You will want to read THE RABBIT HUNTER. I am actually afraid to tell you more than that because giving you too much information about this intricately plotted and wonderfully written novel would be like pulling the thread on a favorite sweater and watching in horror as the entire kit-and-kaboodle unravels. I promise not to do that if you keep reading for just a moment or two. Deal?

THE RABBIT HUNTER is the latest in the Joona Linna series by Lars Kepler, the pseudonym for the fabulous husband-and-wife writing team of Alexander Ahndoril and Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril. This is a flawless collaboration for two reasons: they stay out of each other’s way, so it is difficult (if not impossible) to tell who has written what, and it is apparent within the first few pages that what one doesn’t think of, the other does. This newest entry has everything: graphic sex, violence, meticulous plotting, strong characterization and a deep, deep mystery at its core. Let’s also give a moment of thanks to translator Neil Smith, without whom most of us probably would never get to read this outstanding work.

"There are twists and turns galore here --- so many, in fact, that you will give up trying to guess who the guilty party is or what will happen next. "

The book begins with a creepy vignette that leads into a hair-raising scene that over the course of several chapters will have you screaming (or close to it), culminating in a murder with ritual overtones. Joona Linna is the Chief Inspector of the Swedish Police Force’s National Operations Department --- or at least he was until his previous actions in the series landed him in prison, where he remains for a good portion of the novel. Even behind bars, though, he is able to figure out what the killer is up to, though he can’t communicate it to Saga Bauer, his partner, in enough time to prevent another murder.

It takes the police some time to sort out the reasons for these killings, even once Linna is brought back on board, and it’s not done without pursuing a dead-end that goes spectacularly and horribly wrong. Linna and Bauer engage in some good old-fashioned police work, and Kepler ratchets up the suspense level to 11 as the killer decides to wrap things up by exacting revenge upon everyone on his list as quickly as possible.

There are twists and turns galore here --- so many, in fact, that you will give up trying to guess who the guilty party is or what will happen next. Innocents get in the way. The weather refuses to cooperate. You will never want to stay at a hotel, go hunting, answer your door, or leave (or stay) at your home after reading this one. It will drive you insane in all of the best possible ways.

Oh, and just in case you think you’ll get away unscathed at the conclusion, Kepler tosses in an epilogue that will haunt you all over again, even as you become furious that you will have to wait more than a few weeks to read the next book in the series (titled LAZARUS, it was published in 2018 in Kepler’s native Sweden). I am seriously considering learning how to read Swedish, but then I would miss what is sure to be another fine translation by Neil Smith. So I will wait. Maybe. But you can read THE RABBIT HUNTER, and you absolutely should. Strongly recommended, if you’re not too squeamish.