A Compelling and Entertaining Page Turner: Mankell's Best?

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	• One Step Behind Henning Mankell Vintage, 2003 - 448 pages average customer review:based on 27 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A Compelling and Entertaining Page Turner: Mankell's Best?

Just as a point of trivia but in Europe and in Sweden, detective Kurt Wallander's home, the spelling is sometimes Wallender or Wallander. One encounters both spellings on amazon.

This is a book that ruined a good night's sleep. In short, it is a delightful read. I read the 500 plus pages in a little over two brief evenings when I had little time to read. This is a smooth fast read and an excellent translation.

This was my second Kurt Wallander novel, and I have read five. The first novel - The Man Who Smiled - broke down at the end and departed from reality. That does not happen here. The story remains strong and believable through to the last page. Each murder is interconnected and gives us a trail of clues. The characters and the plot are very realistic. Wallender is not climbing over a high fence or doing anything far fetched to get his man, although there is some action. He is operating on too much coffee and no sleep, as he usually does. Since reading the present novel, I have read a total of five of the Wallander novels and it confirmed that this is one of his better efforts. There are elements here similar to his other popular novel Sidetracked.

Without revealing the story, the murders takes place in southern Sweden near and in the town of Ystad. It is mainly in and around the town, although there is some action on the shores of Sweden and in Copenhagen. The unusual twist here is that it involves the death of a fellow police officer and a serial killer. It is a good mystery story but the reader follows the detectives and the criminal, so there is less mystery for the reader. This is a fast read that I was able to read it in less than a day or two. I read it while staying at a hotel in southern Sweden, not too far from the crime scene; the details and descriptions of the places and other details are authentic.

The story involves the usual characters including fellow officers Ann-Britt Höglund, Nyberg, and Martinsson. Wallander is older in the book. Here he is a bit past his prime and is having health problems. Otherwise, it is the same Wallander.

This is a great read, with a good plot, good writing, and a good novel structure, and it is hard to put down once underway. This must be one of Mankell's better novels.

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Kurt Wallander Right in Step

I haven't read many Kurt Wallander mysteries but am already hooked on the detective's adventures. What is it that makes Wallander so appealing? Perhaps it's the fact that he is so much an Everyman, rather than a Super Hero. He has all the same woes and worries that most of us have, and solving the crime demands a lot of slogging, ordinary police work.

Mankell uses techniques that Agatha Christie used, to keep us on track - those of us who muddle up the bits and pieces of clues. He will occasionally have Wallander review - ever so briefly - the events or main facts so far. Also, Wallander will sometimes pause to try to bring to mind a small morsel of information that he can't quite recall - forcing the reader to try to remember what it was. Keeps us on our toes.

Sorting out all the Swedish names requires extra attention at first, but then one gets used to all the people and places. In the first Wallander book I read there was a small map of the Skane area, and I photocopied that page to refer to when I read this book.

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Another heart stopper from Henning Mankell

Oh, man. I just couldn't NOT review this. This author must be one of the most talented mystery writers on the planet and so far, I like this book the best. You're not likely to have any fingernails left after reading this one about a serial killer. Mankell mixes real clues with red herrings so effectively throughout the story that you will never guess who it is until he tells you. The story starts from the killer's point of view, so you know it is a man. But why does he kill these people? Does he know them or have any connection to them? Are these thrill kills? Is he a psychopath or a nutcase? Interspersed with the police investigation are scenes showing the workings of the killer's mind. You get good and scared and frustrated as do Wallander and his colleagues. I purposely havent read the ending yet so there's no way I can give it away. I'm always so impressed with the way the department works as a team and around the clock when they have to. If this happens in real life we don't appreciate the efforts as much as we should. In this book, also at the beginning, Wallander contracts diabetes. The author must have it to describe it so realistically. I have it too, and have been through all these scary symptoms and the story is really accurate on this point. I like the other characters Wallander works with, I'd like to know more about Linda, his daughter, and Lisa, his boss. They are all realistic people with real problems. Henning Mankell is just a superb writer and I'm so glad I have two more of his books here to read.

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Another Uniquely Satisfying Murder Mystery by Mankell

Henning Mankel has proven himself to be a wonderful crime novelist. His books create a unique sense of atmosphere along with razor-sharp plotting. The great pleasure in reading Mankell is the social commentary on Sweden's changing society. His fiction is at least as much about evolving mores in Swedish culture as it is about the classic "whodunits."

Donald Gallinger is the author of The Master Planets

A Great Police Thriller

Here is a detective novel you can really sink your teeth into. It is well written, engaging, and completely addictive. I was having trouble figuring out who the bad guy was until several pages before Mankell reveals this to the reader. To me, that is a sure sign of great plot crafting and great writing. The novel is not short and other reviewers have complained about the pace. But for me, the pacing worked perfectly and added to the suspense and sheer creepiness of the nemesis.

Also, I really liked Wallender and also related to him easily. The sense of his phisical exhaustion and looming diabetes was a superb touch that both added to the depth of the character and dovetailed beautifully with the main story. I highly recommend Mankell, and while this is the first of the series I have read, I plan to read them all.

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

Sixth in the Kurt Wallander series.

On Midsummer?s Eve, three role-playing teens dressed in eighteenth-century garb are shot in a secluded Swedish meadow. When one of Inspector Kurt Wallander?s most trusted colleagues?someone whose help he hoped to rely on to solve the crime?also turns up dead, Wallander knows the murders are related. But with his only clue a picture of a woman no one in Sweden seems to know, he can?t begin to imagine how. Reeling from his own father?s death and facing his own deteriorating health, Wallander tracks the lethal progress of the killer. Locked in a desperate effort to catch him before he strikes again, Wallander always seems to be just one step behind.

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