Member Reviews
Another thouroughly engaging Joona Linna novel from the duo known as Lars Kepler. I always have love for these books because the storylines keep me interested and the stories are always wild, with crazy villains and twisty plots. This one is no exception, with Joona Linna chasing an elusive serial killer abducting and butchering women for years. His methods so oblique and subtle that authorities are in the dark that all the disappearances and homicides are connected. Perhaps he would have continued killing without being noticed, if it weren’t for the death of Jenny Lind. One mistake opens the door for Joona, and he makes a promise to find the person who held Jenny Lind for 5 years before killing her and leaving her body on public display. From there things take a wild turn and the story seems to get crazier as it goes on. I flew through it since the story has a tendency to grab ahold of you and keep you flipping pages. Another gripping story that leaves a subtle teaser at the end, perhaps setting up the next novel?? Review posted to Goodreads, Facebook, Instagram, Litsy and LibraryThing
I would like to thank the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read " The Mirror Man".
I really enjoyed it. I loved that it was a tad different from your usual kidnapping stories. One young girl, taken, on her way home from school, is found 5 years later hung in a park. Where had she been all this time?? A man walking his dog was a witness to the hanging, but he can't remember anything. He was mentally handicapped due to a trauma, when his daughter, Alice, drowned, a few years before. And so begins the mystery, for Detective Joona Linna, to unravel. It was one hell of a ride! Gritty crime fiction! I would rate this book 4 out of 5.
The husband and wife writing team of Lars Kepler returns with a crime fiction novel #8 featuring Detective Joona Linna. This novel involves an unusual serial murderer and his ability to quickly capture innocent young women, at which point they are raped, imprisoned for years, and often viciously murdered. The girls are expected to be happy in captivity, but if they attempt to escape, they are brutalized. Detective Joona Linna is a master at solving crime, although he often has to do it without support and with inferior police backup. Linna outshines most fictional Detectives because his ability for recall and his personal style can’t be imitated. This is one of the few crime writing teams that I find so addictive, but this book took gruesome to new levels, and I had to take some breaks while reading. Too many triggers to list, but if you like detailed crime fiction with an unusual twist, this is the book for you. I loved the ending!
Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and the author, for the opportunity to read and give an honest review of this book.
I was excited to get another story about Joona Linna and his investigation of a murder, which fast becomes a series of abductions and murders. His ways are sometimes unconventional, but he gets the job done. Sometimes his coworkers are sacrificed in his effort to thwart the murderer. Often he locks horns with his boss, Margot. However, she knows Joona gets results.
Long suffering Pamela puts up with the mental illness of her husband Martin for five years after losing her daughter in an accident in icy waters. Martin’s PTSD prevents Pamela from obtaining any details about the accident.
When Martin witnesses a murder of a previously abducted girl, Pamela and Martin become entwined in a murder investigation by Joona. More girls turn up dead and it is obvious that Joona has a serial killer to search for.
If you have much experience in psychology or psychiatry, the authors will have you suspending your beliefs and just going along with the story as the tension mounts. That is okay in that this is fiction, after all.
This is the 8th book in the Joona Linna series by the husband and wife authors who go by the pseudonym of Lars Kepler.
Not sure how I got into this series but hard to believe I have read all 8 books and enjoyed most of them.
Detective Joona Linna is on the trail of a kidnapper who targets teenage girls and makes their worst nightmares a reality. Seventeen-year-old Jenny is abducted in broad daylight and taken to run down, isolated house where she is chained and caged along with several other girls. Their captor is unpredictable and extremely brutal in the punishment he gives out.
Five years later, Jenny is found dead in a public park, and the police are hitting dead ends in their efforts to find her killer. When Detective Joona Linna realises that this murder appears to have a connection to a death that was declared a suicide years before they may have their first break. Another seventeen year old goes missing and it confirms that there is a serial killer on the loose. With the police getting closer to the killer the girls being held captive are put in greater danger. It becomes a race against time to catch the killer before more lives are lost.
The book is quite graphic and brutal in parts and maybe too much for some readers but I certainly thought that it added to the atmospheric setting. Although I have read all 8 books in order I feel that they could quite easily be read as standalones.
I would like to thank both Net Galley and Knopf for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
The Mirror Man is the eighth novel in Lars Kepler’s Joona Linna Swedish crime fiction series. Here, this husband and wife writing team tackle a frightening scenario so dreadfully evil that it is sobering to realize it is a scenario that has played out in reality. There is often a fine line between insanity and evil and the psychiatry profession tries to do their best to fix these twisted people, but as this novel teaches us, that profession somehow cannot fathom how treacherous evil can be and how the analytical tools of the profession are simply insufficient to deal with those too clever to be cured. There are milk boxes that have been dotted with the faces of missing children, but none ever do more than touch the tip of the grieving pain the families left behind feel, wondering, praying. Set in Sweden, originally written in Swedish, Mirror Man is a fast-paced trip down serial killer highway, well-written, tough.
Lars Kepler once again excels in writing one of the scariest creepiest books I’ve read in a long time.Reading about a serial killer sends chills down ny spine but LarsKepler takes it to a new level.I could not put it down read late into the night.#netgalley#themirrorman
For a county with little violent crime, the Lars Kepler-couple make Sweden appear like a nation of the most perversely creative psychopaths on the planet. "Mirror Man" is another stay-up-all-night read from the pseudonymous Lars Kepler, where the story is so outrageous that you can't believe what's in front of you--and you don't want it to end.
If you're in the mood for a really whack story where the pages fly by, you've found it. Just when you thought that things would even out now that Joona has a girlfriend, there's THIS.
Kudos to Alice Menzies for a fine, fluid translation
Over and over again I keep hearing Lars Kepler's name. My one girlfriend is obsessed and one of those creepy super fans. Well, my curiosity got the best of me and I caved. I needed to see what his books are all about!
The Mirror Man is absolutely insane!!! I could not calm my heart rate down as i flipped the pages. I needed to know what was happening! Talk about intense? This was a 12 on a scale from 1 to 10. I was completely consumed and addicted early on. I could not take a break or even get up for a bathroom break. I devoured this book in one sitting and I am left with a major book hang over. What did I just read?
Jenny is 16 when she is kidnapped in broad daylight. She is brought to an isolated house where she is chained and caged. There are other girls in the room with her who are also caged and chained. Their captor is an awful man. 5 years later Jenny is found dead and another girl goes missing.
This is an easy 5 star read. The Mirror Man has also made me a super fan and I can not wait to go back and read all of the previous Lars Kepler novels
The Mirror Man by Lars Keplar is an enthralling and engrossing read with a great plot and characters! Well worth the read
There are three great detectives in my opinion. Harry Hole, Varg Veum, and Joona Lina. To say I was thrilled to be approved to read the newest in the Joona Lina series doesn't state it adequately. And this book did not disappoint. I kind of laughed here. Like a Lars Kepler book could disappoint.
This is a really taut thriller that had me staying up most of the night to finish. Teenage girls are being kidnapped and some killed in the most gruesome ways. So this is not for the weak. Lars Kepler never holds back. The ending was spectacular. Seriously spectacular.
Ten stars.
Oh my goodness but I love this series!! The latest Joona Linna story was every bit as fabulous as all the others have been. I love the way characters are constantly being reworked into the stories, maintaining a continuity between books. The stories are always horribly dark but they're so brilliantly crafted that the darkness feels completely organic to the world Kepler has created.
For quite a while in this one, I was convinced of figured out who the villain was, and I was frankly a little disappointed that I did because it felt obviously not obvious (i.e., only obvious given the weird and tricksy rules of thrillers, red herrings, and twists that come out of left field). Turns out I was completely wrong, and I was delighted to be - it meant the magic of misdirection maintained its sparkle despite the number of books I've read in the series so far, and reinforced my perception but the writing team that is Lars Kepler is every bit as talented and committed to the series 8 books in as it was in the first books...
And that ending - holy cow but I couldn't believe what was thrown in on the last lines! Although by now I should come to expect a very large teaser about the next book, since many of them include one. Suffice to say I cannot wait for the next book already!
Thank you Knopf and Netgalley for sharing the upcoming book in the Joona Linda series. If you’re a fan of this series so far, you will definitely enjoy this one too. As always, the more-than-clever hero Joona races against time to stop a killer. Also in the usual fashion, Joona steamrolls his (new) boss, engages in some stunning hand to hand combat, and saves the day. And the ending pages suggest an upcoming teaming with Saga Bauer and the return of an old nemesis. I can’t wait for the next book already.
I LOVE Lars Kepler and the Joona Linna series so I was thrilled to download The Mirror Man from NetGalley. The Mirror Man revolves around the story of missing girls who are held captive in cages and brutally murdered, beginning with Jenny Lind who is hung in a public park. This begins Joona's hunt for the other missing girls and the manic - "the Mirror Man" who is holding them captive.
I thought I had this one figured out early on, but I was wrong. Which made the book even better. If you like thrills, action and adventure, this is a great book, a great series actually for you. I highly recommend starting at the beginning and reading all eight books. You won't be disappointed.
Once again Lars Kepler does not disappoint . I would give this one ten plus in the scary department. You will never forget the unique and gruesome ways this serial killer operates. This book is the stuff nightmares are made of. Loved it !
Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday for this ARC!
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While I enjoyed this book, I haven't read any of the other Joona Linna books, so there were certain things that went over my head. I think that reading more of the books would have given me a better look into his psyche, or the way he handled cases/his past, but I was able to get enough of an idea through this story.
However, it did make me want to find the first seven, and read them. I really enjoyed the back and forth POVs, and the story.
Thank you Knopf, NetGalley and Author for this amazing ebook copy!
I didn't realize this book was released in October 2020... And I'm so thrilled I came across it!
The Mirror Man by Lars was brilliant!
I loved Lazarus so when I seen this by Lars Kepler I had to try and get it!
And this book here did not disappoint.
The book was impossible to put down. With crazy twist and turns around every corner.... This story was fire!
This is a true thriller in every way possible they knocked this book outta the damn park.
I'm obsessed now. And need to read more of them, because if they are anything remotely similar to The Mirror Man writing I want to be there for it!
Such a fast paced, compelling read, I relished every moment!
With its excellent plot and comfortable pacing, I had difficulty putting this book down between chapters!
Prodigious character portrayal and suspense is well-maintained throughout the story I wanted to finish this book at 2am to see how this book ended!
5 stars very well deserved here!
Thanks again NetGalley, Publisher and Author for the chance to read and review this amazing book!
I'll post to my Social media platforms closer to pub date!
Another excellent addition to Kepler's catalogue. A recommended purchase for collections where the previous titles were popular.