#ATBR2020 Review: The Rabbit Hunter by Lars Kepler @aaknopf #TheRabbitHunter #LarsKepler @jessmapreviews @crimebythebook
The Rabbit Hunter
by Lars Kepler
Thanks so much to Knopf Publishing Group for these advanced copies.
Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
Publish Date: January 14, 2020
Hardcover
528 Pages
Series: Joona Linna #6
Genres: Thriller, Crime, Mystery
Detective Joona Linna is finishing out a sentence at Kumla prison for assaulting an officer in the course of his last investigation when he is summoned to a meeting with the Swedish Prime Minister. The Foreign Minister has been brutally murdered. There's a chance more political figures could be targeted. The police need Linna to find the killer and neutralize the threat, so he's granted a temporary release from prison. But when another murder occurs, Linna realizes he's dealing with something far more complex, and far more terrifying, than anyone imagined. As the body count grows, Linna begins to understand that he can't do this alone and he reaches out to Saga Bauer, the young Security Police detective, for help. Now, together, the two race against time to unravel the killer's intricate plan before he can take his ultimate revenge.
My Review:
Quite possibly my favorite from them so far! I started the series a little bit late with Sandman and was instantly enthralled with this writing team. The villains they bring are always astonishing, their writing is compulsive, the short chapters keep you turning every page.... AND the character builds we see of the mainstay characters.. Uff, give me more. MORE. (*Jeannette, you little vixen, you!)
As usual, they bookend their story with crazy openers and *give*me*more* endings. I continue to love Joona and Saga's camaraderie. Saga's characters just grows more and more on me with each read. Apparently so much I used her name instead of mine at the coffee shop yesterday (don't mind me, another story, another day). And within this particular series story, I really enjoyed reading about Rex and how completely awful, yet human, he is. Total love/hate relationship I had with his character.
The villain is extra creepy for me this time around. Honestly y'all, between the movie US, reading Bunny late last year and now *THIS*... I think I'm just done with that species for a while. They're cute and all but enough is enough! Haha... ha....*ahem*.
What I really love is being surprised at who the villain turned out to be. For whatever reason, it wasn't obvious to me and I am always so thankful to be surprised. For 528 pages, I never felt like this was too long. It seemed every page held information that was necessary. There were some parts where I was like... wait, what? And to be honest, I'm still a little bamboozled by these and had to flip pages back to reread parts to see what I missed... if anything. Sometimes things felt a teeny bit choppy - Saga with the guard, Jeannette's small but impactful showing... however, I'm remiss to not give this the full stars because I just loved it so much.
Thriller lovers - if you haven't gotten into this series yet, get on it!
★★★★★
Jessica's Review:
I am convinced that this writing duo can do no wrong. This is my third outing with Lars Kepler and I was reminded why I loved their other two books. Dark, gripping, twisted – just everything you want in a thriller! THE RABBIT HUNTER is part of the Joona Linna series (book six) and I would recommend starting with earlier books if you can. I started late in the series with THE SANDMAN but I still plan on going back to the beginning!
What I’ve come to expect from Kepler is that it’s going to be dark, gritty, brutal, and shocking. I love every page of it. We get the signature short chapters – which just fuels the fire in the “just one more chapter, the next one is really short!”. A new violent serial killer is on the loose, dubbed The Rabbit Hunter, and is leaving victims and gruesome crime scenes in their wake. I don’t want to spoil the investigation or the reading experience, but I will say that I wasn’t expecting that reveal!
If you like the more brutal serial killer thrillers, then I think you should pick up the Joona Linna series. Whether you start with THE HYPNOTIST (at the beginning) or part way through with THE SANDMAN (like I did), I think it’s better to go into THE RABBIT HUNTER with some background information. I can’t wait to see where the series continues and 2020 is the year for grabbing backlist books, so books 1-3 are on the TBR as well!
5 stars
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