Lars Kepler - The Nightmare (Inspector Joona #2)
I stumbled my way through The Hypnotist, and possibly it was due to the translation, or just the meandering middle section, but the overall story seemed disjointed as if the authors attempted to splice two completely different stories together.
So why did I bother to pick up the next book in the series? Possibly because of the one word title, or possibly the bright orange cover (there's a trend of them this summer), or maybe I'm willing to give folks a second chance. In all honesty, it was the promise I would learn more about the lead investigator Joona Linna that intrigued me, that and my insatiable curiosity when the book jacket hinted at impossible suicides.
Whatever the two authors did this time out, they did right. I had a hard time putting the Nightmare down. From the opening sequence of events when Inspector Joona steps in with his steely, calm, resolve, convincing the powers above there is a lot more going on then what appears on the surface.
A drowning victim found in bed on a boat, but the body is dry. An apparent suicide by hanging in a closed room and no furniture nearby. These are the two seemingly unrelated cases that are presented to Joona at the beginning. Attention to detail, and a dogged approach to following his own instincts keeps the Inspector focused and moving forward.
There is quite a bit of jumping around in the storytelling, but it's like having a large box of puzzle pieces laid out. First you start with the straight-edged pieces and slowly work sections of like colors before the picture begins to resemble the cover artwork. The pieces all come together and there is plenty of action and thrills throughout to keep the reader flipping pages.
A few small drawbacks, tense would change unexpectedly leaving me with a slight feeling of jarring loss to the rhythm, and a few characters a little too over the top that didn't add a whole lot to the story.
Overall, they definitely hit my 'must read' list for the future with this installment, and I would recommend this book as the starting point to anyone wishing to begin the series.
So why did I bother to pick up the next book in the series? Possibly because of the one word title, or possibly the bright orange cover (there's a trend of them this summer), or maybe I'm willing to give folks a second chance. In all honesty, it was the promise I would learn more about the lead investigator Joona Linna that intrigued me, that and my insatiable curiosity when the book jacket hinted at impossible suicides.
Whatever the two authors did this time out, they did right. I had a hard time putting the Nightmare down. From the opening sequence of events when Inspector Joona steps in with his steely, calm, resolve, convincing the powers above there is a lot more going on then what appears on the surface.
A drowning victim found in bed on a boat, but the body is dry. An apparent suicide by hanging in a closed room and no furniture nearby. These are the two seemingly unrelated cases that are presented to Joona at the beginning. Attention to detail, and a dogged approach to following his own instincts keeps the Inspector focused and moving forward.
There is quite a bit of jumping around in the storytelling, but it's like having a large box of puzzle pieces laid out. First you start with the straight-edged pieces and slowly work sections of like colors before the picture begins to resemble the cover artwork. The pieces all come together and there is plenty of action and thrills throughout to keep the reader flipping pages.
A few small drawbacks, tense would change unexpectedly leaving me with a slight feeling of jarring loss to the rhythm, and a few characters a little too over the top that didn't add a whole lot to the story.
Overall, they definitely hit my 'must read' list for the future with this installment, and I would recommend this book as the starting point to anyone wishing to begin the series.