Swedish Crime Novel Hypnotisören (The Hypnotist) by Lars Kepler to be Filmed

The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Lasse Hallstrom (The Cider House Rules, The Shipping News) will direct a film adaptation of Lars Kepler's debut thriller Hypnotisören (The Hypnotist). The Swedish-language novel was originally published in 2009, and will be published in English (in the UK) this May. (Lars Kepler is a pseudonym used by Alexander and Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril.)

Hypnotisören introduces Stockholm Detective Inspector Joona Linna, who knows there is only one person who can help find the killer of an entire family. Erik Maria Bark, a retired hypnotist, is called in to work with Josef Ek, a fifteen-year-old boy who witnessed the brutal murder.

Following a series of accusations by his patients, Erik is reluctant to return to his craft but makes an exception for Joseph Ek. As he delves deep into the boy's mind, he discovers that Josef murdered his own family on the orders of his sister Evelyn. When Joona and Erik journey deep into the woods to find Evelyn, she admits that she was abused by her brother for many years. When she refused to submit to him, he took revenge on the entire family. When Josef escapes from custody and Erik's only son Benjamin disappears from the family home, Erik is thrust into a world of violence and gang warfare, forcing him to revisit his past to discover the truth.

The second book in the series, Paganini-kontraktet (The Paganini Contract), was published in Sweden in 2010.

(Hat tip to In Reference To Murder: Media Murder for Monday for the news item.)