Joona Linna Books in Order: How to read Lars Kepler’s series?

Written by Alexander and Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril under the pseudonym Lars Kepler, the Joona Linna series is a Swedish mystery series–also titled the Killer Instinct series.

The stories revolve around the investigations led by Joona Linna, a Detective Superintendent at the police’s National Operations Department, Saga Bauer, an Operational Superintendent at the Swedish Security Service.

How to read the Joona Linna Series in Order?

Every entry in the Joona Linna book series works as a standalone story, but the lives of the different characters evolve from one novel to the other.

1. The Hypnotist – When a whole family is murdered in Stockholm, Detective Inspector Joona Linna knows there is only one person who can help find the perpetrator. Erik Maria Bark, a retired hypnotist, is called in to work with Josef Ek, a fifteen-year-old boy who witnessed the brutal murder of his family.
2. The Nightmare – On a summer night the dead body of a woman is found on board an abandoned pleasure boat drifting around in the Stockholm archipelago. Her lungs are filled with brackish water, but there are no traces of this water on her clothes or other parts of her body. Detective Inspector Joona Linna takes up the case.
3. The Fire Witness – Flora Hansen calls herself a medium and makes a living by pretending to commune with the dead. But after a gruesome murder at a rural home for wayward girls, Hansen begins to suffer visions that are all too real. She calls the police, claiming to have seen a ghost, but only one detective puts aside his skepticism long enough to listen: Joona Linna.

4. The Sandman – An emaciated young man is found wandering on a train track outside of the city. Thirteen years earlier, he and his sister went missing, presumed to be victims of notorious serial killer Jurek Walter. He is now serving a life sentence in a maximum-security psychiatric hospital. The only way to save the boy’s sister is to get Jurek to reveal his secrets. Now Detectives Joona Linna and Saga Bauer will have to go deep undercover and beat Jurek at his own game before it’s too late.
5. Stalker – A film arrives at Stockholm’s National Crime Investigation Department showing a woman in her own home, plainly unaware she is being watched. The police don’t take it seriously … until she is found murdered. When the next video arrives, Detective Margot Silverman frantically attempts to identify the victim. But it’s already too late. Because at the time the video was sent, the killer was already inside their house…
6. The Rabbit Hunter – A masked stranger stands in the shadows. He watches his victim through the window. He will kill him slowly-make him pay. Soon the Rabbit Hunter has claimed another three victims. This predator will stop at nothing to reap his ultimate revenge. It’s up to Joona Linna and Saga Bauer to untangle one of the most complex cases of their career and follow the killer’s trail of destruction back to one horrific night of violence.

7. Lazarus – Jurek Walter was shot and killed years ago. The police moved on and managed to forget the darkness that had tainted their lives. But now someone is leaving a trail of broken bodies across Sweden, and the clues all point to Walter. Detective Joona Linna is convinced his worst nightmare is becoming a reality: the man who tore apart his family has returned to finish the job.
8. The Mirror Man – Seventeen-year-old Jenny is abducted in broad daylight and taken to a dilapidated, isolated house where she is chained and caged along with several other girls. Their captor is unpredictable and as wily as he is cruel. Five years later, Jenny is found dead in a public park, and the police are scrambling to find a lead among the scant evidence. But Detective Joona Linna realizes that this murder has an eerie connection to a death that was declared a suicide years before.
9. The Spider – Three years ago, Detective Saga Bauer received an ominous postcard describing a gun and nine white bullets – one of which was intended for her partner, Detective Joona Linna. The sender alleged that Saga was the only person who could save him. But as time passed, the threat faded. Until now. A sack with a decomposing body has been found hanging from a tree in the forest. A milky white bullet casing turns up at the scene. When the body count begins to rise, the police realize that the killer is sending riddles, offering them the chance to stop the murders before they happen.

If you like the Lars Kepler’s Joona Linna reading order, you may also want to see our guide to Jo Nesbø’s books or Jonathan Kellerman’s Alex Delaware series. Don’t hesitate to follow us on Twitter or Facebook to discover more book series.