Title: Stalker
Author: Lars Kepler (pen name for the Swedish literary couple Alexander Ahndoril and Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril)
Genre: Crime, Suspense, Mystery, Thriller
IF THE LIGHTS ARE ON, THEY CAN SEE YOU
A film arrives at the National Criminal Investigation Department in Stockholm. It shows a woman, alive, being filmed through the window of her house. She does no know she is being watched. The police don’t take it seriously.
Until she is found dead.
BUT IF THE LIGHTS ARE OFF…
When the next video arrives, Detective Margot Silverman frantically searches for any way of identifying the victim. But it already too late. Because at the time the video was sent, the subject was already facing the terrifying final moments of their life. And without anything to link the victims, the police are powerless to help them.
IT’S ALREADY TOO LATE
Soon Stockholm is in the grip of terror.
Who will the Stalker target next?
This novel is easily one of the most violent and creepy novels I have ever read. The plot is well crafted with sub plots running parallel. While reading it made me wonder how all of this going to connect. It did connect, and that to in the best way possible. The plot always has this undercurrent tension going on, which always kept in on the edge, wondering who’s next on the killer’s list. The short chapters helped in kicking the pace up a notch. The jewel of this novel was the characters. This novel has one of the best ensembles I have ever come across. Be it Margot, the pregnant cop I was worried about all the time, or Adam, a genuine cop working to stop crime, or Erik, the hypnotist who himself needs help, or Jonna Linna, the ex-cop who used his little grey cells to crack this case, or the Antagonist, who is the most unexpected yet the most obvious killer. When the antagonist came out I was shocked and ecstatic at the same time. The antagonist of this novel is by far my favourite one.
I am definitely going to read the others books by Lars Kepler very soon.
Final Verdict:
Stalker by Lars Kepler gets 5 out 5 stars from me.