Wallander investigates another perplexing mystery

books:


	• The Man Who Smiled (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard) Henning Mankell Vintage, 2007 - 336 pages average customer review:based on 31 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

not up to par

I looked forward to reading his latest book published in this country,savoring the moment, setting aside a special time, because i so enjoy his books...but it just wasn;t quite as good as his others. The book lacked suspense and drama compared to his other books.... but it still was a good read...

Gotta Love Kurt!

Henning Mankell has done it again (or actually did it 13 years ago)--he's written an interesting mystery with a much more interesting hero, Inspector Kurt Wallander. I won't give a summary here of the book, because I'm sure the publisher and other reviewers have done that already. The reason these books are fun is the Swedishness of them!

Kurt is middle aged and melancholy, but he always manages to stay doggedly on the scent of the criminals until the case is solved. He tends to work alone, even when he's not supposed to, and he gets involved in dangerous grapplings with the bad guys in the end. You just have to love him because he's not Green Beret or Special Forces or anything. He's a middle-aged, opera-loving Swede who's scared of the situation but angry that these crooks are polluting his land with their evil.

This is not one of Mankell's strongest plots. I was fairly bored with the story, and much of the book's midsection was "The team met again to discuss how little progress they'd made. They had now been on this case for two months with no breaks." But who cares? Kurt even has a romantic winter holiday at the conclusion of this charming Nordic novel.

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One of the weaker of the Wallander mysteries

I am a big fan of Mankell's Wallender mysteries, thus I was excited to see that this had finally made available in English. I was struck before I started reading that the gap between its publication in Swedish and its translation into English was very long, several later books that refer to events in this one were actually translated before this. After reading it, I suspect that the delay was because somewhere along the line, people were aware this book was flawed.

In particular, there are several plot elements that simply make no sense. I won't go into the details since they would constitute spoilers. But there were several developments that played key roles in advancing the plot that simply made no sense whatsoever. I thought I was missing something and I talked to some friends and family who are also fans of the Wallender mysteries after they read it, and they had the same reaction.

The writing itself is good, as is the dialogue, so if nonsensical plot developments don't bother you, go ahead and read it. But if you like to follow things consistently, there are several developments that simply don't make sense. Also, this is one of a few Wallender mysteries where I think Mankell pushed too hard to create a climactic and tense ending and ended up creating a situation that was artifical and strained credulity.

If you are a Wallander fan, this is probably worth reading, if only because there are several developments in Wallender's personal life that some of the later books that were translated earlier refer to.

If you are interested in the Wallender books and are looking for one to start with, don't start with this one.

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Wallander investigates another perplexing mystery

Henning Mankell's captivating "The Man Who Smiled", while written about 12 years ago has just been recently been translated into English. Mankell's style has great appeal resulting from an abilty to use the realistic immorality existent in society to fabricate his plots. His protagonist Swedish police inspector Kurt Wallander is a believable character, with a plausible array of human foibles. Years of police work has taken its toll and both his health and emotional state.

We find Wallander in the midst of a leave of absence fueled by the psychological baggage he's carrying after killing a man in the line of duty. A year long drunken binge finds Wallander in the throes of depression and ill health and pondering retiring from the police force. He's attempting to dry out in the Danish seaside town of Skagen when he receives an unexpected visit from a lawyer friend Sten Torstensson. Torstensson had sought Wallander out to seek his help in investigating the circumstances of his father Gustaf's death. The death had been ruled an accident but the son had serious doubts. The father, also a lawyer had been working exclusively for an Alfred Harderberg. Harderberg, a self made multi millionaire was a Swedish industrialist and philanthropist with extensive connections. Harderberg was ensconsed in Farnholm Castle as if he were royalty coming and going in absolute secrecy. Farnholm Castle happened to be the destination from which Gustaf Torstensson had been returning when he become involved in his fatal auto accident.

Wallander eventually made his way back to his home in Ystad. While canvassing the local paper is his apartment, he came across an article that would set his life back on the right path. His friend Sten Torstensson had been found murdered, shot in his office. Right then and there Wallander decided to rejoin the force much to the relief of his beleaguered colleagues, under the stipulation that he lead the investigation into the murders of the Torstenssons. He now set his sights on the man he suspected, the man who always smiled, the untouchable Alfred Harderberg.

Mankell in his brilliantly utilitarian fashion chronicles the plodding and tortuous police procedural orchestrated by the irrepressible Wallander as he tries to unravel clues to ensnare his prey.

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The police 'procedure' is inside the policeman

This is a remarkably low-key book which, in spite of some jolting images, is really about the internal life of a rather undramatic man, Inspector Kurt Wallender of police force in the undramatic town of Ystad, Sweden. Wallender is not a swashbuckling maverick or the cop beset by demons. He is instead, the master of the tiny clue, the small hint and the barely tenuous connection.
When a friend, Sten Torstensson is murdered, Wallender-who has been contemplating retirement-decides to take up the case. The action is excruciatingly slow and there's not much suspense: the reader knows more about the case than the hero. What keeps us involved in this story is the quietly magnetic detective Wallender and the new character Ann-Britt Hoglund.
The title:The Man Who Smiled is incidentally, in reference to the perpetrator, not the detective. The book is one in a series of eight about Wallender, four have been translated so far.

Lynn Hoffman Ph.D. author of The New Short Course in Wine and the forthcoming novel bang-BANG from kunati press.

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, page 6, 7

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