Joona Linna Books in Order
Part ofLars Kepler Books in OrderExplore the Joona Linna series by Lars Kepler in order, with book summaries, key character background, and straightforward guidance on the best reading order.
Last updated: December 25, 2025
As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases (at no extra cost to you).
Publication Order
9 books
The Spider
by Lars Kepler
2023
Three years after Saga Bauer receives a postcard warning of nine white bullets, a decomposed body is found in a bag hanging from a tree, marked with a strange cartridge. Joona Linna and Saga must solve a series of taunting riddles before a calculating killer tightens the web around them.
The Mirror Man
by Lars Kepler
2020
Five years after teenager Jenny Lind was abducted on her way home from school, her body is found hanging in a Stockholm playground. When another girl disappears, Joona Linna and psychiatrist Erik Maria Bark search a damaged witness's fractured memories for the face of a relentless killer.
Lazarus
by Lars Kepler
2020
Years after Joona Linna's most feared enemy was declared dead, a series of brutal murders of criminals across Europe seem designed to send him a message. As the body count rises, Joona fears the past has returned and races to protect those closest to him.
The Rabbit Hunter
by Lars Kepler
2017
A masked killer uses a twisted nursery rhyme as his calling card, targeting people linked to one long buried night of violence. Released from prison to help, Joona Linna teams up with Saga Bauer to follow the cryptic trail before the Rabbit Hunter claims another victim.
Stalker
by Lars Kepler
2014
The Swedish police receive a video of a woman undressing in her own home; hours later she is found brutally murdered. As more clips arrive, Joona Linna emerges from hiding and turns again to hypnotist Erik Maria Bark, whose buried secrets may be the key to stopping the stalker.
The Sandman
by Lars Kepler
2012
Thirteen years after two siblings vanished, an emaciated young man stumbles out of the winter darkness, claiming his sister is still alive. Joona Linna and Saga Bauer must confront imprisoned serial killer Jurek Walter and risk a deep cover operation to bring the last survivor home.
The Fire Witness
by Lars Kepler
2011
A violent killing at a home for troubled girls leaves one staff member dead and a resident missing. As Joona Linna investigates, a self proclaimed medium insists she can see the victim's ghost, forcing him to weigh visions against hard evidence before the killer strikes again.
The Nightmare
by Lars Kepler
2010
A young woman is found dead on an empty yacht and, the next day, a man is discovered hanging in his bare apartment. Joona Linna and security agent Saga Bauer trace the link between the deaths to a ruthless network built on fear and profit.
The Hypnotist
by Lars Kepler
2009
After a family is slaughtered in a Stockholm suburb, the only witness is a teenage boy who claims to remember nothing. Detective Joona Linna pressures hypnotist Erik Maria Bark to unlock the truth, unleashing new danger for everyone involved.
Series background & context
The Joona Linna books follow a Finnish Swedish detective who works for Sweden's National Operations Department, moving between city streets, small towns and hidden institutions. Each novel centers on a major investigation, but together they build a long arc about one man's stubborn refusal to give up on victims others have forgotten.
Joona is methodical, intuitive and quietly relentless. He notices details other officers miss, pushes back against bureaucracy and is willing to stake his career on a hunch when lives are on the line. That determination is fueled by his own history, including a past loss that still shadows his private life.
The early novels set the tone. In The Hypnotist a horrific family murder leads Joona to hypnotist Erik Maria Bark, whose work with a traumatized teenage witness opens the case in shocking ways. The Nightmare drops him into a tangle of mysterious deaths on a boat and in an empty apartment, tied to arms deals and political pressure, while The Fire Witness sends him north to a home for troubled girls where both the living and the dead seem to demand answers.
Across the series, ordinary Swedish settings turn out to hide very dangerous secrets.
These stories are firmly grounded in police work, forensic detail and interagency politics, but they lean just as much on fear, atmosphere and the inner lives of both victims and offenders.
As the books progress, Joona develops a fraught partnership with Saga Bauer, a young officer from the security service whose cool surface hides her own scars. With Saga and others beside him, Joona faces predators who specialize in psychological games, from the manipulative killer at the heart of The Sandman to the elusive figure known as the Rabbit Hunter and the threats that resurface in Lazarus, The Mirror Man and The Spider.
You can read any Joona Linna novel as a standalone case, yet long running relationships, rivalries and traumas give the series extra weight if you follow it in order. Taken together, the books offer a dark, tense tour through modern Sweden, always circling back to the same questions about justice, guilt and what it costs to keep fighting for the truth.
Edited by
Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.
Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.
Comments
Did we miss something? Have feedback?
Help us improve this page by sharing your thoughts