The Sandman

A Novel

By: Lars Kepler

Narrated by: Saul Reichlin

Length: 14 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

“With its tight, staccato chapters and cast of dangerous wraiths lurking everywhere, The Sandman is a nonstop fright.” (Janet Maslin, The New York Times)

The number-one internationally best-selling thriller from the author of The Hypnotist tells the chilling story of a manipulative serial killer and the two brilliant police agents who must try to beat him at his own game.

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 27-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.

©2015 Lars Kepler (P)2018 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"The Sandman sends us off to dreamland with a nightmare that can make us happy." (The New York Times Book Review)

"If Jurek Walter reminds you of Hannibal Lecter, with his ability to impel people to act against their own impulse, you’ll be forgiven.... As with Jurek Walter’s powers of persuasion, I felt impelled by Lars Kepler to finish The Sandman. The characters got into my head and I couldn’t rest until the mystery was revealed." (Associated Press)

"Kepler - actually the husband-and-wife team of Alexandra and Alexander Ahndoril - is really good at this stuff. The chapters are short, the characters deftly drawn, and the action churns along." (The Washington Post)

Exciting, predictable, and highly improbable

Does not suspend disbelief even a little bit. I do like the series but this one needed a good proof reader before going to press. It relies too heavily on deus ex machina and is overly contrived.

meh!

Ok story. nothing original. could have been a lot better. Will not read this author again.

Couldn’t put it down

I had read and enjoyed The Hypnotist so I looked for more from Kepler. The Sandman is even more compelling. The story is complicated and keeps you wondering how all the pieces fit together. One or plot decisions felt a bit unrealistic, but not enough to detract from the whole story. For mystery/thriller enthusiasts, I highly recommend it.

positive review

Great book, keeps you guessing would recommend to others.
well definitely search for other books by this author

Long, drags, and a bit confusing at times

This one starts out with great promise, but, as you get in to it Elgin’s to drag along. Maybe it was that there were so many characters, that there were too many sub-plots, or the best of it was lost in translation. I’m a big fan off Nordic Noir mysteries but this one was hard to get pasttth firew hours. I have listened and listened over and over o make sure I’ve not missed something but I just can’t seem to get past the first few hours. There were so many characters, all with confusing connections too the tale it was hard to keep. Up with things. To be fair, it may have gotten better the further the story developed, but, like I said, I couldn’t get past the first few hours and it began to become unenjoyable. It will be returned.

Captivating

I enjoyed the suspense aspect of this book. Had to find out why the killer was so hard to stop!

Long and stressful tale of unreasonable evil

Love the length! Hate the stress. Halfway through
the book changed focus on catching the killer. This caused so much stress—think canary in a cage waiting to be devoured—I couldn’t finish for several months.
A quick peek at final chapters and I tried again. Glad I did. A heart pounding finish.

Unparalleled Suspense

These Lars Kepler (a duo!) have marvelously intricate plots, yet you never get lost. Heinous acts, described so well you never get upset. And all plot threads are believable, despite the many twists. I savored every moment, and was never disappointed!!!!

3

Note to self: books set in northern climes should not be listened to if the story is in winter.
This mystery is overly long.
I liked the first half of the book. But once it bogged down in detail I could not rekindle my interest.
I learned that a shoot out with many characters is just a lot of keyboarding. I think we are in line for a sequel. I may not buy it.

First 3/4 of book good despite chauvinistic men.

A sociopathic murderer is being held in a high security psychiatric hospital. The special police realize they need his help in order to save a young woman who has been held captive for 13 years. Special police decide to send a beautiful, female agent into the hospital posing as a psychiatric patient, in order to get the information. The plan goes awry; murder, murder, murder, murder & more murder and a very, very long sequence of trying to capture the escaped killer ensues.

The story plot wasn't bad. The characters were, though. Almost every male character was a rage-aholic, misogynistic a-hole and/or rape-y. The exception was the captain of the police force. The lead female character, who was supposed to be a special agent, was weak, emotionally & mentally immature but she had a bangin' bod (according to the author and all male characters who gazed upon her) so I guess that's her main strength? The other female characters were verbally, psychologically, sexually harrassed at work and sexually abused by their husbands and/or murdered by the main killer.
The characters were all surface. Some were introduced, never to be heard from again.

The last several chapters...so, so SO many chapters in this book...revolved around trying to re-capture the escaped killer. It grew very tiresome & I just didn't care anymore. It just went on & on with him magically appearing out of nowhere & then stabbing someone.

Narrator was good!

Don't recommend.