Monthly summary

November Summary

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I’m not that happy with November. I worked so much that I didn’t have much time for reading. It mostly went in audiobooks and I did reread a couple of books for the reason that it was easy on my mind.

But it is starting to slowing down on work now and i’m exciting for the last exciting month of the year. And soon it is Christmas. Woho! :o)

Favorite book this month: A court of frost and Starlight by Sarah J Maas
Least favorite book this month: 
At peace by Kristen Ashley

Number of physical books:
4
Number of e-books:
 3
Number of audiobooks:
4
Total pages: 4521
Female authors: 8
Male authors: 4

85459Northern Lights – Nora Roberts
Settings: Alaska, USA Pages: 637 Published: 1991
Genres: Romantic, suspense, mystery, fiction, contemporary.
My rating: Reread – First time I gave 5/5
Links: Review
22016387Royal Assassin – Robin Hobb
Settings: The Realm of the Elderlings  Pages: 648 Published: 1996
Genres: Epic, High fantasy.
My rating: 4/5
Links: Review
Book 2 in The Farseer series.
31076583A court of frost and starlight – Sarah J Maas
Settings: Fantasy World Pages: 229 Published: 2018
Genres: Fantasy, young adult, romance.
My rating: 5/5
Links: Review
Book 3.1 in The A court of thorns and roses series.
25214258The Devil’s star – Jo Nesbo
Settings: Oslo, Norway Pages: 387 Published: 2003
Genres: Crime, mystery, thriller.
My rating: 4/5
Links: Review
Book 5 in The Harry Hole series.
38208505Lazarus – Lars Kepler
Settings: Stockholm, Sweden Pages: 543 Published: 2018
Genres: Crime, mystery, thriller.
My rating: 2/5
Links: Review
Book 7 in The Joona Linna series.
170448Animal farm – George Orwell
Settings:
 England Pages: 144 Published: 1945
Genres:
 Classic, fiction, fantasy, politics.
My rating:
 4/5
Links:
Review *Review at goodreads
11665750At Peace – Kristen Ashley
Settings:
 Brownsburg, Indiana, USA Pages: 660 Published: 2011
Genres:
 Contemporary, romance, suspense.
My rating:
 1/5
Links:
Review
Book 2 in 
The Burg series.
32355670.jpgStuffed – Jessica Gadziala
Settings: USA Pages: 123 Published: 2016
Genres: Contemporary, romance.
My rating: 4/5
Links: Review *Review at goodreads
31188235The Chemist – Stephenie Meyer
Settings: Washington DC / Texas, USA. Pages: 522 Published: 2016
Genres: Thriller, fiction, mystery, romance, suspense.
My rating: 5/5
Links: Review *first read review
This is a reread. Review is from the first time I read it.
16055994Monster – Micael Dahlén
Settings: All over the world Pages: 235 Published: 2011
Genres: Nonfiction, true crime.
My rating: 1/5
Links: Review
30315673Beard in mind – Penny Reid
Settings: Green Valley, Tennessee, USA Pages: 393 Published: 2017
Genres: Romance, contemporary, humor, funny.
My rating: 4/5
Links: Review
Book 4 in The Winston Brothers series.
Mystery/Crime · Thriller/Horror

Lazarus – Lars Kepler

38208505.jpg| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: A dead man is found in an apartment in Oslo. The victim transpires to be an unknown grave defiler and trophy collector, and when the police open his kitchen freezer, they make a terrible discovery. A few days later, Joona Linna is contacted by a German police detective who asks for his help with a murder outside Rostock. Joona understands that the pattern he’s starting to see is insane, but at the same time it’s impossible to ignore.

Some would call it a miracle if someone returned from the dead – others would call it a nightmare.

The master of thrillers, Lars Kepler, is back with the seventh installment in the Joona Linna series.

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My thoughts: Lazarus has not yet been translated to English but Lars Kepler and the series about Joona Linna is highly popular. That’s why I do not think it will be long before it have been translated. Just be patience. 🙂

The 7th book about the Swedish/Finish cop Joona Linna is finally here. I have been waiting for this one since June. Joona is finally back and trying to take control over his life. There is finally some good things happening when it all comes crashing down and burns. Surprised? No. Did I foresee it? Yes. Was it in the way I though? Well, pretty much. It is bloody and violent, certainly not a book for sensitive readers and highly predictable. At least in my opinion. I feel that Kepler did not take the story where it should have gone. Just chewed on what they already have and spit it out. The same but in a new form. Highly disappointing.

I found it quite boring that Kepler still going on with the same plot-line. It’s mediocre, overrated and even flamboyant at times. The Ahndorils aka Keplers need to learn when to stop. And that time was two books ago. Don’t do what I’m thinking you will do with that end you left us with. It is not interesting and I do not want it. Try something new. We are soon in 2019 you know. Not 2011.

TBR

My October TBR top 5 + 1

October is one of my favorite reading months of the year. It is getting dark earlier in the day, the summer is officially over and my consumption’s of tea and candlelight is tripling. My reading genre tends to be for the most part horror but I never plan a TBR. So I thought that this year I should. I have accumulated several horror books this year and what a perfect time it is to get some of them read. This is my top 5 + 1 bonus, planned To Be Read now in the month of October.

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  • Sleeping Beauty by Stephen King and Owen King.
    Come on. Off course I need to push in some Horror King in the long list of books to read. I’m excited to read this new gem by the father and son. It is highly acclaimed and I do hope I don’t have to high expectations.
  • Hocus Pocus & the all new sequel by A.W Jantha
    My favorite Halloween movie, which I have watched every year since 1993 has come as a book. Disney had a limited release earlier this year and I was lucky enough to snag myself a copy. It was so popular that they started printing more of the book right away and it is now available everywhere. I have waited for months for October so that I can start reading this one and I’m so excited to read the New sequel, included after the story of Hocus Pocus.
  • Blood Cruise by Mats Sandberg
    Sometime I feel translators just butcher books when they are translated. I mean “Blood Cruise” for a title! Can it be more cringe? Anyway, I have had this book since last spring and it is by an Swedish author I have read a couple of books by before. I got it for a dime and sure, let’s try and see how he is in the horror genre.
  • A monster calls – Patrick Ness
    I have had the book in my TBR pile for soon a year and it is time to get this one read. It is a short, young adult, horror story by Ness, who I never have read anything by before.
  • Lazarus by Lars Kepler (not yet translated to English. Synopsis on Swedish.)
    The seventh book about Joona Linna is finally, after such long wait, getting released. Planed publication date is 19th October and I’m counting down the days.

Bonus

17837762.jpgI do have one more book I wish to tell you about and I see this as a bonus on my TBR since it is a graphic novel. Uzumaki by Junji Ito is a Japanese graphic horror novel and the edition I have includes volume 1-3. As you may know I’m trying out the comics genre and I got fascinated by this deluxe edition and just had to buy it. Since it is horror I feel it fits perfect in October.

What are you going to read in October?

Mystery/Crime · Thriller/Horror

The rabbit hunter – Lars Kepler

36448430.jpg| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: It begins with a nursery rhyme. Nineteen minutes later you die…

The sixth gripping thriller in Lars Kepler’s bestselling series featuring Joona Linna. Perfect for fans of Stieg Larsson and Jo Nesbo.

There’s a face at the window.
A stranger wearing a mask stands in the shadow of a garden. He’s watching his first victim through the window. He will kill him slowly, make it last – play him a nursery rhyme – make him pay.

A killer in your house.
There’s only one person the police can turn to – ex-Detective Joona Linna – but he’s serving time in a high-security prison. So they offer him a chance to secure his freedom: help superintendent Saga Bauer track down the vicious killer known as The Rabbit Hunter, before he strikes again.

Only one man can stop him.
Soon another three victims have been murdered and Stockholm is in the grip of terror. Joona Linna must catch a disturbed predator, whose trail of destruction leads back to one horrific night of violence – with consequences more terrifying than anyone could have imagined…

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My thoughts: Joona Linna is back in one more of those intense and thrilling books where he is hunting a cold blooded killer out of the ordinary! Old secrets, new promises and a rabbit hunter is what he tries to unravel. And even though I really liked it and I like all the characters, I find that I don’t like this book as much as the others. The reason for that is probably that the whole police investigation alignment is not as prominent as usual and the side characters in the mystery has a much bigger part. It made the old characters fall a little flat and I missed them.

I wouldn’t say that it is a bad book but it is the weakest one in the series in my opinion. It is a little too long and slow in the middle. Some stuff didn’t make sense since the details were not fulfilling but I don’t think they were important for the plot itself so I can ignore it. It still has the same psychological depth, uncomfortable detailed descriptions as always which makes it easy to imagine what is happening and it is certainly terrifying. I did like the history and the old secrets twist but however I did not like the ending. It was a bit confusing but I hope I will get my answers in October when the 7th book in the series has release in Sweden. Will probably be some months before it has a release on English though.

This is the 6th one in the series and they really should be read in order. So you know. I think I have told you that before but one time to many can’t hurt.

Fiction/Science Fiction · Mystery/Crime · Thriller/Horror

Stalker – Lars Kepler

22554261| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: The police receive a video clip of a woman in a window and reason that someone must have been standing in the garden just outside her house to be able to film her. The next day the woman is found dead in her home, the vicious violence of the scene shocks even the most seasoned investigators. A few days later, another clip is sent anonymously to the police, but there’s no way of identifying the woman before she too falls victim to a brutal attack. When he finds her, the woman’s husband is so traumatized by the violent scene that, in a state of panic, he starts cleaning the house. He even washes the blood from his wife’s body and puts her to bed, as if nothing is the matter. He may have seen a vital clue but is in such an extreme state of shock, and seems to be suffering from short-term memory loss that the police cannot usefully question him. Criminal psychiatrist and hypnotist Erik Maria Bark is called in hypnotize the man in order to unlock his memories of the murder scene. But what Dr Bark uncovers in his sessions with the dead woman’s husband make him decide to lie to the police.

It becomes clear that the case cannot be solved without the help of Detective Joona Linna, the man who’s been missing for more than a year and has been presumed dead.

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My thoughts: Lars Kepler, the married duo who writes under that name, has done it again. With Stalker we yet again meet Joona Linna and all the loose threads from the earlier books are finally tied together. Even though the series is about Joona Linna, he has a lot smaller part in this book than usual. Here it is Erik Maria Bark who stands in the headlight and the character you get to follow the most. He is awesome and I have always liked him so it was great to get to know him even more.

I really like the stalker plot where as a woman, it even was a little frighting for me and with its graphic content, gave me the chills.  I found it somewhat of a paranoid thriller and I’m happy that I don’t live on the first floor (even though I curse those stairs everyday). And I Still checked my windows and doors a little extra, just in case. Not that I’m in any danger of being stalked, but it just felt better you know. Funny how books can have such  big impact on the everyday life. Anyway, I liked the plot and it is well written as always. I wouldn’t say that Stalker is my favorite in the series but it isn’t the worst either.

There is a lot of plot twists and one was really surprising and I did not see that coming. I should have and I kick myself for not doing that and it is great work by Kepler to fool me. I’m not easily fooled. Just saying! And this series is not a stand alone and you should read them in order, just to really understand some huge things that are not deeply explained.

A solid thriller with a solid and somewhat frightening plot and I give it four stars. Loses a star because it is a little too long. With almost 700 pages I felt somethings could have been edited out to make the flow more smoothly. And there is a lot of characters and even though I’m Swedish and doesn’t have a problem with the names, I still forgot sometime who was who.

Fiction/Science Fiction · Mystery/Crime · Thriller/Horror

The Sandman – Lars Kepler

35805854| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: Late one night, outside Stockholm, Mikael Kohler-Frost is found wandering. Thirteen years earlier, he went missing along with his younger sister. They were long thought to have been victims of Sweden’s most notorious serial killer, Jurek Walter, now serving a life sentence in a maximum security psychiatric hospital. Now Mikael tells the police that his sister is still alive and being held by someone he knows only as the Sandman. Years ago, Detective Inspector Joona Linna made an excruciating personal sacrifice to ensure Jurek’s capture. He is keenly aware of what this killer is capable of, and now he is certain that Jurek has an accomplice. He knows that any chance of rescuing Mikael’s sister depends on getting Jurek to talk, and that the only agent capable of this is Inspector Saga Bauer, a twenty-seven-year-old prodigy. She will have to go under deep cover in the psychiatric ward where Jurek is imprisoned, and she will have to find a way to get to the psychopath before it’s too late–and before he gets inside her head.

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My thoughts: Oh the plot thickens around Joona Linna. The ruggish, Finland/Swedish cop in a Harry Bosch, Harry Hole and Jack Reacher spirit.

The Lars Kepler couple (they are a married couple who writhes under that name, if you did’t know that) are geniuses. This is dark and twisted. It gives you the creeps and nothing feels okay. It seeps into your dreams at night and until you have read that one last page, you have this bad, tingling feeling. That is how well written these books really are. They embraces you, hides you and sucks you in and won’t let you go.

If you like authors like Jo Nesbø, Lee Child, Michael Connelly, David Baldacci,  Steig Larsson, Henning Mankell and so on, you will probably love Lars Kepler. Their story about Joona Linna is just so great and vivid and this series is always one I recommend when people asks.

This is the fourth book about Joona. Dark secrets from the past is revealed, Saga is getting a bigger part and really bad stuff is happening. It is sad, terrifying and oh, I cried at the end. The plot is really good and well thought out. It all feels realistic and true.

I will definitely continue this series.- That is how good it is.

Fiction/Science Fiction · Mystery/Crime · Thriller/Horror

The fire witness – Lars Kepler

16085509| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: Detective Inspector Joona Linna, under internal review by the National Police for an alleged infraction, is on leave to solve some troubling personal business when he is called in to “observe” the investigation of a gruesome and strange murder at Birgittagarden, a youth home for wayward teenage girls. But it’s not long before Linna is drawn deeply into the intricate, disturbing case. Intriguing, astonishing, and with all of the suspense that first captured audiences in The Hypnotist, The Fire Witness is Lars Kepler at his most psychologically complex and thrilling.

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My thoughts: The third book about the Swedish/Finish Cop Joona Linna. He is a ruff character with an immensely good moral compass and somewhat of an enigma. But in this book, you finally are starting to get some answers to who Linna really is and why he is and do as he does. However, you do sit in the end of the book, with a ton of questions but there are more books in the series so I’m pretty sure I will get my answers someday. The book do not end on a cliffhanger however, for those who are like me and don’t like that.

The books story is just great. Joona Linna is under internal review due to some stuff that happened in the second book. But since he is that good guy that he is, he breaks the rules to save a kid after getting called in to “observe” a crime scene at a youth home, where a young girl and the homes nightwatchman has been killed, and another girl is missing. Not only that but he has some personal issues to resolve and it makes the suspense a lot more intense. And not only that. A psychic comes in and stir the pot even more. And I just say, wow!

Lars Kepler is really not a person but an pseudonym for the married couple Alexander Ahndoril and Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril. Yeah I think they did the right thing with one name since theirs are so alike. I love their way of writing and how they succeed to include the readers in the story in a way I don’t feel many Swedish authors are able to do. Scandinavian litterateur is not one of my favorites but I try to broaden my view to also close authors. Not just authors from the other side of the glob.

I do have to warn you that this series is not an standalone series and I do recommend that you start with the first book if you are interested. But it is total worth it.

Mystery/Crime · Suspense · Thriller/Horror

The Nightmare – Lars Kepler

13722526GOODREADS AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: A drowned young woman is discovered on an abandoned pleasure boat drifting by the Stockholm archipelago—strangely, her clothes are dry. The next day in Stockholm, a man turns up dead, hanging from a lamp hook inside his completely bare apartment—but how could he have hung himself with no furniture to climb upon? As Detective Inspector Joona Linna begins to piece together the two mysteries, he discovers that they are a mere prelude to a dizzying and dangerous course of events.

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My thoughts: For you who do not know it, Lars Kepler is actually a pseudonym name for the married couple Alexandra and Alexander Ahndoril. They are both published authors but together they write the series about Joona Linna under the name Lars Kepler. This is the second book in the series and even though I’m not much for “local” litterateur, I really like this book.

I listened on the first book about Joona Linna, back in 2012. I know that I also started the second book but could not remember if I actually finished it. There where parts that i recognized but i dont remember it all so I just listened on the whole thing again to be sure.

This one is the continuing book about Joona. The first book did not end on a cliffhanger but you as an reader should know that there is a lot of details about Joona that you dont really get to know. Also in this book. But i recon that later on in the series, all my questions will be answered.

I like the book even though I think the story about weapon export is a little dry and there is some parts in the book that really do not make sense for the books plot. I do like that I have gotten to know Joona a little bit more but still do not know all of his “secrets”. It is a book I can recommend but be advised that this is a slow burner in 500+ pages. Not as fast pacing (in my opinion) as the first book, but sometime it is nice withe those to.