Challenge Corner discussion

Prepare for The Hypnotist to cast its spell

In the frigid clime of Tumba, Sweden, a gruesome triple homicide attracts the interest of Detective Inspector Joona Linna, who demands to investigate the murders. The killer is still at large, and there’s only one surviving witness—the boy whose family was killed before his eyes. Whoever committed the crimes wanted this boy to die: he’s suffered more than one hundred knife wounds and lapsed into a state of shock. Desperate for information, Linna sees only one option: hypnotism. He enlists Dr. Erik Maria Bark to mesmerize the boy, hoping to discover the killer through his eyes.

It’s the sort of work that Bark has sworn he would never do again—ethically dubious and psychically scarring. When he breaks his promise and hypnotizes the victim, a long and terrifying chain of events begins to unfurl.

An international sensation, The Hypnotist is set to appear in thirty-seven countries, and it has landed at the top of bestseller lists wherever it’s been published—in France, Holland, Germany, Spain, Italy, Denmark. Now it’s America’s turn. Combining the addictive power of the Stieg Larsson trilogy with the storytelling drive of The Silence of the Lambs, this adrenaline-drenched thriller is spellbinding from its very first page.

Okay, starting it off...

Through Chapter 19
(view spoiler)[
I wonder why Dr. Erik Bark shouldn't do hypnosis anymore - did he somehow become one of the people he treated? Also, did the boy really kill his whole family, cut them up, then inflict wounds on himself?? That is just crazy. It was weird when the boy was saying "My sister told me to bark..." what is that about?? (hide spoiler)]

Through Chapter 32
(view spoiler)[
I think the sister is the one that killed her family, she's talking about Josef doing sexual things with her...I don't know...I think she's lying (hide spoiler)]

Through Chapter 74
(view spoiler)[
So it seems like Erik must have hypnotized someone to do something dangerous - that's my guess. And I hope Benjamin is okay - I don't know who took him.

And I guess that boy really did kill his whole family...I don't know why (hide spoiler)]

Wow! There is a lot going on in this story, and sometimes it was hard for me to keep up!
(view spoiler)[
The main story line revolves around a hypnotist, Dr. Erik Bark, and some mental patients he was working with 10 years ago. But first, in the present day, Dr. Bark is called in to hypnotize a young boy who was the only survivor of a brutal multiple murder of his family. (view spoiler)[The boy apparently killed all of his family, except his older sister, with scissors. He wanted to keep his older sister around because he wanted to have sex with her. (hide spoiler)]

We then find out that he was not supposed to be practicing hypnosis because of something that happened 10 years ago. Soon after, Dr. Bark's son Benjamin is kidnapped. The police are looking for him, his wife's father is looking for him, everyone is looking for him. They come across a gang of kids that are bullied/threatened by other kids that use the name of Pokemon cards. Maybe Benjamin was taken by them? But no...

We then have a flashback to 10 years ago to see what happened. We meet his patients, and sit through his sessions where he hypnotizes a group of people to face their trauma. One of them voices that she is keeping a child prisoner...but when social services go to her home, nothing is found to corroborate this story. The woman threatens to sue the practice, and he is fired and can no longer hypnotize people.

I loved the in-depth probing of hypnosis and how it can be used to help mental health patients. I also loved when it all came together at the end. There was just so much going on in this book!! (hide spoiler)]

I'm struggling a little with this one because I began it on audio while driving, then I was confused because at first I thought Erik was the teen boy. So when I got home I reread the chapters in the book that I'd listened to and then I was good to go. BUT I was then listening to the audio and reading along but (I HATE when this happens) the audio did not match up with the ebook at all! I thought I was in the wrong chapter altogether but I wasn't. So I ended up getting too frustrated and stopped reading it, but here's so far...

Dr. Erik: I had the exact same question as you did but you probably know the answer since you're done unless it never answered it.

The teen boy: (view spoiler)[OMG!!! I can't even BEGIN to comprehend how HORRIFIC that would be to see all that OR if he did it to do it! This is probably THE most graphic book I might've ever read! (hide spoiler)]

Benjamin (view spoiler)[ I hope he's safe and that he's not getting a tattoo, or if he is that he knows what he can/can't do to protect himself. It doesn't sound like something he should do with hemophilia! (hide spoiler)]

Some of the names are pronounced so differently than the spellings, but of course it's translated so I get it. But if I were going off of audio only, I'd have Yuna or Una or something like that. lol And Petter Naslund I'd have gotten it wrong and so forth.

Vicki wrote: "I'm struggling a little with this one because I began it on audio while driving, then I was confused because at first I thought Erik was the teen boy. So when I got home I reread the chapters in th..."

I was a bit lost too at the beginning of the story because there was just so much going on

Chapter 32

(view spoiler)[Literally I don't know what to think! I think Josef is crazy, but like Erik said under hypnosis a person has their own perception of what's reality. It's pretty disgusting to think anyone could cut people into body parts, let alone a young teenager and family member! GROSS! (hide spoiler)]

Since I wasn't able to get on here the past few days and I just finished the book this morning, this is in retrospect: (view spoiler)[I thought the exact same thing. He must've done something that ended up hurting other people and I felt like he felt guilty for whatever happened because he "promised himself" he'd never hypnotize anyone again, right? (hide spoiler)]

I will say this though, I have been hypnotized before back when I was around 19-21 years old. Only mine was an entertainer. What I realized from that experience though is this: (view spoiler)[ The hypnotizer can't make you do things you normally wouldn't. Sure, they can "make" you make a fool of yourself but not rob a bank or murder someone etc. Secondly, you know every minute of what's happening! I was a mere 105 pounds when I'd go see Richard Saint Charles and I'd seen him so many times that all he had to do when I was in the audience was say, "Vicki, sleep" and I'd go into a hypnotic state. I THOUGHT I was faking it because I heard everything, I felt like when he had to do various things like sing "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" that I was only doing it to save face, but here was the moment of truth! He had me come up on stage and he put two chairs the length of my body (from neck to ankles) apart. He told me I was stiff as a board and had me put my arms to my side and be stiff as a board. The chairs were back to back, not front to front. So he picked me up and I remained still. He put my neck on the rim of one chair and my ankles on the rim of the other and then he STOOD ON MY STOMACH!!! No joke! I had absolutely nothing underneath me, I didn't have to TRY to hold him up or strain to do so. It was the weirdest thing ever!!! He stood on my a minute of two while he talked to the audience. Afterward I thought sure I'd be sore from it, but I never was. So because he did that, I KNEW I was truly hypnotized! (hide spoiler)]

The End

I was really glad that things came together at the end. I was beginning to wonder. I will read book 2 but not both audio and hard copy since the two didn't jive with this one, I definitely wouldn't want that to happen again because it was too frustrating reading both like that. If you read my review you'll understand why.