that happened years ago surface years later. Characters like Aida and her brother have depth as well as the perpetrators of these crimes. The former so unique seemingly ambivalent but actually warm and caring while the latter so cold and twisted. Finally, the inner strength of Joona. You knew he “always get to the truth”. It’s been two days since I finished it and still thinking about it. So very well done.

I'm surprised at the number of one-star reviews that were given to "The Hypnotist" by Lars Kepler. I couldn't put it down. I will agree that the Pokemon part of the story didn't make a whole lot of sense and didn't add to the story of the gruesome murders of a family, leaving the one son so badly wounded in the hospital that he was near death.Detective Joona Linna takes over the case of the hypnotist, Dr. Erik Maria Bark, who left the business of hypnotism ten years earlier and who has given it up completely, but is convinced by Linna to do it one more time. Linna also has the case of the murdered family which turns out to be quite complicated as far as why they were killed.There are a lot of characters in this book and a lot of sub-plots that go on. Some could have been left out and the book wouldn't have been at a loss for anything. Despite all of this, I found the book hard to put down because of the suspense and the need to find out who had committed the crimes.I would recommend it to anyone who likes Scandinavian crime thrillers or just crime/suspense/thriller readers.

I want to make a T-shirt that says “I was right - Joona Linna”. Also- this book mentions Pokémon, how can it not get a perfect chick rating? It’s so quick to get hooked and you won’t want to put it down, I read this in less than 24 hours. If you’re a fan of psychothrillers such as “The Silent Patient”, don’t sleep on this one. I had absolutely no idea how this thing was going to end. I came up with 4 different theories and all of them were wrong. The dynamic duo Lars Kepler are authors I will watch out for now!

I took a bit of a gamble buying this as it's a new author to me but I'm pleased I did. The books all appear to be long ones which I like a lot more, too. I'll definitely be reading more of the series. The MAIN thing for me was I didn't happen upon one single mistake !! Now, how impressive is this ?? Other publishers and authors could learn more than a lesson or two, especially English ones. If a Nordic team can get it right then British writers and publishers ought to be blushing with shame !! You only need to read any one of my reviews to know it's a rare, rare occurrence !! It's like being grateful for receiving good service in a retail shop. It SHOULD be the norm but so rarely is that you're delighted when it does happen !!I enjoyed the story and I only marked it down one star as I found it a bit "boggy" around the midway point when it seemed to get a little repetitive as it delved deeply into the hypnotism process itself. I'm aware the story is based around this, of course, but it did go on a bit is all. Though Erik certainly had his work cut out dealing with some of the bizarre cases he did !!Joona is clearly an interesting chap and I liked him. I was definitely very intrigued about his visits to see his mum......I'm sure we will get to learn more as the series progresses. I wasn't as keen on either Erik or Simone and their behaviour-they were both bloody liars !! I liked Benjamin and his friendship too with Aida. My only other little criticism is that we heard too often about how people's sweating experiences and didn't need to know the weather outside every single window encountered in the story. Oh, there was one sentence that I didn't think made a lot of sense-"By the time the helicopter arrived at the hospital in Umea, the bullet had gone straight through Erik's shoulder muscle......."..........now, it didn't keep moving as they flew on a helicopter, did it !!This tiny little gripe aside, I am looking forward to the next chapter of this new series to me.

The Hypnotist is the first book in the Joona Linna series and is a crime thriller set in Sweden. A gruesome triple homicide attracts the interest of Detective Inspector Joona Linna, who demands to investigate the murders. A hypnotist is enlisted to help the investigation of a witness and to solve the crime but things are not that simple.Quality jumps at the reader from the first page. This is a top class story that is full of content. This is a lot more than the usual police procedural crime thriller. Tonnes of research has been done by the authors which shows in all the extra information woven into this story. I liked how the work of the hypnotist was explained and the insight into how our brains deal with trauma.I liked the pace of this novel and how the reader was given many suspects to consider. The plot was very involved and expertly told. I liked how all those little bits, often ignored by the reader as clues, came together towards the end.I found The Hypnotist to be an engrossing, entertaining and thrilling read. I think it would make a great film and I can find nothing wrong with this book. At the end the authors explained who they are, how they were discovered and their writing methods. The Hypnotist is an OUTSTANDING read and gets the top score of 5 stars from me.

This is a brilliant book by an obviously brilliant author. I couldn't give it anything else but a 5 star rating. However, I found the middle section describing the previous 10 year period of Eric's hypnosis group very over descriptive and I was skipping sentences to try to get through it because I was losing the original plot! It was a very hard read and the violence was very disturbing in parts. The main character, Joins, the detective is a very interesting and complicated person who is also brilliant. All in all an excellent book.

Bland, poorly written, with unlikeable characters who often have complete shifts in personality. Attempts were made to thickly layer on the blood and gore, whilst reality was completely ignored in favour of pints and pints of viscous fluid, and acts of bone tearing superhuman strength. Any fleshing out of the wooden characters serves only to make you dislike every single one of them. The seemingly "never wrong" detective bumbles around and claims to have known it all, when really he's about as competent as Clouseau. There are more thrills and intrigues in the ingredients list of a can of soup than this utter waste of time.

At the beginning it was all a bit higgledy piggeldy and I couldn’t work out hi everyone was. Lots of characters to remember in short time... but once I’d done that, it was great. I must admit I still don’t know why it’s the Joona Linna series, because at this moment it’s Erik Bark who featured more in this book. Also.. why do they have to callveryone their full name? “Hello Erik Maria Bark here” like what? I never answer the phone or whatever like that. It seems like a so civically Nordic trait... but weird as he seems to hate being called that... so just don’t say your middle name dude? Lol