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At a gruesome murder scene in Stockholm, a 15 year-old boy is found alive, despite his severe injuries. In order to obtain information about the attacker, police Detective Joona Linna asks Dr. Erik Marie Bark to hypnotize the victim. Bark hesitates but agrees, recalling one of his earlier cases when hypnotizing a patient went horribly wrong. The hypnotism of victim Joseph Ek provides information about the killer, but also sets in motion a series of violent and unpredictable acts against the doctor and his family. Linna and Bark must race to discover who is behind the violence before an innocent child is killed. The Hypnotist is a taut psychological thriller filled with action, suspense, unexpected twists and occasional intense violence. This is the first novel by Lars Kepler (actually a husband and wife writing duo), and the beginning of a planned series of novels featuring Detective Joona Linna.