Stalker by Lars Kepler.

This novel starts…

It wasn’t until the first body was found that anyone took the film seriously. A link to a video clip on YouTube had been sent to the public email address of the National Criminal Investigation Department. The email contained no message, and the sender was impossible to trace.

… and so this crime thriller set in Sweden gets off to it’s creepy start as Margot Silverman leads the police chase to catch the stalker and serial killer.

Stalker is the 5th novel in the Joona Linna series but I have NOT read ANY of the other 4. What I thought would be a regular police crime thriller was very different because although Margot was in charge of the police investigation, Joona Linna an ex-cop and his friend Erik, a doctor - poked their noses into the case. This angle was odd because generally the reader follows just one lead character/detective as they solve the case. I did not feel as though it was one character’s story and with the content spread across Erik, Joona and Margot, I was unable to fully engage with the plot. I constantly thought, why are Erik and Joona poking their noses into police business rather than getting on with their lives? It was very difficult to root for Erik and Joona.

What was good about this plot was just how difficult it was for the police to pick up clues. The stalker/serial killer was forensically aware and those YouTube clips just poked fun at the police but gave nothing away. I liked how Lars Kepler made the stalker very creepy in the tale. The tone of suspense and danger/threat was spot on. From time to time you would suspect characters of being the stalker as the story moved on. But I did find the shifting focus between Erik, Joona and Margot a distraction. This structure of story telling was a disappointment for me.

I liked how the character Jackie brought into the story how blind people cope in their daily lives. The mysteries were explained and were a gentle way to raise public awareness. The humour within this novel was gentle too, for example…

‘Our lives aren’t boring,’ Thomas says calmly. ‘There’s nothing boring about not using drugs, or alcohol or tobacco… or coffee or tea.’

‘Why not coffee?’ Adam asks.

‘Because the body is a gift from God,’ he replies simply.

‘If it’s a gift, then surely you can drink coffee if you want to?’ Adam retorts.

‘Of course, it isn’t set in stone,’ Thomas says lightly. ‘It’s just guidance…’

‘OK,’ Adam nods.

‘But if we listen to this guidance, the Lord promises that the angel of death will pass our home and not kill us.’ Thomas smiles.

‘How quickly does the angel come if you mess up badly?’ Margot asks.

... This novel covers a lot of ground, a nice tour around sex and drugs but is rather far fetched in places, especially towards the end. But the epilogue is very good, especially the explanation of stalking and obsessive fixation syndrome.

I thought Stalker was a 4 star GOOD read, it got the creepiness of stalking spot on but lacked the character development and dynamics of police procedurals. It was a good crime thriller but not in the top division. The split between Erik, Joona and Margot simply did not work for me. I think readers like to strongly follow a single character rather than a trio who do not work for the same firm. But it was a GOOD read and will make me think twice about walking my dog whilst wearing my yellow rain coat with a camera in my pocket.

Stalker was written in 2014 and is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook. Lars Kepler is the pen name for the Swedish literary couple Alexander Ahndoril and Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Harper Collins UK for giving me a copy of this book on the understanding that I provide an honest review.