The latest installment in the internationally best-selling Joona Linna series sees the Swedish detective on the trail of the worst serial killer he's seen yet.
As with the previous books, Lazarus is written in the fast and furiously paced present in short, bitty chapters that move quickly between characters and scenes to ramp up tension. This gives them an intense, cinematic feel ... Characters, even minor ones, are well-developed and credibly flawed with painful pasts. The plot is pretty twisty too, so why these books haven’t been turned into mainstream movies or a TV boxed set is anyone’s guess. Surely Scandi noir hasn’t had its day quite yet? ... While Lazarus can be read as a standalone, it’s more enjoyable when read as a sequel to The Sandman. But be warned: it’s pretty bloodthirsty. I lapped it up.
In what may likely be their most gritty and violent book so far, Lars Kepler has given Detective Joona Linna a pulse-pounding and heart-breaking case that will have the reader audibly gasping on more than one occasion. The book is lengthy, but the action never stops, from the first page to the last. The story is heavy but engrossing as Kepler leads us along on an investigation with constant twists, surprises, and terror. In Lazarus, neither the authors nor the characters ever blink at the graphic horrors brought on by this villainous criminal mastermind, so the reader must be prepared for a full unvarnished look at a truly gruesome tale ... not for the faint of heart. It is not the book to pick up if you just want to 'try out' the genre. However, if you know you love dark and twisted, sometimes painful, and sometimes disturbing crime fiction, this book will hold you hostage ... For fans of Kepler, this is a ride you will not forget.
There’s very little light in Lazarus, at all. If fact, it’s as dark as the tombs in which Jurek Walter buries his victims ... The characters are introduced quickly, with little fanfare, and, though we don’t learn much about their lives before this particular story, as is usual in most crime stories, the hints are there, making the reader want to know more ... almost like one of those slasher movies: The killer seems to be stopped, the danger averted, but again and again, the police are outsmarted ... This husband and wife team writing as Lars Kepler certainly knows how to pile on the horrors and give the reader a surfeit of chills, so much so, that at some time, it seems there should be a cry of 'Enough!' ... a thriller par excellence, though it’s advisable to read it in small increments, for the accumulation of too much horror at one time will definitely lead to sleepless nights, continuous checking of locks, and an increase in one’s lighting bill.
