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.

Where has this author been?

Better question, where have I been looking. Amazing book, incredible author and phenomenal performance. Riveting from page one all the way to the end.

200 chapters . . .

The book is good: spooky, creepy, tense, to tense, intricate, tragic. The tale is well-told, too . . . but a bit spasmodically. There are nearly 200 'chapters.' Sometimes the POV shifts between chapters, other times it's just a dramatic pause. White space--a little pause--would be as effective, it seems to me, and a plot line a bit more linear would be nice. Sometimes the choppiness contributes to the tension, as one vignette reaches a climax only to shift to another also reaching a high point, which sometimes dilutes rather han intensifies the drama. Still, a major effort, and well done.

Very Enjoyable Listen

I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the narration and the storyline. I cooked, I cleaned, and I gardened through the narration almost non-stop. I enjoy Lars Kepler books. Completely. I don't know character development, storyline, non of that. I just read to be entertained or in this case listen. I really enjoyed the narrator's voice and how it kept the story tight and suspenseful.