Svensk Filmindustri buys rights to Lars Kepler's The Hypnotist

The film will be a co-production between Scandinavian production company and Sonet Films. Borje Hansson and Peter Possne are producing.

The hit novel, which is set to be published in more than 30 countries including the US and UK, is written by Alexander Ahndoril and his wife Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril (pictured) under the pseudonym Lars Kepler. It is their first joint novel and also the first in a planned series featuring detective Inspector Joona Linna. The second novel will be published next year.

The Hypnotist centres on a man who is brutally murdered and, soon after, his wife and one of his daughters are also found dead. However, his son survives the attack and when Linna discovers a second daughter is still alive, he persuades the doctor to hypnotise the son so he can find her before the killer does. However, the doctor promised himself he would never hypnotise again and, in doing so, he sets off a chain of frightening events.

Tobias Lenner, managing director at Svensk Filmindustri, said: “The Hypnotist is a very thrilling and cinematically told story with a lot of suspense; I am convinced that the film will be fantastic. We are happy and proud that Alexander and Alexandra have chosen us as their partner in the project.”

Alexander Ahndoril wrote the 2006 book The Director, based on Ingmar Bergman and, earlier this year, he published his ninth novel, The Diplomat, based on the real story of a Swedish diplomat’s bid to unarm Iraq in 2003. Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril made her debut as a writer with Stjarneborg, a novel on the life of the Danish astronomer, astrologer and alchemist Tycho Braje in 2003.