"The Hypnotist" by Lars Kepler Quiz

Answer: Maria

Erik Maria Bark was given his middle name in honour of Klaus Maria Brandauer, the Austrian actor. Erik's mother had seen a movie starring the actor before Erik was born and liked the name and decided to use it if she ever had a son. Bark does reflect in the book that at times he feels like "A Boy Named Sue" by Johnny Cash.

Answer: Eva Blau

Eva Blau was the name that the patient was known by. It was never established what her original name was.

The three wrong answers were not patients. They were on the panel, or assisting the panel, that decided on financing projects at the hospital.

Answer: He was partially hypnotised too

Erik Bark described his own state as being under water. He would see the group floating in front of him. When he was guiding one through their memories, in his semi-hypnotised mind, the others were suspended with their heads bobbing below the surface.

Answer: Jussi

Jussi's "haunted house" was a green painted holiday cottage owned by his family. It was in a remote northern area, surrounded by trees, on the edge of a lake.

Joseph was the injured boy that Erik Bark was called in to hypnotise. Daniella was the doctor looking after Joseph. Simone was Bark's wife.

Answer: As if it were happening right now

The book follows the actions of several people, but except for memories it is all written in the present tense. It is as if the reader is sitting on the shoulder of a character and sees everything as they do.

I found the "here and now" writing a little stilted at first, but got used to it. I reread several passages a couple of times to get used to the wording, which I found a little difficult at first, but no longer noticed as I got deeper in.

Answer: False

Kennet is Erik Bark's father-in-law. At first Erik refuses to meet with Kennet, but the two men are inevitably drawn together. A growing respect for the other's strengths and deductions from the different perspectives brings them to an understanding that they had never reached in the past.

Kennet is called by his daughter when her son disappeared. Erik asks her not to do it, but she wants her father there anyway.

Answer: I was right, wasn't I?

D.I. Joona Linna followed every lead and hint himself. When Bark's son disappeared, the authorities thought that it had nothing to do with the on-going case, but Joona insisted otherwise. He was proved right.

Throughout the book, Joona fights with those in charge. He is the one who brought "The Hypnotist" in on the case and each time he is proved correct in his course of action, he inevitably asks, "I was right, wasn't I?" and waits for the confirmation in reply.

Answer: Lydia

Lydia had attempted suicide in front of Erik Bark, by drawing a knife across her throat. After several years of therapy she was deemed fit to re-enter society. When it was reported in the press that Erik Bark had hypnotised the severely injured witness to an horrific family murder, she took it as him breaking a promise to her made ten years before.

Lydia set out to make Erik pay for breaking his promise, by kidnapping Benjamin, his son. She drowned while attempting to escape across a frozen lake in an old bus.

Aida was Benjamin's friend. Marek was a member of the hypnotherapy group and a member of Lydia's "family".

Answer: A five year old boy

Joona Linna discovered the facts.

A fourteen year old girl was forced to have an abortion, but it was done so badly that she was not able to conceive again. Some years later she kidnapped the child of the man who had fathered her own child. After three years she killed him because she gave details of her actions during a group hypnotherapy session. The body was discovered ten years later.

Answer: McDonald's selection

Erik, Simone and Benjamin had not wanted to return home, so had stayed in a Stockholm hotel. The only place to eat that was open was McDonald's. Erik bought a large selection of food and drink and then it was he that suggested they take it to the hospital to share with Kennet, Benjamin's grandfather.