Kleine Fehler: Ja ich kann Toni nur zustimmen, mich haben diese kleinen Fehler auch gestört - aber der Lesespass ist dadurch nicht getrübt.
Ein sehr schönes Buch!

#5 in the Kurt Wallander series, it is time for our favorite detective to take a much-needed vacation. However, summer fun has to be put on hold as Wallander is called out to a farm where a girl has been loitering in the fields. As he goes out to talk to her, she pours gasoline all over herself and lights a match. Not long afterwards, there's a murder in which the former Minister of Justice has his skull sliced in two by an axe. And if those were the only two crimes, maybe Wallander could go have some fun, but alas, it is not to be, as the body count goes higher.

We know who the killer is not far into the story, but that's okay. The real story is about Wallander and his team trying to figure out the connections between all of the victims -- and how Wallander gets a bit "sidetracked" along the way for various reasons, not all having to do with the crime, preventing him at times from seeing obvious connections that may have helped him solve the crimes earlier, possibly saving lives. The story is more about the toll that the crimes take on Wallander and on the rest of the team.

As always, Mankell writes superbly -- the characterizations are excellent, the inner turmoil of Wallander is so palpable you could reach out and touch it.

I would definitely recommend this one. If you're following the series in order, you're going to want to continue; if you've perhaps seen the PBS production and are thinking of reading this one, do so, but do not make it the first Wallander you read. You will miss way too much in terms of Wallander's character development. I'd definitely recommend it for readers of Scandanavian mysteries and for those who perhaps want something a bit beyond what's new on the shelves today. ( )

I first came across Inspector Wallander through the BBC TV series starring Kenneth Branagh as the Swedish Detective.The novel was an excellent read on a warm weekend and gives a person not familiar with Sweden an insight into the people and the country.I give this book a review of 4 stars. ( )

Kurt Wallander - He works tirelessly, eats badly and drinks the nights away in a lonely, neglected flat. Still, he tackles some pretty incredible cases -- An old man has been tortured and beaten to death, his wife lies barely alive beside his shattered body, victims of violence beyond reason. . . a teenage girl douses herself in gasoline and set herself aflame. The next day Sweden's former Minister of Justice has been axed to death and scalped in a murder that has the obvious markings of a demented serial killer… four nuns and an unidentified fifth woman are found with their throats slit in an Algerian convent, while in Sweden, a birdwatcher is skewered to death in a pit of carefully sharpened bamboo poles… a Swedish housewife is murdered execution-style in a string of events that uncovers a plot to assassinate Nelson Mandela involving the South African secret service and a ruthless ex-KGB agent… an old acquaintance of Wallander’s, a solicitor, who is tied to an enigmatic business tycoon hiding behind an entourage of brusque secretaries and tight security, turns up dead, shot three times after his father dies in a traffic accident (or was it an accident?). . . In woodland outside Ystad, the police make an horrific discovery: a severed head, and hands locked together in an attitude of prayer. A Bible lies at the victim's side, the pages marked with handwritten corrections. A string of macabre incidents, including attacks on domestic animals, has been taking place, a group of religious extremists who are bent on punishing the world's sinners. … On Midsummer's Eve, three friends gather in a secluded meadow in Sweden. In the beautifully clear twilight, they don costumes and begin a secret role-play. But an uninvited guest soon brings their performance to a gruesome conclusion. His approach is careful; his aim is perfect. Three bullets, three corpses… An unknown killer is on the loose, and their only lead is a photograph of a strange woman no one in Sweden seems to know…A life raft washes ashore in Skane, Sweden, carrying two dean men in expensive suits, shot gangland-style. It is discovered that the men were Eastern European criminals… A man stops at an ATM during his evening walk and inexplicably falls dead to the ground. Two teenage girls brutally murder a taxi driver They are quickly apprehended, shocking local policemen with their complete lack of remorse. One girl escapes police custody and disappears without a trace. A few days later a blackout cuts power to a large swath of the country When a serviceman arrives at the malfunctioning power substation, he makes a grisly discovery… a shadowy group of anarchic terrorists, hidden by the anonymity of cyberspace. . . and we haven't even gotten to Kurt Wallander's personal issues! ( )

http://2manybooks2read.blogspot.com/2... ( )

A very enjoyable and surprising read. ( )

Excellent mystery novel translated from Swedish.

It was Svanberg who taught me to be a journalist. He used to say that there were two kinds of reporters. 'The first kind digs in the ground for the truth. He stands down in the hole shoveling out dirt. But up on top there's another man, shoveling the dirt back in. There's always a duel going on between these two. The fourth estate's eternal test of strength for dominance. Some journalists want to expose and reveal things, others run errands for those in power and help conceal what's really happening.' p. 94-5" ( )

Kurt Wallander of the Swedish police has enough on his hands what with his father's senile debilitation, concern over his daughter Linda, unresolved feelings after his divorce from Mona, and the departure of his supportive boss Bjork.

The last thing he needs is to witness a girl deliberately burn herself to death in an inexplicable suicide... In addition, the former minister of justice is killed and scalped in the first of a series of gruesome murders right on the eve of Wallander's crucial holiday with his lover Baiba Liepa.

As always, Mankell gives us a parallel narrative, so readers are aware of the identity of the killer long before the police: when the psycho slayer targets wallander and his daughter, hiding out in their flat and waiting for his chance to strike, the suspense mounts.

Againsts the odds, the Ystad police find a link between the suicide and the murdered former polititian: she was a sex slave and he was a man who abused young prostitutes. As more people die, Wallander's investigations keep him busy day and night, looking for clues to link further deaths.

The unlikely killer is eventually apprehended, and most of the loose ends are tied up in this thriller which is unusually violent for Mankell: the resolution is not happy, but it is one Wallander can live with.

Of all his relationships, the most fraught is with his artist father, and the book ends with the two of them flying off to Rome for a holiday they both hope will rekindle the loving relationship they shared before Kurt joined the police. ( )

In Sidetracked, the fifth installment of Henning Mankell’s Kurt Wallander mysteries, it is nearly summer in Sweden. The rapeseed fields are covering the countryside and are swaying in the wind as golden as the sun and as far as the eye can see. Wallander takes in this magnificent sight while anticipating his impending summer vacation when he is called to a nearby rapeseed field where a young woman creates a disturbance. When she horrifically pours gasoline over herself and lights herself on fire in front of Wallander he is shaken to the core. His plans for a summer holiday are at risk when shortly after several brutal ritualistic murders occur which require his full mastery of detective skill and attention. With unerring intuition and detective skill he and his team slowly plod through the evidence until they finally solve the crimes.

Sidetracked presents us with a very well balanced Wallander in his personal life. His personal and family relationships are improving and his life is on an even keel; this is reflected in his performance as a criminal investigator where his intuition guides him, even though he questions the directions the investigations take. But it is this doubting of his own abilities which actually make Wallander a good detective.

I thoroughly enjoyed Sidetracked and the format in which it is presented. The reader is shown early on who the murderer is but has to discover along with Wallander what motivation and fractured personality drive him to murder. As in previous novels Henning Mankell doesn’t miss the opportunity for providing us with a larger social international criminal issue. Apart from the very interesting and likable Wallander character itself, this larger social context is what makes these storylines so appealing.

I highly recommend this book, although I urge anyone to read the previous titles first as it will give a much better experience of the characters and allow the reader to see their development. ( )

Kanon krimiserie ( )

It is summer and the thoughts of the police in Ystad are turning to their holidays when Kurt Wallander is called to an ostensibly harmless trespass by a young girl in a rapeseed field (important as it symbolises Skåne for the time of year). Before his shocked eyes she suicides horrifically and as he deals with this particularly distressful event it is overtaken by an even more disturbing murder of a former high level politician. When there is a second similar murder a few days later it is feared a serial killer is at work and Wallander and his team begin a dour struggle to apprehend him before he murders again.

Sidetracked is the name of this book, and throughout the investigation, sidetracked is what Kurt Wallander feels as the body count rises and the answers remain elusive. Amongst all this mounting suspense the author adds his usual social commentary, this time on family, power, corruption and the exploitation of innocents; using these almost as an explanation for the genesis of a psychotic mind.

Amidst this rapid–paced, high-octane plot the humanity and the reality of the characters are abundant, emphasised by the extremes of everyday incidents of social interactions with unexpected personal tragedies. While seemingly helpless to avert another horrendous murder, short-staffed and overworked, Kurt Wallander deftly guides his team, and this story, to a satisfying conclusion – and in doing so enhances his already growing reputation.

In my mind he deserves it. This book is sharp, shrewd and socially savvy and so is Inspector Wallander – I hope he enjoys his holiday as much as I enjoyed this book!

(Nov 6, 2007) ( )

Midsummer approaches and Kurt Wallander clears his desk and prepares to set off on holiday with the new woman in his life, hoping that his wayward daughter and his ageing father will cope without him. But Wallander's plans are ruined when a girl douses herself in petrol and sets herself alight as he looks on, powerless to stop her. One, and then another, and then another, vicious murder - none with any apparent motive - shatter the tranquillity of the Swedish province of Skåne. As the temperature rises and the tension mounts, Wallander's search for the identity of the girl and the serial killer will throw him and the people he loves most into mortal danger. ( )

Gold Dagger 2000 ( )

This was the first of the Wallender novels I read and I was hooked, so went back and read them chronologically (well as chronoligically as they were published in English). Wonderfully trancelike novels, interweaving and complex stories both of the detection and domestic kind. ( )

Henning Mankell writes entertaining and good mysteries. Kurt Wallander, the protagonist in these mystery series, is a 40 something cop in Southern Sweden. The books follow the same formula, which can get tiring if you read another Kurt Wallander mystery shortly after another one. But it's a good book to read if you're in the mood to be hooked and read without paying to much attention. Sidetrack keeps you curious and interested. ( )