On a summer night, police recover the body of a young woman from an abandoned boat. The next day, a man turns up dead, hanging from a lamp hook. The obvious explanation for both would be suicides, but the circumstances in each case make that impossible. Detective Inspector Joona Linna begins to piece the two mysteries together, but the logistics are a mere prelude to a dizzying and dangerous course of events.

On a summer night, police recover the body of a young woman from an abandoned boat. The next day, a man turns up dead, hanging from a lamp hook. Detective Inspector Joona Linna begins to piece the two mysteries together, but the logistics are a mere prelude to a dizzying and dangerous course of events.

The piercing sequel to THE HYPNOTIST, Lars Kepler’s bestselling international debut, THE NIGHTMARE puts Detective Inspector Joona Linna on a case that takes him face-to-face with one of the world’s deadliest power brokers. When police recover the body of a young woman from an abandoned boat drifting around the Stockholm archipelago, she is identified as Penelope Fernandez, a renowned peace activist. But soon the woman’s identity is called into question, and other facts are troubling: though her lungs are filled with brackish water, there are no traces of water on her clothes or her body. The next day, a high-ranking government official from a weapons division is found dead in his apartment; he has apparently hanged himself.

Escalating into a pulse-pounding rescue mission --- one that reveals a terrifying trail of corruption linking Europe’s wealthiest families to vicious war crimes in Sudan --- THE NIGHTMARE weaves an intricate web of motives and manipulation. And munitions aren’t the only commodity in this novel: equally significant is a collection of priceless violins once owned by Niccolò Paganini, the virtuoso rumored to have signed a pact with the Devil.

The questions and discussion topics that follow are designed to enhance your reading of Lars Kepler’s THE NIGHTMARE. We hope they will enrich your experience as you explore this mesmerizing thriller.

Logan Wade has built a life for herself in New York City, far from her unhappy childhood in Oklahoma. But when she gets the call that her famous cousin needs a new assistant, it’s an offer she can’t refuse. However, their reunion is quickly overshadowed by the toxic dynamic between Kelsey and her parents, causing Logan to question if their childhood has left them both too broken to succeed.

Logan Wade has built a life for herself in New York City, far from her unhappy childhood in Oklahoma. But when she gets the call that her famous cousin needs a new assistant, it’s an offer she can’t refuse. However, their reunion is quickly overshadowed by the toxic dynamic between Kelsey and her parents, causing Logan to question if their childhood has left them both too broken to succeed.

Twenty-seven-year-old Logan Wade is trying to build a life for herself far from her unhappy childhood in Oklahoma. Until she gets the call that her famous cousin needs a new assistant --- an offer she can’t refuse.

Logan hasn’t seen Kelsey in person since their parents separated them as kids; in the meantime, Kelsey Wade has grown into Fortune Magazine’s most powerful celebrity. But their reunion is quickly overshadowed by the toxic dynamic between Kelsey and her parents as Logan discovers that, beneath the glossy façade, the wounds that caused them to be wrenched apart so many years ago have insidiously warped into a show-stopping family business.

As Kelsey tries desperately to break away and grasp at a “real” life, beyond the influence of her parents and managers, she makes one catastrophic misstep after another, and Logan must question if their childhood has left them both too broken to succeed. Logan risks everything to hold on, but when Kelsey unravels in the most horribly public way, Logan finds that she will ultimately have to choose between rescuing the girl she has always protected...and saving herself.