'The Hypnotist' Becomes One of the Fair's Big Books

While London saw a number of big book deals, one of the biggest involved the Swedish thriller, The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler. The title, which has yet to sell in the U.S., was at the center of a heated auction in the U.K. involving some of the country's leading crime publishers. Patrick Janson-Smith, of HarperCollins's Blue Door imprint, ultimately acquired the book for a rumored six-figures from Susanne Widen at Bonnier. Kepler, according to (yet more) rumors, is a pseudonym for Henning Mankell, the bestselling Swedish author published in the U.S. by Vintage. Auctions in other territories were in progress at press time as interest in the novel has been quickly bubbling up--the manuscript arrived on the desk of the acquiring editor, Jonas Axelson, about a month ago.

The Hypnotist is about a boy whose entire family is murdered in a Stockholm suburb and the hypnotist who returns to his trade after a 10-year absence to help solve the crime. There are, Janson-Smith said, a number of "twists and turns that will keep the reader guessing until the final pages." Blue Door is aiming to publish in 2010 "dependent on the delivery of a translation" and Jonas-Smith said the house will "probably working in tandem with the as-yet-unchosen U.S. publisher and, indeed, other foreign publishers, to ensure that [the publication] is an event."