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The Fire Witness
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The Fire Witness
Unavailable
The Fire Witness
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The Fire Witness

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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WAKE UP TO TRUE EVIL

The third gripping thriller in Lars Kepler’s bestselling series featuring Joona Linna.

Perfect for fans of Stieg Larsson and Jo Nesbo.

ONE GIRL IS DEAD
At a home for troubled girls, a young girl has been brutally murdered during the night. Her body is found arranged in bed with her hands covering her eyes.

ONE GIRL IS MISSING
Vicky Bennet is the only girl unaccounted for. When a bloody hammer is discovered under her pillow, it appears that she was more than just a witness to the killing.

ONE GIRL CLAIMS TO HAVE SEEN IT ALL
Detective Inspector Joona Linna is called in to piece the evidence together. But the case quickly descends into darker, more violent territory, leading him finally to a shocking confrontation with the past.

Praise for Lars Kepler:

Scandi noir at its bestEvening Standard

‘A rich, nuanced tale, ideal for beach reading, just as long as the beach doesn’t harbor too many shadows’ Kirkus

‘A brilliant thriller’ Norrköpings Tidningar

Taking Europe by stormDaily Mail

‘Kepler has a direct line to a very dark place in the human soul’ Lev Grossman, Time

‘More energetic than Mankell, as socially involved as Larsson, Kepler matches Jo Nesbo for gothic excitement’ Weekend Australian

LanguageEnglish
Release dateJul 2, 2013
ISBN9780007467761
Unavailable
The Fire Witness
Author

Lars Kepler

Lars Kepler is a No.1 bestselling international sensation, whose Joona Linna thrillers have sold more than 12 million copies in 40 languages. The first book in the series, The Hypnotist, was selected for the 2012 Richard and Judy Book Club. The most recent, Stalker, went straight to No.1 in Sweden, Norway, Holland and Slovakia. Lars Kepler is the pseudonym for writing duo, Alexander and Alexandra Ahndoril. They live with their family in Sweden.

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Reviews for The Fire Witness

Rating: 4.090909090909091 out of 5 stars
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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The Fire Witness by Lars Kepler was first published in 2011 and has been published again in November 2018 by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard. Lars Kepler in the pseudonym used by married couple Alexander Ahndoril and Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril. This is #3 in their Joona Linna series and it can easily stand alone if you have not read the previous books. However, this series is so intense that readers will enjoy reading everything by Lars Kepler. Joona Linna is a troubled detective in Sweden. He is called upon to observe the investigation of a double murder which takes place at a home for troubled teenage girls. A resident and a caretaker have been killed and a missing girl is believed to have committed the crimes. The detective is approached by a medium who claims to have been visited by the ghost of the murdered girl and Linna is intrigued by this. The story develops quickly but nothing is as it seems. This suspenful read will appeal to readers who enjoy murder mysteries with a twist. Thank you to Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I discovered the Swedish husband and wife writing team of Lars Kepler with the first book in their Inspector Joona Linna series - The Hypnotist. I loved it and it only got better with the second book - The Nightmare. I've been eagerly awaiting the North American release of the third book - The Fire Witness. And up front, I have to tell you it was a five star read for me.Inspector Joona Linna is on suspension, pending the outcome of an internal affairs investigation. Linna doesn't play by the rules, he goes for results by whatever means he sees fit. "It is a serious charge, but this is not the first time Joona has run up against the authorities. It seems to be his nature....But what they can't ignore is that in the almost fifteen years Joona's been on the job, he's solved more challenging cases than any other Scandinavian officer."And the cases Kepler come up with for Linna are challenging - not just for him but for the reader as well. I read a lot of crime fiction and this series keeps me guessing right 'til the end.In the Fire Witness, Linna is called to 'observe' a particularly nasty case. A young girl has been found brutally murdered in her group home. Her body has been arranged with her hands covering her eyes. None of the other girls saw anyone or anything. Or did they? These are girls with a myriad of problems and getting a straight answer out of them seems impossible. And of course Joona can't stand by and just be an observer - he sees much more at crime scenes than his colleagues - clues and connections that others don't. The case begins there and Kepler builds layer upon layer into the case, including a would be psychic who may actually be the real thing. (Gentle readers be warned - Kepler pulls no punches with descriptions)I've used the word creepy before to describe Kepler's books and I would use it to again to describe The Fire Witness. The settings, the plot, the characters and their actions are all unsettling, keeping readers on their toes. The secondary plot line deals with Joona Linna's past. It has been alluded to in the past two books and at last we get to know what has happened to him. Not what I expected or imagined at all. (again, I love that I can't predict where Kepler is going to go next) The ending - oh, what an ending. I will be waiting on the edge of my seat for the North American release of the fourth book -The Sandman.Definitely recommended. Kepler just gets better and better. Fans of Jo Nesbo and Jussi Adler-Olsen would enjoy this series
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Absolutely shocking! Perhaps the best thriller I've ever read! Do I sound like I'm being over dramatic? Perhaps, however I cannot write about Kepler's third book without gushing. I read a LOT of thrillers and I'm not surprised very often. I don't always figure it out, though I often do, but when I don't I'm usually close. The Fire Witness absolutely astounded me! I had no clue who the killer was. Well, actually, I had an obscure little theory going which I thought I was pretty clever of me but then WHAM, BAM it all starts unravelling in the last about 30 pages and I couldn't have been more giddy with shock. The case itself is also deliciously deviant and becomes more and more than what it first appears to be as the book continues. There is one twist after the other. I was on the edge of my seat for the whole ride. This book brings a double whammy to the table though. While we have the outstanding main case there is also a secondary case going on that involves Joona's life personally. We were introduced to this topic in the last lines of "The Nightmare" and it is carried out through this book. For the most part it stays in the background, while every now and then Joona thinks back upon it and we are given slightly more details on a mystifying horror that has dogged Joona's being for the past 12 years. Hardly interrupting the main case it pops up just often enough for us to want to know what is going on. Then at the end of the book when we know this case is being wrapped up, Joona's personal case takes centre stage and the set up for the next book is obviously laid on the table. Creepy, creepy, creepy is all I can say. Absolutely can't wait for the next book. Please hurry!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In this latest novel by the Swedish writing team known singularly as Lars Kepler, a murderer has killed two people in a home for delinquent girls. The suspected murderer, a young girl named Vicki Bennet steals a car with a four-year-old boy in the backseat. When the car is found at the bottom of the lake, it is assumed that both the girl and boy are dead even though their bodies are not found. But Detective Inspector Joona Linna is not convinced and, despite orders to the contrary, he refuses to stop hunting for the pair.There is a great deal going on in this fast paced thriller but it never becomes confusing. There is, for example, a fake medium who keeps phoning the police offering 'tips' for money but seems to have real knowledge about the case; there are bits and pieces about Linna's back story; and there is Vicki's own story as well as that of a woman who once fostered her and now wishes to act as her champion. In some ways, I found these other issues more interesting than the murders themselves especially as I figured out who the killer was fairly early in the story. Normally, this fact would make me want to pass on the rest of the story but these other questions kept me wanting to read even when the main one was answered.It should be noted that there is some rather strong language in the book especially from the girls in the home who, after all, are really bad girls and there is some sex which may seem a bit gratuitous. Personally, I thought it helped to make the characters more 'real' - there is nothing romantic here to dispel the sense of sadness and hopelessness that many of the characters seem to live with.* I only bring this up because I read some reviews which criticize the book for this.*Side note: is there something about Scandinavian countries which makes their stories often so bleak going back at least to Hans Christian Anderson or maybe even Beowulf. Not that I'm complaining. I prefer bleak over peppy and romantic any day. What can I say - life without suffering bores me and when I say suffering I'm not referring to 50 shades of crap type suffering. I'm talking about the kind of suffering which, except in the case of psychopaths, makes us empathetic towards others.But enough of the gratuitous side note... The Fire Witness is the third in the Swedish starring Joona Linna. Although it helps to have read the other books, it isn't absolutely necessary. There are some references to actions outside this story but they really don't interrupt the flow or pace of the narrative. My guess is, though, after you read this one, you will definitely want to read the rest of the series.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Troubled teen gets murdered at group home, another girl runs away (and accidentally kidnaps a 4-year-old). Scandinavian writer, but the hero detective reminded me of Jackson Brodie.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    When a teenaged girl and a middle-aged female caregiver are found with their heads bashed in on the grounds of a home for troubled girls, the police and Joona Linna must uncover who the murderer is and locating a missing girl from the home. The hunt is on and the clues must be uncovered before the murderer gets away with the crime. Meanwhile Joona is told to remain only an observer and not to participate in the investigation, but Joona is a man that follows clues and solves crimes - will they be able to stop him from participating? He must enter the world of troubled girls to uncover their histories, medicines, motivations, friends, and games in order to figure out who has committed these horrendous murders. Will he be able to do it in time to save a little boy and another teenaged girl?

    The writing couple that makes up Lars Kepler use their multiple perspectives and vivid descriptions to allow their readers to enter the world of crime in Sweden. With the clues laid bare on the pages, will you be able to figure out who did it and why before Joona Linna and company?
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Mysterious murder at wayward girls home. One girl is dead, another is missing. Joona Linna must now discover who did this. The chapters are short so reading isnt a chore and the plot pace is steady. Needs some editing as book is too long. We learn more about Linnas past life with his wife and daughter. Recommend for those who like psychological thrillers Looking forward to book 4. ...more
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    FIRE WITNESS is set in Sweden and arouses all of the gloomy noir ambiance of its Scandinavian counterparts. The intricate plot has many moving parts but these sometimes appear to be contrived and a bit clunky. Elements seem to have been added by a committee (indeed Lars Kepler is a committee of two) designed to drop multiple clues that only Linna will understand. Certainly, his bumbling colleagues have no hope of either finding them of correctly interpreting their significance. The plot moves along at a brisk pace with multiple wrinkles that are designed to keep the pages turning as fast as possible, but many seem implausible. There is no theme unless, as the epigraphs and title suggest, liars can expect to be punished by fire.Birgittagarden is a youth home for troubled teenage girls. One of these, Miranda, has been brutally murdered and the body posed with the hands over her face (see the book jacket). A caregiver, Elisabet, also has been bludgeoned to death in an outlying building. The case seems open and shut since one of the other girls, Vicky Bennet, has disappeared leaving behind a bloody murder weapon. The search for Vicky drives the story.The protagonist is Joona Linna, a detective who is assigned to observe the case, but can’t resist taking over. Linna appears in other crime mysteries written by Kepler. He is pretty much a cliché in modern detective fiction. He is brilliant, tenacious and compassionate; but has a troubled past, many personal flaws and a tendency to flaunt authority and go-it-alone. The other characters lack nuance and thus are difficult to care about. Instead they act like puzzle pieces designed to drive the plot forward while adding mystery. Vicky is a tough, but almost irredeemable hard luck kid with a heart of gold. Anja Larsson is a wealthy divorced philanthropist who was once briefly Vicky’s foster mother and, for some reason feels guilty about how she turned out. Flora Hansen is a fake mystic, bilking people by purporting to commune with the departed. The police and Linna dismiss her as a crank; Daniel Grim is the psychological counselor at Birgittagarden. At first one wonders why each of these fairly minor characters is even there but as the plot heats up, one begins to see that they have important roles to play in resolving the mystery—just examples of some of clunky plot elements. The girls in the home are all pretty extreme, not well developed as individuals and tend to blend together.FIRE WITNESS clearly deserves all of the blurb superlatives: it is cinematic, cleverly plotted, suspenseful, fast-paced, and a page-turner with a surprising climax. It, however, is not for the faint hearted because of extreme and brutal murders, violence, mental illness and sexual abuse. The novel is definitely light reading fare designed for commercial success. The final chapters are a testament to Kepler’s marketing savvy. They have nothing to do with the plot, but instead seem to be there merely to set the stage for future Joona Linna mysteries.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Sorry, but this book was a disappointment. I loved the first book "hypnotisören". Thought the second book "Paganinikontraktet" was OK and was now looking forward to read the third book. However, after an interesting introduction it all became more and more boring. In the end I had to give up, just flicked through to the end.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was much better than the last one. This is the third in a series of what will be eight novels about inspector Joona Linna. It´s a crime novel and there are some gruesome murders in it. I liked the characters and found them credible, I like Joona Linna, and in this novel we get to know a little bit more about him and his past. The story has many aspects and even though it swirls and shift focus it never looses it. Of course it´s a bit freaked out - but I don´t mind that in a crime story as long as the author keep it together, and they have.