The Fifth Woman: Kurt Wallander (Kurt Wallander, 6) - Softcover

Mankell, Henning

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099571749 ISBN 13: 9780099571742

Publisher: Vintage, 2012

Synopsis

Four nuns and a fifth woman are killed in a savage night-time attack in Africa. A year later, Inspector Kurt Wallander investigates the disappearance of an elderly birdwatcher and discovers a gruesome and meticulously planned murder - a body impaled in a trap of sharpened bamboo poles. Then, another man is reported missing.

Once again Wallander's life is put on hold as he and his team work tirelessly to find a link between the series of vicious murders.

Winner of the CWA Gold Dagger for Sidetracked.

About this title

Review:

A series of men who seem to have nothing in common are brutally killed--one is impaled, another starved and then strangled. We know more than the police--we know that the killer is a woman and we gradually understand some of her motivation; her much wronged mother was murdered almost by chance in a North African country--but we don't know who she is, or, for a while at least, her motives and principles of selection of her victims. Inspector Wallender finds himself investigating the case--two missing person enquiries that turn into a murder hunt--and finds himself endlessly confused by red herrings and side issues; a set of leads concerning mercenaries in the Congo of the 1960s turn out to have little to do with the case and Wallender has to waste considerable time suppressing an attempt by the far Right to turn the murders into a reason to set up vigilante justice.The Fifth Woman is a stylish police procedural which lets us see not only the leg work of investigation but also the diligence which makes effective murder possible--the killer Wallender is trying to catch is at least as good at her job of murder as he is at his of prevention. --Roz Kaveney

Review:

"Inspector Wallander is one of the most wonderful creations in contemporary crime writing" (Mark Lawson Guardian)

"Truly horrifying... The novels become a compulsion - one reads them all" (Daily Telegraph)

"A first-class police procedural" (Independent on Sunday)

"The real test of thrillers of this kind is whether you want to spend more time in the detective's company. I certainly do" (Sean French Independent)

"Mankell's long, subtle, involving novel could turn you to crime" (Daily Telegraph)

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0099571749
• ISBN 13: 9780099571742
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 608