Lars Kepler, Hypnotisøren (2009)

Svensk krimidebut skrevet af ´Lars Kepler´, eller rettere ægteparret Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril og Alexander Ahndoril. På rekordtid er manuskriptet solgt til 29 lande.

Hypnotisøren, Erik Maria Bark, bliver vækket af telefonen midt om natten. Politiet i Stokholm ønsker hans hjælp til at afhøre en femtenårig dreng, som lige har overlevet et dobbeltdrab. Politiet frygter, at morderen også er ude efter hans toogtyveårige søster.

Morderen dræber gymnasielæreren (eller fodbolddommeren eller ludomanen) Anders Ek i et omklædningsrum, og fortsætter derefter til hjemmet, hvor han myrder konen og en lille pige på usædvanlig bestialsk vis, men efterlader sønnen, måske i den tro, at femtenårige Josef er død. Kriminalkommissær Joona Linna vrider armen om på sin overordnede for at få lov at påtage sig sagen, da han er sikker på, det lokale politi ikke kan overskue dette drama.

Denne bog fænger fra første side. Forfatterne røber hele tiden lige en anelse for lidt, så læseren bladrer hektisk for at få svar på alle hullerne i fortællingen. Hvorfor lod morderen Josef Ek leve? Hvorfor har en af landets dygtigste hypnotisører besluttet sig for aldrig at benytte hypnose igen? Hvorfor sluger han hele tiden piller og giver sin søn medicin? Og hvorfor stoler hans kone, Simone Bark, ikke på ham?

Der skal ikke røbes meget mere om det noget kulørte plot eller de mange overraskende drejninger her, blot en enkelt, indbygget svaghed: historien nødvendiggør at hypnotisøren, hans kone, hans dominerende svigerfar og politiet farer ud og leder i hver deres retning meget af tiden. Det er med til at skabe spænding og drive handlingen af sted, men det virker mere dramatisk end egentlig troværdigt.

Bogen har fået masser af entusiastiske anmeldelser, og hvis man først og fremmest går efter spænding, fortjener den at blive sammenlignet med Stieg Larssons trilogi (som vel strengt taget heller ikke er særlig sandsynlig), men Hypnotisøren har ikke på samme måde et socialt budskab.

Jeg lånte bogen af en venlig kollega, som også lod sig rive med fra første side.


Lars Kepler, The Hypnotist.
This Swedish crime novel is not out in English yet, but as it has been bought by 29 countries overnight, there is good reason to believe it will be in the course of 2010. Lars Kepler is a pen name for the married couple Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril and Alexander Ahndoril.

The hypnotist, Erik Maria Bark, is woken up by the phone in the middle of the night. The Stockholm police want his assistance when they are going to interview a fifteen-year-old boy who has just survived a double murder. The police fear the murderer may be after his twenty-two-year-old sister.

The murderer kills the teacher (or the football referee or the gambler) Anders Ek in a locker room, moves on the home where he kills Ek´s wife and their little girl in the most brutal way but leaves the son with several stab wounds, perhaps in the belief that Josef is dead. Detective Inspector Joona Linna insists on taking over the case as he is certain the local police will not be able to manage this drama.

This book captures the reader from the first page. The writers tell you just that tiny bit less than you want to know so you turn the pages frantically to get the answers. Why did the murderer let Josef Ek survive? Why did one of the best hypnotists of the country decide never to use hypnosis again? Why does he swallow pills and medicate his son? And why does his wife, Simone Bark, not trust him?

No more about the quite colourful plot or the many surprising twists here apart from a single built-in weakness: the story necessitates that the hypnotist, his wife, his domineering father-in-law and the police dart off in each their direction much of the time. It creates excitement and energy, but it seems more dramatic than credible.

The book has been received enthusiastically, and if your first priority is suspense, it deserves the comparison with Stieg Larsson´s trilogy (which is not overwhelmingly probable either), but The Hypnotist does not contain the same, social message.

A kind colleague lent me the book, and she was also carried away by this page-turner.