The Hypnotist, by Lars Kepler

Lagom is a Swedish word with no direct equivalent in English. Broadly, it means 'just enough', the appropriate amount, with the implication that simplicity is good, and that more is not always better. According to some accounts it once referred to the correct amount taken when a drinking horn of mead was passed between Viking warriors, and is said to sum up deep cultural values of equality and consensus.

But lagom doesn't seem to apply to Swedish crime fiction, where overwriting seems to be a key ingedient for success.  Few could argue that the Millennium trilogy wouldn't have been much better if each book had lost a hundred pages, or so, likewise, two other huge sellers, Roslund and Hellström's CWA Dagger winning Three Seconds and Lars Kepler's The Hypnotist.

Three Seconds was weighed down by detail on the Swedish prison system, drug smuggling etc that would have would have slowed the pace of a computer manual, and the Hypnotist has far, far too much about the mechanics of ... well, hypnotism.

That said, despite a central section that weighs as heavily as 30 minute news programme inserted into a TV film, Kepler's first Joona Linna novel is a gripping read for those with a strong stomach.

It begins with thunderous violence, and few of the ensuing 5o0 pages make for anything like easy reading. Four members of one family attacked, stabbed many, many times by a deranged assailant. Police inspector Linna gambles on calling a disgraced hypnotist, Erik Maria Bark, who has not worked of ten years, to try and unlock the secrets in the troubled mind of 15-year-old Josef Ek, and they realise they have found their killer.

But the hunt for Ek is just the beginning.

Bark's work involved dealing with a group of deeply disturned people, and their stories make grim reading.  The scandal that ended his exploration of hypnosis left deep wounds, and his marriage is in tatters, the Ek investigation will bring all these threads and more together into a chilling nghtmare.

This is a dark and unpleasant novel, but it is also a compelling read. Yes, it should have been a maybe a third shorter, but the construction and execution are of a high standard (except for a rather rushed and melodramatic conclusion).

If anything, The Hypnotist is a better read than Three Seconds, and I really did find it hard to put down, but I think two chunky blood-spattered thrillers are enough to last me for me for quite a while...       

• The Hypnotist, by Lars Kepler (trans. Ann Long) Kindle edition, 2011

 

   

Comments

[Dorte H]

Your review is spot on.

Highly exciting, but there was a bus scene (no spoilers) that made me laugh out loud.

[Mediations]

Thanks, Dorte. And yes, the bus added nothing, rather took something away.

I also think it is time to call a halt on stereotypical former Yugoslavs....

[hypnosis]

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[Sashank]

Any Buddhist's with some advice on gnitteg started?I have been an atheist for about 10 years now and have started to come to the conclusion that conventional religion and spirituality may not serve a purpose as an actual explanation for the universe, it does however provide something that we as a species seek out intrinsically. I can't imagine what other reason could there be for it's pervasiveness in every culture throughout history?Now that I'm older and free of the indoctrinated dogma I was born into when I was younger, I think it is possible to take a functional approach to spirituality. For me it's unlikely that this could be Christianity, Islam, or any of the more main stream spirituality. I'm not seeking rules so much as an inner peace, silly as the feels to say.I have liked much of what I've heard of Buddhism. While I found the notion of reincarnation challenging to accept initially, I was encouraged when I heard that not all sects teach that notion. Not only that but, in a way the notion in physics that energy cannot be destroyed could be a form of reincarnation in and of itself. The electrical energy in my brain and body. Etc.ANYway I've downloaded numerous texts and audio books (buddhism for beginners) but have hit a couple of stumbling blocks right out of the gates. First is how so much of what I have heard so far just strikes me as simple Altruism. The Path of Compassion The Path of Generosity. These concepts are functional to being a good person. Is this supposed to be a revelation to me?The second this bias I've discovered to some of the various Personalities that this seems to attract. A number of the audio books I've tried sound like they're being read by new-age hippy self-hypnosis guru's. Slow, deep voices trying to get you to relax. It reeks of in-authenticity to me. I'd rather have a stand up comic giving me the low down than these people.Isn't there a good place to start for simple down to earth instruction that speaks to my intellect rather than this squishy hippy-dippy stuff?