Swedish Detective Joona Linna is back in another twisty, dark and violent police procedural chasing a diabolical serial killer called The Rabbit Hunter.
Saga Bauer, an officer in the Swedish Security Police specializing in counterterrorism, is investigating the savage murder of the Swedish Foreign Minister. The Minister was in the process of violating a young prostitute when he was shot in the chest and both eyes. The prostitute reports that the killer said, “I know that Ratjen opened the door and now hell is going to devour you all.” Ratjen is a high-level imprisoned drug dealer who was radicalized in prison. The police have a taped phone call where he mentions two more “celebrations to come”—the first in four days. Saga asks the Swedish Prime Minister, the presumed next victim, to recruit the imprisoned Joona, her former partner, to assist Saga in her search for the killer before he strikes again.
I recently complained in my review of The Tenant that I had a certain idea in my head of how gritty and noir all Scandinavian thrillers should be. This book meets, and in fact exceeds, my expectations.
It is an exceptional dark read. If you have triggers for basically anything, The Rabbit Hunter is not a good choice as every evil thing possible is within this tale. It is also XXX rated. But if you want to live for a few hours on the seedy side of life, you can’t go wrong with this pulse-pounding thriller. 4 stars!
Thanks to Knopf and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.