Lazarus (Joona Linna Series #7)

by Lars Kepler Narrated by Saul Reichlin

Overview

INTERNATIONAL BEST SELLER ¿ ¿A nonstop roller coaster of suspense, taking us deep into the hearts and minds of perfectly realized characters. And, oh, what a villain! ... The definition of a one-sitting read!¿ ¿Jeffery Deaver, New York Times best-selling author of The Goodbye Man

Sometimes the past won't stay buried.

All across Europe, the most ruthless criminals are suffering gruesome deaths. At first, it seems coincidental that their underworld affiliations are finally catching up to them. But when two of the victims are found to have disturbing connections to Detective Joona Linna, it becomes clear that there¿s a single killer at work. Still, police are reluctant to launch an investigation. If a mysterious vigilante is making their jobs easier, why stand in his way? Joona, however, is convinced this is no
would-be hero. These deaths serve a much darker purpose.
 
Desperate for help, Joona turns to Saga Bauer. If his hunch is correct, she¿s one of the few people who stands a chance at bringing this criminal mastermind down. But Saga is fighting her own demons¿and the killer knows just how to use them to his advantage. He continues to strike with impunity, and no one, it seems, is safe. When the killer begins targeting those closest to Saga and Joona, it appears more and more likely that Joona has been right all along, and that tracking down the person responsible will force him to confront a ghost from his past ... the most terrifying villain he¿s ever had to face.

Editorial Reviews

JANUARY 2021 - AudioFile

Saul Reichlin returns to narrate the seventh book in the Joona Linna series by the Swedish writing couple known as Lars Kepler. Reichlin meets the challenge of voicing numerous characters, including a 12-year-old girl and a number of psychopaths, male and female. Warning to listeners: The plot moves from one scene of depraved, graphic violence to another. An old enemy of Detective Joona Linna seems to have risen from the dead to torture him and his crime-fighting partner, Saga Bauer. Reichlin is in perfect step with the quick pace and drama of the action. Listeners will occasionally be reminded by word choice that this is a British translation. The audiobook is an intensely engaging but a truly disturbing experience of crazed evil. E.Q. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

From the Publisher

Pulse-pounding.... Truly terrifying..... Lazarus is not for the faint of heart.... If you know you love dark and twisted, sometimes painful, and sometimes disturbing crime fiction, this book will hold you hostage.... For fans of Kepler, this is a ride you will not forget.” 
—The Nerd Daily

“Lazarus is a thriller par excellence, though it’s advisable to read it in small increments, for the accumulation of too much horror at one time will definitely lead to sleepless nights, continuous checking of locks, and an increase in one’s lighting bill.” 
—The New York Journal of Books

“The Kepler duo are unmatched in their ability to crank up the tension, murder by murder, to an almost unbearable degree.”
—Air Mail

“Tense and remarkably bloody from start to finish.... The Lars Kepler team really seems to have hit their stride.” 
—The Anniston Star

“The plot unfolds at an exhilarating pace as the Kepler duo keeps a tight grip on the cat-and-mouse action, a dynamic that reveals itself to be all the more disturbing as the novel progresses.” 
—CrimeReads (10 Novels You Should Read This December)

“The perfect creepy, thrilling addition to your winter TBR. Kepler’s books are known for being action-packed, dark, and gory, and in Lazarus, they up the ante.... Fans of Kepler’s superb serial killer thriller The Sandman will fall instantly in love with their newest release. Lazarus is a bloody, page-turning, action-packed serial killer thriller perfect for a weekend binge-read.”
—Crime by the Book (Most-Anticipated December 2020 Crime Fiction Releases) 

“From the opening line, Kepler sets an ominous tone, cold and heavy with a taught sense of anticipation that will keep readers flying through the pages despite their fear of what might come next. Absolutely terrifying and beautifully written. I'm a fan for life!”
—Tami Hoag, #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Boy
 
“One of the best thrillers of the year! Kepler treats us readers to a nonstop roller coaster of suspense, taking us deep into the hearts and minds of perfectly realized characters. And, oh, what a villain! Lazarus is the definition of a one-sitting read!”
—Jeffery Deaver, New York Times best-selling author of The Goodbye Man
 
“Kepler’s characters, particularly Joona Linna, are always drawn sharp and deep, like scalpel cuts. Kepler’s prose unrolls as smoothly as a loop of razor wire. But it’s Kepler’s storytelling that really draws blood. Lazarus is as literate as peak Michael Connelly and as addictive as David Baldacci.”
—A. J. Finn, best-selling author of The Woman in the Window

“Kepler maintains an almost unbearable level of tension throughout and does an outstanding job of making readers fear that anyone could die a horrible death at any time. Fans of serial killer fiction won’t want to miss this one.” 
—Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) 
  
“Kepler combines explosive action with masterfully developed tension. Readers already on board with this standout series will find a bar-raising entry here, and reassurance that the door is open for Joona’s return. Strongly recommended for fans of Nicci French, Stieg Larsson, and Jussi Adler-Olsen.”
—Booklist (Starred Review)

Library Journal

07/01/2020

Who's killing Europe's most heinous criminals, and what's the connection to Stockholm detective Joona Linna, star of the rough-riding series from pseudonymous husband-and-wife team Kepler? Evidently, the past is coming to get Joona. Next in the No. 1 internationally best-selling series.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940177233642
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	12/01/2020
Series:	Joona Linna Series , #7
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

Prologue
 
The light of the white sky reveals the world in all its cruelty, the way it must have appeared to Lazarus outside the tomb.
 
The ribbed metal floor is vibrating beneath the priest’s feet. He clings to the railing with one hand and tries to maintain his balance with his walking stick in the other.
 
The gray sea is billowing like a tent canvas.
 
The ferry is being drawn along the two steel cables stretched between the islands. They rise, dripping out of the water in front of the boat, and sink back down behind it.
 
The ferry master brakes as foaming waves swell up and the gangplank extends with a clatter to the concrete jetty.
 
The priest stumbles slightly when the prow bumps the jetty. The jolt reverberates through the hull.
 
He’s here to visit the retired churchwarden Erland Lind, who didn’t show up for the Advent service in Länna Church as he usu­ally does.
 
Erland lives in the parish’s cottage behind Högmarsö Chapel. He suffers from dementia, but still gets paid to cut the grass and salt the driveway in icy weather.
 
The priest walks along the winding gravel path, his face turning numb in the cold air. There’s no one in sight, but just before he reaches the chapel he hears the shriek of a lathe from the dry dock down in the boatyard.
 
He can no longer remember the Bible quote he tweeted that morning. He had been thinking of repeating it to Erland.
 
Against the backdrop of flat farmland and the strip of forest, the white chapel almost looks as if it’s made of snow.
 
Because the church is shut for the winter, the priest walks directly to the small cottage and knocks on the door with his stick, waits, then goes inside.
 
“Erland?”
 
There’s no one home. He stamps his shoes and looks around. The kitchen is a mess. The priest gets out the bag of cinnamon buns he brought and puts it down on the table, next to a foil tray with leftover mashed potatoes, dried-up gravy, and two gray meatballs.
 
The lathe down by the shore falls silent.
 
The priest goes outside, tries the door to the chapel, then looks into the unlocked garage.
 
There’s a muddy shovel and a black plastic bucket full of rusting rattraps on the floor.
 
He uses his stick to lift the plastic covering a snowblower, but stops when he hears a distant moaning sound.
 
He goes back outside and walks over to the ruins of the old crematorium on the edge of the forest. The oven and the sooty stump of its chimney stick up from the tall weeds.
 
The priest walks around a stack of wooden pallets. He can’t help looking over his shoulder.
 
He’s had an ominous feeling ever since he boarded the ferry.
 
There’s nothing reassuring about the light today.
 
He hears the odd moaning again, closer. It sounds like a calf trapped in a box.
 
He stops and stands still.
 
Everything is quiet. His breath steams from his mouth.
 
Behind the compost heap there’s a patch of muddy, trodden ground. A bag of mulch leans against a tree.
 
The priest walks toward it but stops when he reaches a half-meter-long metal pipe sticking out of the ground. Perhaps it marks the property’s boundary.
 
Leaning on his stick, he looks up at the forest and sees a path covered with pine needles and cones.
 
The wind is whistling through the treetops, and a solitary crow caws in the distance.
 
The priest turns around, and hears the strange moaning sound behind him. He picks up his pace. He passes the crematorium and cottage, and glances over his shoulder. All he wants right now is to get back to his vicarage and sit down in front of the fire with a glass of whiskey.

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