Stalker

Written by Lisa Stone

Narrated by Rachel Atkins

Someone is always watching…

Derek Flint is a loner. He lives with his mother and spends his
evenings watching his clients on the CCTV cameras he has installed inside their homes. He likes their companionship – even if it’s through a screen.

When a series of crimes hits Derek’s neighbourhood, DC Beth Mayes begins to suspect he’s involved. How does he know so much about the victims’ lives? Why won’t he let anyone into his office? And what is his mother hiding in that strange, lonely house?

As the crimes become more violent, Beth must race against the clock to find out who is behind the attacks. Will she uncover the truth in time? And is Derek more dangerous than even she has guessed?

A spellbinding crime novel from the worldwide bestseller
Cathy Glass, writing as Lisa Stone.

‘Once you start you won’t be able to stop!’
Katerina Diamond, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Teacher

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Release date: Jun 14, 2018
• ISBN: 9780008236748

Lisa Stone

“As a writer of suspense thrillers I often ask myself what if? What if this happened instead of that? Or why a particular person reacted as they did. So often fact is stranger than fiction; these books start with a fact which I develop.” Lisa Stone lives in England, has 3 children, and 27 books published under the pseudonym Cathy Glass, many of which have become best-sellers.

Reviews for Stalker

[dara85 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

If you are just starting to read Faye Kellerman read a different book. Some of her earlier books are much better than this.Cindy, daughter of Lt. Peter Decker is all grown up and a police woman herself. She is not very well liked by her fellow officers because she seems to flaunt the fact her daddy is Lt. Peter Decker. What a brat! She keeps finding things that seem to be moved in her apartment. Meanwhile, her father and people under his command are investigating a series of carjackings trying to find a common thread.

[janglen_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Maybe not her best novel but still loaded with suspense and insight. The depiction of macho bent cops is scary. Make sure you have enough time to read the last hundred pages at one sitting - you won't be able to put it down.

[mazda502001 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is the twelfth in the Decker series. Great series IMHO.Back Cover Blurb:It began with a policewoman's sixth sense. Someone is watching her. Then, after the break-in and the midnight car pursuit, she knows. Someone wants to frighten her. Someone wants to hurt her.But why?As an inexperienced policewoman, daughter of one of the force's veterans, admitting what's happening feels like a confession of weakness. There seems no option for Cindy Decker but to go it alone, keeping her colleagues and family in the dark. And in a world in which someone is trying to kill you, alone is a very frightening place....

[Elizabeth Planes · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Meh got kinda bored at the end, thought it would be more stalkerish

[sarah barlow · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another amazing book from Lisa Stone. Finished it in a couple of days xx

[akbouterse · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

3.5 Stars but the ending was very good. Joona is really going through it in this book and I'm excited to see where he goes next. Probably my least favorite of the series so far but still really enjoyable.

[carol420 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

As usual I started in the middle of a series but it didn’t really seem to make a great deal of difference as far as the story went. I found out the series is written by a husband-and-wife team. Their main character is a very interesting Finnish detective named Joona Linna. He’s a bit of an odd duck...but a fairly likable guy who has marvelous instincts coupled with intense combat training. We don't see Linna for a while at the beginning... but once we do it's obvious that he's not fit company for man or beast. He tried to go into hiding but events soon send a fellow detective to find him. This book is nearly 600 pages and it is an interesting mystery that catches the reader up and keeps you turning the pages...however the police are supposedly intelligent people but they do the dumbest things throughout the entire book. Maybe things are different in Sweden...or perhaps something is lost in the translation. We also don’t get much information on any of the other characters. Some of the storyline verges on the incredible...but overall, it was a very, very long mystery.

[lostinalibrary · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The National Crime Unit in Stockholm has received a video of a woman who is clearly unaware she is being filmed. Shortly after, the woman is found brutally murdered. When they receive another film, they try to find clues in the video to find the woman. Unfortunately, they are unable to find her in time and she too is murdered in the same brutal manner. And then a third video arrives. Psychiatrist Eric Maria Bark recognizes similarities to a past case he had worked on but the man who had been taken into custody is still being held in a Psychiatric Unit and it seems impossible that he could be responsible for these present murders. Bark also had secret knowledge that might have exonerated the man for the past murder had he not confessed. Bark now wonders if perhaps he is responsible for allowing the real murderer to go free. At the same time, the body of the man who had been terrorizing the family of Finnish detective Joona Linna is identified. Linna can now return. He is called in to help with this case but it is clear that the time he spent in hiding has taken a huge toll on him both mentally and physically. When a new victim is found, one with links to the police, evidence seems to point to Barks as the perpetrator and Linna is suspected of aiding in his disappearance.Stalker is the fifth novel in the Joona Linna series by Lars Keplar, a husband and wife team and it is very long and, at times, very convoluted. But it is also very clever, very dark and compelling. It is one roller coaster ride of a thriller with non-stop action. It kept me reading well into the night and guessing right up until the end (I never did suss out the real villain). Stalker is Nordic Noir at its heart-pounding best aided by Kepler's use of short paragraphs and positive phrasing throughout. Definitely not a book for the squeamish.

[runner56_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Anyone who has watched The Killing (Danish version) will know that this type of Nordic crime telling has a raw, edgy yet intensive burn. It's almost as if the action is slowed down, and combining this with the bleakness and solitude of the weather and dour intensive characters certainly makes for unmissable viewing. This translates very well into the written word and I have always enjoyed reading the highly addictive prose of Jo Nesbo and Henning Mankell. Having therefore read the positive amazon reviews and noting that the English "Daily Express" has described the book as "Terrifying yet hugely enjoyable" I was eager to make the acquaintance of The Stalker!The synopsis is simple. The National Crime Investigation Department, based in Stockholm, is receiving tapes/video that purport to show a young lady alone at night in her house plainly unaware that she is the subject of some deranged mind. Soon after the tape is received a badly mutilated, and savaged body is discovered the natural conclusion being that the narcissistic killer is pre warning the police of his intentions and they can do nothing to stop him as he is in total control. Imagine you, the reader, alone at night with the windows and doors hopefully locked and secured when you read the following....."There's a breeze blowing straight through the kitchen. The door to the garden is wide open. The thin curtain of plastic strips is fluttering into the room. She walks slowly forward. It's hard to see anything behind the dancing curtain. There could be someone standing just outside...."........"holds her breath when she hears footsteps outside the cupboard. They move off in the direction of the kitchen, the doors knock against each other the other door slips open a couple of millimetres. She stands in the darkness with her eyes open wide, and hears a kitchen drawer being opened. There's a metallic clattering sound, and she's breathing in short gasps....." These highly memorable and truly frightening descriptions were in all honesty the highlight of what in reality became a ponderous and very average crime thriller.Detective Margot Silverman is senior officer tasked with bringing the stalker to justice. After a very short period she is instructed to approach and enlist the help of D I Joona Linna who is on compassionate leave. I thought this was a mistake as the heavily pregnant Margot was a much more interesting and likeable personality and it would have been good to understand how she combined a stressful job with pregnancy and home. Eric Maria Bark, psychiatrist and psychotherapist, hopes that his insight into the psychotic mind can play a positive contribution into the investigation. A bizarre situation develops when Eric decides to commence piano lessons (??) Within a very short time he is sha**ing the piano teacher and making a clumsy attempt at a Chopin Etude. It is this type of random incident that really turned what could have been an excellent frightening thriller into a very mediocre story. (spoiler to follow) A totally unexpected event happens when Katryna, the wife of Margot's assistant Adam Youssef, becomes the next victim of the stalker. Now the hunt for the killer is personal but unfortunately the author barely mentions Adam or Katryna again. How did this traumatic event effect Detective Youssef? This was such an horrific occurrence and yet the author barely makes mention in the remainder of the book.Apart from a few genuinely brilliant moments the storytelling was very average, lots of time and description wasted on a clueless police force chasing an elusive psychopath throughout the streets and suburbs of Stockholm. What about the killer you may ask? Without wishing to unveil or spoil your entertainment (?) I found the disclosure of the killer preposterous and highly unlikely...of course you may choose to disagree. I realize that Jonna Linna is the main character in The Stalker as it is part of a series. The author missed a good opportunity here to remove an overrated, conceited and unfit Detective Inspector and replace with the womanly charms of the unassuming Margot Silverman.