The Fire Witness: A Novel (Detective Inspector Joona Linna) Hardcover – July 2, 2013

I have finished reading every book in the series and it was the perfect escape into some crazy people, circumstances and great plot twists. The character and the last protagonist were a bit over the top in their ability to overcome incredible physical injuries to the point of belief but I was reminded of good old Jack Reacher who seeming survived everything thrown at him practically unscathed, yet still delivered a good gripping novel. At several times I could not put the books down so I'm glad I read the last so I can get things done that I put on the back burner. Several of the scenes are rather graphic and gruesome but not overly in my opinion but beware if you are somewhat squeamish. Hoping there will be more books from these authors.

Lars Kepler has written a clever book with very complex plot that is mystifying some of the time. The story begins at a home for troubled girls when two bodies are found savagely murdered, one a resident and the other the night supervisor. Joona Linna, a member of the National Crime Unit is sent to the scene as an observer only as he is currently the subject of an internal affairs investigation. Though banned from the investigation actively he pursues the murders on his own outside the lines of official inquiry and is constantly frustrated with his lack of information and criticism from his superiors.This storyline is extremely complex but while the ending comes to a surprising and satisfying conclusion getting there is a frustrating journey for this reader. The pieces all fit but how way they come together is hard to swallow for this reader. Joona comes across almost omniscent has he traces the smallest clues and leaps of faith to solve the mystery.I find this book hard to review as it keeps the pages turning but the language just seems flat and lacks emotion. I came away with no real sense of Joona other than being rather passive and lacking intensity until one of his hairbrained thoughts jolts him into action. So my question becomes is it Swedish stoicism or the translation that prevented me from enjoying this book more? I don't know! I may follow up with this series but right now I am unsure.....therefore the rating of three stars.

This series keeps getting better. I read a lot of Scandinavian thrillers and thought the first Joona Linna book, The Hypnotist, was good, but not stellar, a solid B. One of the problems was that protagonist Linna wasn't present or memorable enough, but in the subsequent books the detective is front and center, an interesting detective with a fascinating backstory.As is usually the case with the many many lone wolf-ish detectives we find throughout the international literature, Linna has a tragedy in his past; he is more perceptive and intelligent than most of those around him, including his colleagues; and he often has insights into the crime that no one else believes, but that often prove true. And, as with many many other recurring detectives, he is in trouble with his superiors. In this instance, Linna is undergoing review for the events of The Nightmare, so he is sent into the tricky murder scene as an observer only. He doesn't have access to all the findings, nor is the case detective warm and fuzzy. So! the constraints are in place and now Joona Linna is tasked with solving a brutal double homicide at a home for troubled girls. Two people have been bludgeoned to death, a student and a staff member, and all the evidence points to a new girl who has run off and abducted a 4-year old boy. Now THAT is a great setup! Add in an abused psychic who's beginning to see her first real visions, and you're in for a great read.The action and the puzzles continue non-stop in this well-paced, intelligent thriller as Detective Linna follows leads, treads lightly within the organization, and battles his own demons.There is a coda to the mystery which gives us the story of Det. Linna's past --- what happened to his family and why he's been loathe to connect with another human being. And there's the challenge of writing a classic character -- you also have to make that person unique and unforgettable, interesting enough that a reader will buy the next book. The 30-page coda gives us our protagonist's story and sets up the next novel. It sounds amazing and I can't wait to read it.This has become one of the best Scandinavian thriller series, with a great detective, intriguing mystery, excellent pacing and a plausible resolution after clever detection. Very enjoyable. Looking forward to the next. Write, Lars Kepler, write!

I very much enjoyed the main puzzle of the novel and the introduction of seemingly unrelated characters and events that were tied in along the way. I liked the way Flora''s insight into the murders was resolved, though I would have liked to see her cruel employers their due. I feel with most mysteries I read that the personality of the main detective is not well developed, and I had the same reaction to Yoona. His grey eyes were notenough to make me want to follow him through another mystery. I was very interested in Vicky's outcome and was dissapointed the author did not make more of her reconciliation with Elin--an elaboration of their joy and relief at finding each other again. Elin had been feeling very guilty about rejecting her earlier and Vicki badly needed someone to care for her and some stability. I am not familiar with severely disturbed young girls but their behaviors seemed realistic to me and I felt how frustrating it would be to work with them. I really disliked the last section where the absence of Yoona's wife and daughter was explained. Yoona's solution to the threat to his family had the effect he was trying to avoid--it made him dead to his wife and child and was extremely cruel in the way he carried it out. It seemed chauvanistic, paternalistic and thus unrealistic. Certainly his wife should have had some say in how to handle this dilemma. This section seemed harsh and like a real misstep by the authors , and reduced my interest in reading any of their prior or following mysteries, despite my real pleasure in the rest of the book.

In this third book of the Detective Inspector Joona Linna series, he helps the investigation of a gruesome and strange murder at Birgittagarden, a youth home for wayward teenage girls.I found this book lacked focus as the murder investigation was solved a long way before the end of this novel. However, the back story concerning Joona’s personal life towards the end of this book was far better and interesting than the crime at Birgittagarden.The crime scene investigation was quite run of the mill. Nothing was unusual and the solving of the murder was rather pedestrian. I did like the little bits of method thrown into the story, for example…It’s called confirmation bias. Unconsciously, all people tend to heed results that confirm their theories rather than those that don’t.And…“Any confession is connected to feelings of power. The person who is confessing has power over the truth.” Saga keeps her tone friendly. “That’s why threats don’t work. But using a friendly attitude and respect-”…So after the crime at Birgittagarden was solved the reader was taken back in time to a period that gave Joona a lot of anxiety and stress. This part was very engaging and thrilling to read but the story moved onto the current day in a very creepy way. Then the reader is left in the air because these developments will unfold in book number 4, The Sandman.I found The Fire Witness to be a long book running at 496 pages which is a lot when I consider it to be an OKAY 3 star read. The authors have decided to write in very, very short chapters, a total of 195 chapters in all. Chapters are great breaks in your reading sessions but these breaks seem artificial and are not when the story shifts. These breaks interrupt the flow of the story and quickly became an irritation. So I have mixed feelings about The Fire Witness, an okay read followed by a great uplift, then a disappointing end.

I enjoy this series but this one is by far my least favourite. I'm definitely sticking with it, though, especially as this one leaves us hanging on a bit of a "to be continued" thread !I was a little irritated at Daniel, the psychologist, remarking that the troubled girls in the children's home only have police featured in their lives when things are going wrong.....surely that applies to all of us ?? It seemed almost everyone we came into contact with in this instalment had some mental issue going on which got more than a little tiresome for me. It was a case of "not another madzer....."There were some funny moments, a lot coming from Anja, who always amuses me, though I didn't believe she'd lose her temper and speak as she did in a situation later on. It was totally out of her character so I didn't buy it. At another point she asks Joona if he's sitting someplace better and I think it was a joke but it lost something in translation and I didn't understand it. I did chuckle at the product placement mention as usual. The Nordics all do it, mention something specifically theirs. This time it was a mention of Abba, which I thought unusual as the Swedes usually go with IKEA but that did appear as well in the end ! I was shocked silly by something Mikael Bage said to Saga upon meeting her, and HE'S investigating other people's conduct !! Again, I didn't really get on board with believing he would speak like this at all.There was one dropped word (....looks of the window) then at one point Joona is written when it should've been Holger, which was confusing, and load used when it needed to be low or loud. That was it for errors which is again very good going.I wished they'd not condensed the final chapters as they did and just begun a whole new book as it could easily have been so and cramming it into these latter chapters just seemed too rushed, which is a great shame. I'll still be sticking with this series, however, and look forward to learning more of this ending in the next story.

I've no idea how this ended up on my kindle; maybe a kindle first, but however it got there I'd kept swiping past it for a while looking for something to read. Then I started it and didn't want to stop reading.It's a great yarn with unseen twists and plot lines that you're not sure how or when they'll intertwine. It isn't overly fast paced, but trots along well until the plots smash together towards the end and then it's one thing after the other. Well written. Good characters that you want to know more about, but are only given glimpses into their back stories. I think these are told in other books by the same author.A good read

After reading the Hypnotist I had to read two different books by way of a break from the intensity of the story. After the Fire Witness I now need to have another break! The stories are brilliantly constructed, full of tension and interest. I like the characters which are so well drawn you feel you know them. I'd love to see a live Saga! I will read something else now before the Sandman because once I open a Kepler book I read till it's finished without rest. I hope there are many more.

The clues are visible from the start of the story, but the connection, the links, only become visible as the story weaves its way toward the end.Fire Witness explores the challanges of life in care and teases the reader into misunderstanding who did what to whom until almost the end. A great read which kept me on the edge throughout.