Margot Silverman, a police expert on serial killers, spree killers and stalkers, is properly worked up by these taunts, which also prods into action Joona Linna, a living legend in crime circles and the heavyweight of the Kepler series. The sadistic twist here is that he sends the videos of his future victims to the National Crime headquarters in Stockholm, daring the police to outwit him before he kills again. Once he’s whipped himself up into a froth, this merciless madman returns to claim his prey with another horrific murder.

The essential component of their formula is a worthy villain, someone just like the sicko here, who shoots videos of unsuspecting women to study at his leisure (“He takes his time, enjoys himself”). But that’s the way it goes with Lars Kepler, a pseudonym for the husband and wife team of Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril and Alexander Ahndoril, who have a taste for the macabre and a surefire recipe for the lurid serial-killer thriller. STALKER (Knopf, $27.95) opens with a gruesome crime scene (“a display of extraordinary brutality,” in Neil Smith’s blunt translation from the Swedish) and becomes more explicit as it creeps along to its conclusion (“suddenly his head rolls over”). Having fun? Feelin’ groovy? A new novel by Lars Kepler will wipe that smile off your face.

The silent patient book review