Joona Linna Books In Order

Publication Order of Detective Inspector Joona Linna Books

Joona Linna is the lead protagonist of the “Joona Linna” series of novels by Alexander Ahndoril and Alexandra Coelho Ahndrohi, who are a husband and wife writing team known as Lars Kepler. The popular series of novels that has been translated into more than 40 languages and sold more than 12 million copies across the globe debuted with “The Hypnotist” that was first published in 2009. The writing team of the Ahndorils had been eminent writers in their own right before taking up the pseudonym Lars Kepler. The name Lars pays homage to Stieg Larsson the Swedish crime fiction author that was an inspiration to both writers. Kepler is derived from Johannes Kepler the sixteenth century German scientist that solved the mystery of planetary orbits, one of the greatest geophysical mysteries ever.

Both authors were born and bred in Sweden and spent most of their childhood obsessed with books and reading. Alexander was raised in the small town of Upplands Vasby, and spent much of his childhood dreaming of becoming a painter. For several years, he painted many oil works that drew inspiration from the works of Caravaggio before he became a ranger. He would then move to Stockholm to study film, religion, and philosophy. By the time he was nineteen, he had written and published his first novel and by the time he started writing under the pseudonym Lars Kepler, he had an opera libretto, twenty theater plays, and nine novels to his name. As for Alexandra, she was raised in the south of Sweden and wanted to be an actor. She went to the Stockholm National Academy of Acting and Mime and got a literary science masters before she got her PhD at the same university. She had three critically acclaimed novels to her name before she began writing as Lars Kepler. Lars Kepler got married in 994 and currently live in Stockholm with their three daughters.

The” Joona Linna” series of novels are about Detective Superintendent Joona Linna, he of the National Operations Department of the Police. He works alongside Operational Superintendent Saga Bauer of the Swedish Security Service, and psychotherapist and trained psychiatrist Erik Maria Bark that is an expert in disaster psychiatry and psycho-traumatology. Joona Linna the lead is the perfect police inspector being always right, arrogant yet polite, and ruggedly handsome. The novels of the Joona Linna series rank highly in their creepy mysterious nature of their plots. The covers make it seem that the novels have something of the “Millennium” or “Silence of the Lambs” by Stieg Larsson though that could not be further from the truth. The novels feature enthralling plots where death and life hand in the balance even as Joona and his associates rush to track down and stop a ruthless villain. The narratives tell of graphic and incredibly brutal crimes, making for intense reading of the betrayals, and the depths the antagonists and their motives. Lars Keplers’ villains are calculating villains that would make for some of the best the James Bond movies have to offer.

The Joona Linna novels are first rate thrillers full of heart stopping moments of murder and serial killings that leave detectives befuddled for years, before Joona swoops in to save the day. Joona’s backstory is revealed slowly over the course of the series revealing his motivation for doing what he does. What makes the novels of the Joona Linna series of novels so intriguing is that the author reports rather than describes the graphic violence that happens in the narratives. The style of writing makes for novels that frighten and thrill in equal measure as they take the reader’s imagination on a ghost train ride ratcheting up the scare factor. Right from the first novel, you can be certain of rapid breathing, goose bumps, and hair standing on end with all the thrills and danger that Joona and his associates have to deal with. The motivations and emotions are true to experience and help to get an understanding of the family and life, and how it informs the actions of the characters in the novels.

In “The Hypnotist”, the first novel of the Joona Linna series of novels a gruesome triple homicide just sent the residents of Tumba into shock. Joona Linna comes in to investigate a series of bizarre killings. They are complex homicides with only one witness available – a boy that had seen his entire family wiped out brutally. The killer who has not been apprehended now wants the boy dead. The witness has lapsed into shock after suffering nearly 100 knife wounds. For detective Linna, the only option left to save his witness is hypnotism. He enlists the services of psychologist and psychiatrist Maria Bark in the hope that through his eyes he can see his killer. Bark had long ago vowed to never again engage in the psychically scarring and ethically dubious works of hypnotism. But with Linna in a desperate situation he agrees to help him. The story combines the explosive storytelling of the Silence of the Lambs and the Stieg Larsson trilogy in a story full of heart pounding thrill that grabs one by the scruff of the neck from the first page to the last.

“The Nightmare” is an enthralling second novel of the Joona Linna series of novels, full of sadistic thrills. Joona Linna the detective inspector investigates the connection between a man hanging in his bare apartment and a woman that died of drowning in the dock of a pleasure yacht that had been abandoned. It is one of the most difficult of cases he has ever had to deal with, but he has never been one to give up on the quest for justice. He works alongside Sapo’s Security Division’s Saga Bauer and several associates from the National Criminal Investigation Division to try to track resolve the mystery of the murders and apprehend the culprit. After a lot of investigation and trial and error, Bauer and Linna finally make headway and even find a blurry photograph of the person that could be responsible for the murders. But just as they get closer they realize that there is someone working very hard to bury the backstory to the killings. The man has hired a hit man who has been targeting police that he kills in unrestricted bloodbaths as an act of revenge. Just what secrets could the evidence collected hold, and how deep a conspiracy have the people in the photograph connived. Kepler writes a story full of social and political undertones that is certain to keep the reader engrossed right for the first page to the last.

One Response to “Joona Linna”

1. janet santos: 11 months ago

   me and my sister from the uk are totally enthralled with every book of joona linna series i have started the spider and my sister hasnt yet and its so hard for mr to not tell her anything when i phone her …..thank you so much for the great writing ….we hope there is more to come ……mrs santos from the uk

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