The Sandman A novel [Paperback]

The chilling story of an insidious serial killer and the two brilliant detectives who must try to beat him at his own game.

An emaciated young man named Mikael is found wandering outside Stockholm. Thirteen years earlier, he and his younger sister went missing, presumed to be victims of Sweden’s most notorious serial killer, Jurek Walter, who is now serving a life sentence in a maximum-security psychiatric hospital. But Mikael tells the police that his sister is still alive and being held by someone he calls the Sandman.

Detective Joona Linna sacrificed everything to capture Jurek, but he always thought that Jurek had an accomplice. Any chance of rescuing Mikael’s sister depends on getting Jurek to talk, and the only agent capable of this is Saga Bauer, who will have to go deep under cover, and find a way to get to the psychopath before it’s too late.Praise forThe Sandman:
 
“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 Sandmansends us off to dreamland with a nightmare that can make us happy.  —Ken Tucker,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 finishThe Sandman. The characters got into my head and I couldn’t rest until the mystery was revealed.” —Jonathan Elderfield, 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.” –Richard Lipez,The Washington Post