Talking Location With … Sophie Morton-Thomas – NORFOLK
Gruesome black thriller set in Sweden
18th May 2022
The Mirror Man by Lars Kepler, gruesome black thriller set in Sweden.
Lars Kepler is the writing name of husband and wife duo Alexander Ahndoril and Alexandra Coelo Anhdoril. They are a Swedish publishing phenomenon. Their Joona Linna thrillers have sold more than 15m copies in 40 languages. Their latest offering, The Mirror Man, is as dark and sinister as any of its predecessors. I found it fascinating, but not easy reading.
Five years before the main thread of the story, a teenage girl is abducted in plain daylight on her way home from school. She, and other girls who were similarly taken, suffer enormous degradation at the hands of their abductor and his accomplice. Five years later, a man walking his dog at night, witnesses a frightening event in an urban park. Could the two be connected? Inspector Joona Linna decides to find out – and his investigation leads him into the darkest depths of the criminal underworld. Two of his colleagues are traumatised by what they see and experience. They encounter some very unpleasant people. but all the time they get closer to solving the mystery. No more for fear of a spoiler, but there is a very dramatic (and, for me, unexpected) revelation as the story heads towards its conclusion.
‘Lars Kepler’ clearly has a deep knowledge of psychiatric disorder and a very vivid (some might say disturbing) imagination. There is a sinister, mysterious and brutal tone throughout the whole book. It is a tad scary to imagine some of Alexander’s and Alexandra’s after dinner chats…! The story of The Mirror Man makes compelling reading, but is quite definitely not for the faint hearted or squeamish.
Scandi Noir at its very best.
Tony for the TripFiction team
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Nice Review, Tony!
As yet I haven’t read anything by this writing partnership, however the pseudonym they use rang some very large bells. Lo and behold, I have just unearthed books #1&2 in paperback, on my shelves, so I shall be scheduling those in ASAP! 🙂