Book Review ~ The Hypnotist by Lars Kleper

Title: The Hypnotist
Author: Lars Kleper
Published: 2011

Summary
In the frigid clime of Tumba, Sweden, a gruesome triple homicide attracts the interest of Detective Inspector Joona Linna, who demands to investigate the murders. The killer is still at large, and there’s only one surviving witness—the boy whose family was killed before his eyes. Whoever committed the crimes wanted this boy to die: he’s suffered more than one hundred knife wounds and lapsed into a state of shock. Desperate for information, Linna sees only one option: 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 has 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.


Thoughts: 

I have to say this book started off with a bang and I found myself forced to continue to read it all the way through. Until, that is, the flashbacks happened. I have no idea what it was but, those flashbacks completely pulled me out of the story telling. I understand now that I've finished it why it was important, however it just felt as if someone took the past and plopped it down in the middle of a book expecting it all to work. I have no idea if it was just not the style I am use to or if it really was that jarring. After that I just couldn't seem to get back into the story. I ended up skipping the flashback and skimming the rest of the novel. Add to it there were 2 mysteries happen and that alone through my world off. There is just something about this book that I can't put my finger on that was not enjoyable. Don't get me wrong when I first picked it up it was amazing but then about 400 pages it I just fizzled out with reading and wanting to know more. The characters were not that interesting towards the end and overall I wasn't that impressed with the main detective. Part of me kept waiting for Joona to be a gruff detective I could just fall in love with and move along. However, that was not the case. This detective is so egotistical and so "I was right wasn't I" attitude that I found that I actually hoped for once he would be wrong just so we could see how he would deal with that situation.

Weirdly enough while I did enjoy the book I felt that if they had cut 100 pages or so I would have ranked it so much higher on Goodreads. As of now I have given it 3 out of 5 stars. I would still recommend it but not with the fury that I did when I started.