The Mirror Man by Lars Kepler
IF YOU SEE HIS REFLECTION IT'S ALREADY TOO LATE . . .
Seventeen-year-old Jenny is abducted in broad daylight and taken to a dilapidated, isolated house where she is chained and caged along with several other girls. Their captor is unpredictable, and as wily as he is cruel: he foils every one of their desperate attempts to escape . . . and once caught they rarely survive their punishment.
Five years later, Jenny is found dead in a public park, and the police are scrambling to find a lead among the scant evidence. But Detective Joona Linna realizes that this murder has an eerie connection to a death that was declared a suicide years before. And now when Mia, a seventeen-year-old orphan, goes missing, it becomes clear to Joona that they are dealing with a serial killer-and the murderous rampage has just begun.
As the police close in on the killer, Mia and her fellow captives are plunged into ever greater danger, and Joona finds himself in a seemingly impossible race against time to save their young lives.
About the authors
Lars Kepler is the pseudonym of critically acclaimed husband and wife team Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril (b. 1966) and Alexander Ahndoril (b. 1967), authors of the No. 1 internationally bestselling Joona Linna series.
With seven instalments to date, the series has sold 15 million copies in 40 languages. The Ahndorils were both established writers before they adopted the pen name Lars Kepler, and have each published several acclaimed novels.
Review
‘The Mirror Man’ is a dark tale of young girls being kidnapped and held for long periods that will keep you wide awake long into the wee hours. This is a very good example of Nordic Noir as trust me it has all the classic hallmarks of this subgenre - dark, tense, brooding super cop as its protagonist, not afraid to make the readers feel uncomfortable! How is it that this is the first Lars Kepler book I have managed to read?! I always meant to pick them up having seen Abby at Crime by the Book rave about them among many others but you know what it is like, you can’t get round to everything. I am going to change this though as I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Was it rash to come to a series that has eight books, maybe? But turns out no - it can be read as a standalone for sure! I will be going to head to the start of the series though and make my way through them in time for the next one being released!
Joona was a character which I enjoyed learning about and he is very entertaining! He does seem superhuman though with the number of injuries he manages to pick up in the line of duty. He does seem to get very laser-focused when on a case.
Trigger warnings - animal cruelty, disassociation identity disorder (DID).
I have read some reviews that have marked down the authors for the heightened aspects of DID. But we need to remember that this is a form of entertainment and they have managed to balance this out by highlighting the battle that can take place internally for someone who is suffering from DID.
I might be late to the party but we all know the best guests are!
