Full Article Text
BOOKS MEDIA ENTERTAINMENT BESTSELLERS AUTHORS BOOK PUBLISHING
Michael Giltz
Freelance writer
GET UPDATES FROM MICHAEL GILTZ
Follow
Bestsellers , Books , Mysteries , Sweden , Books News
1
22
0
0React
Inspiring Funny Typical Important Outrageous Amazing Innovative BeautifulBook Review" "The Hypnotist" --
Wait For It -- Mesmerizes
THE HYPNOTIST By Lars Kepler ** 1/2 out of ****
$27 hardcover; 512 pages
FOLLOW US
September 15, 2011
PHOTOS:
Newspapers
CommemoratePHOTOS: Cooper
Strips Down,
Reveals A Whole...
EXCLUSIVE: New
Revelations From
PostSecretAnderson Cooper's
Big Day Arrives
EDITION: U.S.
Like 43
Posted: 07/ 5/11 03:53 PM ET
SHARE THIS STORY
Submit this story
Get Books Alerts
Sign UpPHOTO GALLERIES
CONNECT
FRONT PAGE POLITICS BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT TECH MEDIA LIFE & STYLE CULTURE COMEDY HEALTHY LIVING WOMEN LOCAL MORE
Like 6KeReaders NYR BlackBerry 101 More Log in
Sarah Crichton Books/Farrar, Straus and Giroux
This new mystery thriller comes from a husband and wife team based in Sweden, so naturally it's being
compared to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo . But this is really an international book written for an
international audience. It's movie ready with short chapters, vivid characters and enough twists and turnsto keep pages turning.
Many mysteries feature damaged heroes but what may give this debut novel by the pseudonym Lars
Kepler its own flair is the fact that virtually every character is deeply damaged in one way or another.
Our hero is Detective Joona Linna. He's haunted by a tragic car accident and now simply cannot, will not
rest until a case is solved. Linna also suffers from blinding headaches but when a case is on he skips hismeds and lets the pain mount and mount so nothing distracts from the task at hand. He's so single-minded that Linna often leaves his glamorous girlfriend alone.
Linna is dragged into solving an horrific crime in which almost an entire family is brutally murdered but
a 15 year old boy survives with hundreds of stab wounds. Time is running out because the boy's sister
may be in danger and can't be found, but the boy is is barely capable of being questioned in the normal
way. So Linna calls in...The Hypnotist.
That would be Dr. Erik Maria Bark. He swore never to use hypnosis again after some tragic event that
haunts him. (Rest assured, we'll hear about it in detail.) Bark is addicted to painkillers and not sleepingwith his beautiful wife, who hasn't forgiven him for a brief affair many years earlier. Their son is alsowounded in a way: he suffers from a rare blood disease that means he must get weekly injections and canstill die if jostled around too casually. The boy is finally dating a goth girl, who seems to be trying to pullaway from a gang of aimless youth that terrorize the kids in their neighborhood. But are his parent tooprotective to let him have any fun?
When Bark is reluctantly pressured into using hypnosis in this crisis situation, you won't be surprised to
hear it all spirals out of control. The madman who attacked that family is revealed and on the hunt. Themissing sister is found but never feels safe. Bark's use of hypnosis makes national news and AmnestyInternational weighs in on his barbaric tactics. And then the hypnotist's son is kidnapped and any one ofseveral terrifying suspects could be responsible. Soon we're plunged back into the past and Bark'scontroversial group hypnosis therapy sessions. He brought together all sorts of damaged souls, one ofwhom may be targeting him now for the sins of the past.
It's all pretty entertaining stuff, though regular readers of mysteries won't be thrown off by the red
herrings. Mind you, herring served at a Christmas party and unusual street names are the only clues thatthis is set in Sweden. Either world culture is becoming unified or this book is geared towards a worldaudience. Certainly disaffected teens and psychopaths are the same the world over. A few missteps aresoon brushed aside. (Early on, when a psycho has vowed to kill Dr. Bark and/or his family, wouldn't thecops simply go to Bark's home rather than just leave some frantic phone messages and leave it at that?)It's lean, amiable beach reading with Linna not quite center stage (much of the book is devoted to Barkand others) but an interesting character nonetheless. He has one annoyingly endearing quirk: Linna isalways right and when he's doubted and proven right, he feels compelled to make his coworkers admit hewas right and then says, "I told you so."
When this book becomes a bestseller and we get a sequel, just take it for granted that I'm thinking the
same thing: I was right and I told you so.
*****
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox, a weekly pop culture podcast that
reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinionmakers as guests. It's available free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog.
Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and alsoavailable for free on iTunes. Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and
reviews .
NOTE: Michael Giltz was provided with a free copy of this book in galley and final form. He receives farmore books than he can cover and does not guarantee to review or write about any particular one.
Follow Michael Giltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/michaelgiltz
Sponsored Links
57 Year Old Mom Looks 27
Huffington Post Readers: Mom Reveals $5 Wrinkle Trick Angering Doctors
MOST POPULAR ON HUFFPOST 1 of 2
'Web Cam 101 For Seniors'
Turns Oregon Oldsters Into
YouTube Celebrities
Scarlett Johansson Nude
Photos Prompt Investigation
SHOCK VIDEO: Debate
Audience Says Uninsured
Patient Should Be Left To Die
Celestrellas: Angola named
Miss Universe 2011 - show
recap (PHOTOS & VIDEOS)
AOL TV: Jon Cryer, Ashton
Kutcher & Angus T. Jones
Talk 'Two and a Half Men'
Season 9 (VIDEO)
Ten Signs Your Marriage is
Headed for Divorce
Mark Blankenship True Blood
Sucker Punch: Season 4, Ep.
12
Engadget: Windows 8 for
tablets hands-on preview
(video)
AOL Jobs: Spelling Errors
Send Red Flags To Employers
DON'T MISS HUFFPOST BLOGGERS 1 of 5
Kumi Naidoo
Don’t Make a Wave: Greenpeace at
40
Candy Spelling
iPads and Social Media in the
Classroom?
MOST DISCUSSED RIGHT NOW
HOT ON FACEBOOK 1 of 3
Like 118K
Like 96
Like 64K
Like 2K
Like 466
Like 2K
Like 111
Like 3K
Like 1K
6 Words You Should
Never Write
Things Fall Apart For 50
Cent Over Book Title
EXCLUSIVE: New
PostSecret Post
Cards
Bad Words: 6
Words You Should
Never...
50 Cent Loses
Battle With Nigerian
Novelist...
'The Night Circus'
Review: The Next
'Harry... Buy a link here Daily-Lifestyles.com
Truth About Scientology
You've Heard The Controversy, Now Get The Facts. Watch Online Videos
Scientology.org
Penny Stock Jumping 3000%
Join our 100% Free Newsletter & get Penny Stock Picks that jump high!
www.AwesomePennyStocks.com
Online Masters Degrees
AA, BA, BS, MA, MS, PhD Programs
www.DegreePath.com
More in Books...
HOT ON TWITTER 1 of 2
HUFFPOST'S BIG NEWS PAGES
Video
Weird Animals
Astronomy
Food
Fashion
Scott Brown
Kanye West
Barack Obama
Maria Shriver Buy a link here Sponsored Links
Tagg - The Pet Tracker™
Track and locate your dog on a map on yourcomputer or mobile device.
www.Tagg.com
Are you pregnant?
Thousands of moms save their baby's cord
blood each month. F...
Cordblood.com
57 Year Old Mom Looks 27!
Local Mom Reveals $5 Wrinkle Trick
Angering Doctors.
Daily-Lifestyles.com/BREAKTHROUGH
MORE BIG NEWS PAGES »
BOOKS MEDIA ENTERTAINMENT BESTSELLERS AUTHORS BOOK PUBLISHING
How to Talk to Little Girls
Like
EXCLUSIVE: New
Revelations From
PostSecret
Like 275
sarah_ross
RetweetDear Twitter Friends pls check this
out: Have We Overlooked the Most
Effective Way to Prevent Terrorism
& War? http://t.co/YyoQ1EIR
soundcloud
Retweet'Listening for the Sounds of
innovation.", a great guest post by
our own @Bougie over on
@HuffPostTech http://t.co/aIT65Ox
FRONT PAGE POLITICS BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT TECH MEDIA LIFE & STYLE CULTURE COMEDY HEALTHY LIVING WOMEN LOCAL MORE
Advertise | Log In | Make HuffPost your Home Page | RSS | Careers | FAQ
User Agreement | Privacy | Comment Policy | About Us | Contact Us
Copyright © 2011 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. | "The Huffington Post" is a registered trademark of TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. All rights reserved.
Part of AOL Lifestyle
Michael Giltz
Freelance writer
GET UPDATES FROM MICHAEL GILTZ
Follow
Bestsellers , Books , Mysteries , Sweden , Books News
1
22
0
0React
Inspiring Funny Typical Important Outrageous Amazing Innovative BeautifulBook Review" "The Hypnotist" --
Wait For It -- Mesmerizes
THE HYPNOTIST By Lars Kepler ** 1/2 out of ****
$27 hardcover; 512 pages
FOLLOW US
September 15, 2011
PHOTOS:
Newspapers
CommemoratePHOTOS: Cooper
Strips Down,
Reveals A Whole...
EXCLUSIVE: New
Revelations From
PostSecretAnderson Cooper's
Big Day Arrives
EDITION: U.S.
Like 43
Posted: 07/ 5/11 03:53 PM ET
SHARE THIS STORY
Submit this story
Get Books Alerts
Sign UpPHOTO GALLERIES
CONNECT
FRONT PAGE POLITICS BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT TECH MEDIA LIFE & STYLE CULTURE COMEDY HEALTHY LIVING WOMEN LOCAL MORE
Like 6KeReaders NYR BlackBerry 101 More Log in
Sarah Crichton Books/Farrar, Straus and Giroux
This new mystery thriller comes from a husband and wife team based in Sweden, so naturally it's being
compared to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo . But this is really an international book written for an
international audience. It's movie ready with short chapters, vivid characters and enough twists and turnsto keep pages turning.
Many mysteries feature damaged heroes but what may give this debut novel by the pseudonym Lars
Kepler its own flair is the fact that virtually every character is deeply damaged in one way or another.
Our hero is Detective Joona Linna. He's haunted by a tragic car accident and now simply cannot, will not
rest until a case is solved. Linna also suffers from blinding headaches but when a case is on he skips hismeds and lets the pain mount and mount so nothing distracts from the task at hand. He's so single-minded that Linna often leaves his glamorous girlfriend alone.
Linna is dragged into solving an horrific crime in which almost an entire family is brutally murdered but
a 15 year old boy survives with hundreds of stab wounds. Time is running out because the boy's sister
may be in danger and can't be found, but the boy is is barely capable of being questioned in the normal
way. So Linna calls in...The Hypnotist.
That would be Dr. Erik Maria Bark. He swore never to use hypnosis again after some tragic event that
haunts him. (Rest assured, we'll hear about it in detail.) Bark is addicted to painkillers and not sleepingwith his beautiful wife, who hasn't forgiven him for a brief affair many years earlier. Their son is alsowounded in a way: he suffers from a rare blood disease that means he must get weekly injections and canstill die if jostled around too casually. The boy is finally dating a goth girl, who seems to be trying to pullaway from a gang of aimless youth that terrorize the kids in their neighborhood. But are his parent tooprotective to let him have any fun?
When Bark is reluctantly pressured into using hypnosis in this crisis situation, you won't be surprised to
hear it all spirals out of control. The madman who attacked that family is revealed and on the hunt. Themissing sister is found but never feels safe. Bark's use of hypnosis makes national news and AmnestyInternational weighs in on his barbaric tactics. And then the hypnotist's son is kidnapped and any one ofseveral terrifying suspects could be responsible. Soon we're plunged back into the past and Bark'scontroversial group hypnosis therapy sessions. He brought together all sorts of damaged souls, one ofwhom may be targeting him now for the sins of the past.
It's all pretty entertaining stuff, though regular readers of mysteries won't be thrown off by the red
herrings. Mind you, herring served at a Christmas party and unusual street names are the only clues thatthis is set in Sweden. Either world culture is becoming unified or this book is geared towards a worldaudience. Certainly disaffected teens and psychopaths are the same the world over. A few missteps aresoon brushed aside. (Early on, when a psycho has vowed to kill Dr. Bark and/or his family, wouldn't thecops simply go to Bark's home rather than just leave some frantic phone messages and leave it at that?)It's lean, amiable beach reading with Linna not quite center stage (much of the book is devoted to Barkand others) but an interesting character nonetheless. He has one annoyingly endearing quirk: Linna isalways right and when he's doubted and proven right, he feels compelled to make his coworkers admit hewas right and then says, "I told you so."
When this book becomes a bestseller and we get a sequel, just take it for granted that I'm thinking the
same thing: I was right and I told you so.
*****
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox, a weekly pop culture podcast that
reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinionmakers as guests. It's available free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog.
Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and alsoavailable for free on iTunes. Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and
reviews .
NOTE: Michael Giltz was provided with a free copy of this book in galley and final form. He receives farmore books than he can cover and does not guarantee to review or write about any particular one.
Follow Michael Giltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/michaelgiltz
Sponsored Links
57 Year Old Mom Looks 27
Huffington Post Readers: Mom Reveals $5 Wrinkle Trick Angering Doctors
MOST POPULAR ON HUFFPOST 1 of 2
'Web Cam 101 For Seniors'
Turns Oregon Oldsters Into
YouTube Celebrities
Scarlett Johansson Nude
Photos Prompt Investigation
SHOCK VIDEO: Debate
Audience Says Uninsured
Patient Should Be Left To Die
Celestrellas: Angola named
Miss Universe 2011 - show
recap (PHOTOS & VIDEOS)
AOL TV: Jon Cryer, Ashton
Kutcher & Angus T. Jones
Talk 'Two and a Half Men'
Season 9 (VIDEO)
Ten Signs Your Marriage is
Headed for Divorce
Mark Blankenship True Blood
Sucker Punch: Season 4, Ep.
12
Engadget: Windows 8 for
tablets hands-on preview
(video)
AOL Jobs: Spelling Errors
Send Red Flags To Employers
DON'T MISS HUFFPOST BLOGGERS 1 of 5
Kumi Naidoo
Don’t Make a Wave: Greenpeace at
40
Candy Spelling
iPads and Social Media in the
Classroom?
MOST DISCUSSED RIGHT NOW
HOT ON FACEBOOK 1 of 3
Like 118K
Like 96
Like 64K
Like 2K
Like 466
Like 2K
Like 111
Like 3K
Like 1K
6 Words You Should
Never Write
Things Fall Apart For 50
Cent Over Book Title
EXCLUSIVE: New
PostSecret Post
Cards
Bad Words: 6
Words You Should
Never...
50 Cent Loses
Battle With Nigerian
Novelist...
'The Night Circus'
Review: The Next
'Harry... Buy a link here Daily-Lifestyles.com
Truth About Scientology
You've Heard The Controversy, Now Get The Facts. Watch Online Videos
Scientology.org
Penny Stock Jumping 3000%
Join our 100% Free Newsletter & get Penny Stock Picks that jump high!
www.AwesomePennyStocks.com
Online Masters Degrees
AA, BA, BS, MA, MS, PhD Programs
www.DegreePath.com
More in Books...
HOT ON TWITTER 1 of 2
HUFFPOST'S BIG NEWS PAGES
Video
Weird Animals
Astronomy
Food
Fashion
Scott Brown
Kanye West
Barack Obama
Maria Shriver Buy a link here Sponsored Links
Tagg - The Pet Tracker™
Track and locate your dog on a map on yourcomputer or mobile device.
www.Tagg.com
Are you pregnant?
Thousands of moms save their baby's cord
blood each month. F...
Cordblood.com
57 Year Old Mom Looks 27!
Local Mom Reveals $5 Wrinkle Trick
Angering Doctors.
Daily-Lifestyles.com/BREAKTHROUGH
MORE BIG NEWS PAGES »
BOOKS MEDIA ENTERTAINMENT BESTSELLERS AUTHORS BOOK PUBLISHING
How to Talk to Little Girls
Like
EXCLUSIVE: New
Revelations From
PostSecret
Like 275
sarah_ross
RetweetDear Twitter Friends pls check this
out: Have We Overlooked the Most
Effective Way to Prevent Terrorism
& War? http://t.co/YyoQ1EIR
soundcloud
Retweet'Listening for the Sounds of
innovation.", a great guest post by
our own @Bougie over on
@HuffPostTech http://t.co/aIT65Ox
FRONT PAGE POLITICS BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT TECH MEDIA LIFE & STYLE CULTURE COMEDY HEALTHY LIVING WOMEN LOCAL MORE
Advertise | Log In | Make HuffPost your Home Page | RSS | Careers | FAQ
User Agreement | Privacy | Comment Policy | About Us | Contact Us
Copyright © 2011 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. | "The Huffington Post" is a registered trademark of TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. All rights reserved.
Part of AOL Lifestyle