Sidetracked: Kurt Wallander - Softcover

Mankell, Henning

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1860468373 ISBN 13: 9781860468377

Publisher: Vintage, 2001

Synopsis

As Midsummer approaches police inspector Kurt Wallander clears his desk and prepares to set off on holiday with the new woman in his life. However his plans are ruined when a teenaged girl commits suicide before his eyes, dousing herself in petrol and burning herself to death. She leaves no clue as to who she was or why she chose to end her life in this terrible way. Then a former Minister of Justice is butchered in a murder that will prove to be the first strike of a killer who will again and then again. Wallander s search for the identity of the girl, and his hunt for a serial killer who scalps his victims, lead him to uncover corruption in high society and place him, and those he loves most, in grave danger. Sidetracked demonstrates again Henning Mankell s skill as a craftsman of engrossing and original European noir fiction.

About this title

Review:

"The Swedish summer-time is too beautiful and too brief for something like this to happen." A young girl commits self-immolation, a former government minister is killed with an axe and scalped; these are the two brutal facts that confront Inspector Kurt Wallander as he prepares for his holiday. As the Swedish midsummer approaches there is no escaping from the darkness of society.

Sidetracked, the fifth of Henning Mankell's acclaimed Kurt Wallander mysteries, and the second to be translated into English, is an engrossing police procedural. The hard-boiled Kurt Wallander has softened slightly since he was first introduced in Faceless Killers, the first title in the series. He drinks less, has more functional relationships and has developed a faith in his investigative team. Despite this, it is his other qualities as a character, his philosophical angst and his intuitive pursuit of hunches, which drive this novel as Wallander struggles to discover the leads that will trap the killer.

Mankell manages to squeeze in serious comments on the state of Swedish society. The over-stretched police force, child prostitution and the corruption of high politics, all come under the scrutiny of Wallander's wearied gaze as he struggles to come to terms with the new violence of his society. This is a dark novel peppered with genuinely nasty violence, but it is Wallander's struggle to uncover the truth and face his own demons that provide the real thrills. --Iain Robinson

Review:

"Wallander's investigations are perfectly judged to create a thrilling mood of growing tension culminating in a satisfying climax" (The Times)

"Wonderfully bleak thrillers...somehow unremitting and gripping at the same time" (Sean French Independent)

"Mankell is one of the most ingenious crime writers around. Highly recommended" (Observer)

"Sweden's answer to Morse and Wexford" (Mail on Sunday)

"Gripping... Expert plotting" (Daily Telegraph)

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 1860468373
• ISBN 13: 9781860468377
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400