The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler

McClelland & Stewart; 1st Edition edition (June 12 2012)

512 pages - 17.99 $

Scandinavians are still a hit on the sales charts. Lars Kepler is a Swedish couple writing together. I must say that I didn't seeing it. I do not know about you but  I like less than others books written by two hands. Anyway, Scandinavian authors are often very good, the story was very promising and a friend gave me this book, so I said to myself I could give it a shot!

The blurb

Tumba, Sweden. A triple homicide, all of the victims from the same family, captivates Detective Inspector Joona Linna, who demands to investigate the grisly murders - against the wishes of the national police. The killer is at large, and it appears that the elder sister of the family escaped the carnage; it seems only a matter of time until she, too, is murdered. But where can Linna begin? The only surviving witness is an intended victim - the boy whose mother, father, and little sister were killed before his eyes. Whoever committed the crimes intended for this boy to die: he has suffered more than one hundred knife wounds and Lapsed into a state of shock. He's in no condition to be questioned. Desperate for information, Linna sees one mode of recourse: 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 had 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.

What I think of it

The story is original, I must admit it. I was intrigued to see how the author would deal with hypnosis, knowing that this kind of method is not always well seen. This is pretty well written, even if the description of the sensations during hypnosis is a bit too metaphysical for me. It reminds me of the book Eat, Pray, Love, when the author tells about the blue reflections that invade her during a transcendent moment of meditation... it was not my favorite part of the book. 

For the rest, one word comes to mind: long. This book is far too long! One example among many other,: when Joona wants to ask a colleague to look for information, it may take a whole page. (Yes Sir!) Because he must take the time to talk about his years of swimming with her, all that... Everything is detailed - and whether in Frédérique Molay's book it was well done and quite useful - here it is often unnecessary. Reading this book that aims to be a thriller (thus normally a breathless thing), is a bit like running in slow motion. There is always something happening, it must be said, but multiple hyper detailed unnecessary actions that revolve around the main plot breaks the flow. As I said recently, too much detail kills the plot. This is the major concern of this novel.

Small bonus point for the tip of humor at the end of the book when Joona called Erik and can not prevent his quirks to step through. 

In a nutshell

This is good, but too long. A 2.5 / 5 for me.