Books set in Stockholm – Stalker by Lars Kepler

A serial killer thriller, Stalker, by Lars Kepler set in Stockholm

If you haven’t read Lars Kepler before, then you are in for a treat,. The book covers might scare you a little though as they perfectly capture the contents. What excited me with this book is the difference between the UK and US cover. Both scary, but in my opinion, the US one takes the edge..

The empty room on the UK cover is frightening as you can imagine yourself in that room with that girl , or even as that girl. The US cover however takes the fear factor that little bit closer for me. A man in a raincoat is watching the shadow of a woman inside the house. Does that not just scream at you?

Book set in Stockholm – Stalker – Lars Kepler

Book set in Stockholm – The Stalker, Lars Kepler

It’s very strange reading a book set in a city you know well. All of the places, the ways the women walked home are very familiar to me and so this novel, with a stalker on the streets is particularly gripping and chilling.

Kudos to the translator first off – this is  a long novel and the pace never falters and the tension never dims. I am now too afraid to go out and stay in on my own which is quite  a result from a crime novel when you think. Maybe a bookshop would be the safest place? There is a lot of detail and analysis in this novel which could actually be of help to women( and men) everywhere.

There is a lot of savagery in the novel though – and it can get a bit much at times. Having said that I shall remember the ‘quiet’ scene when a woman is hiding in her toilet when she hears someone in her apartment  – more than any other. It’s the calm before the storm moments that are the worst for me. The terror jumps from the page and smacks you in the face.

Stockholm doesn’t’ come across particularly well as you can imagine – but there’s a fair bit of travel in and out of the city – across to the islands and Katrineholm although it’s to visit an asylum so…

Don’t read at night and/or on your own but still recommended!

Setting: city break and city underbelly

Set in: Stockholm, Sweden

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So which cover do you prefer? The US one just takes the edge for me as it seems more immediate and chilling. It’s not the cover that brings the biggest chills however…

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