Stalker

Lars Kepler is the pen name for the husband and wife team of Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril and Alexander Ahndoril. Their new Swedish international best-seller, Stalker (Knopf, $27.95), holds nothing back on the gore and a creepy stalker who films his female victims and posts the video online, before getting inside the house and murdering them. The Keplers spare no details. Brutal stuff. 

Some scenes are absolutely riveting, bound to keep you sleepless, as the innocent victims (innocent except for going to orgies). The police are led by Detective Margot Silverman who’s smart, thorough, and determined to catch the stalker before she delivers her baby. It’s going to be a very close race.  

Then former cop Joona Linna returns to Stockholm, once a special operations army officer, expert in martial arts, he was once was a detective on the force but had to fake his death to protect his wife and child in a prior novel. He’s the real hero of the book though battling migraine headaches and a bad hip he offers fresh insight and is the guy willing to break the rules. And does. The Kepler crew has sold 13 million books with Joona as the man.  

The identity of the stalker comes as quite a surprise, especially since the Keplers don’t offer up any candidates in the traditional mystery style for the reader to guess at. No, the identity comes very late although it’s one of those disclosures where you go back and realize, “Maybe I should have guessed it.”  

Unfortunately, the dénouement lasts forever, page after page, long past the high point of excitement and even has the cliché from the Terminator movie—the bad guy coming back alive after someone has supposedly killed him or it. Stalker could have used a strong edit. At 551 pages it’s too long and I almost gave up. But if you’re into blood, guts, and decent sex scenes it’s not a bad read. I’d give it a B-.  

Steve E Clark  as seen in the New York Times is Author of  Justice Is for the Lonely  and  Justice Is for the Deserving,  Kristen Kerry Novels Of Suspense.  Steve is a 2017 NY Big Book Award winner and a 2018 Independent Book Awards recepient.  You can purchase his books via https://steveclarkauthor.com/buy-the-book/ or request it at your local book store.  Want to know more about Steve Clark, read more reviews or speak directly with Steve?  Learn more about Steve at SteveClarkAuthor.com