eher schwach: Auch ein Buch was eher zu den schwächeren Werken Mankells gehört... Nur stellenweise spannend dafür teilweise echt -naja- "nix für schwache gemüter..." richtig gepackt hat es mich nicht - eher wollte cih es schnell loswerden... unterste klasse jetzt allerdings auch nicht... wallander bleibt eben - egal wie plump die story- äußerst sympatisch :-)

The Man Who Smiled is number four in the Wallander series, picking up some time after Wallander's experiences in book 3, The White Lioness. As book four opens, Wallander is still on sick leave, and has made the decision during a period of incredibly intense depression that he will not be continuing on in his career as a policeman. But all of that changes when a friend seeks him out to ask him for help regarding the case of his father's death. The police had ruled it a car accident, but the friend is convinced that it was not. Wallander tells him that the police are most likely correct -- but then his friend is also mysteriously killed. This prompts Wallander to return to the job to find out what lays behind the deaths of father and son ... and uncovers much more than he bargained for.

While the plot will keep you turning pages and provide you with more than a few tense moments, what really made this book stand out was the character of Kurt Wallander. For the first time, really, since I started this series, I really got an insight into how Wallander thinks and what makes him a great cop. Mankell's characterization of Wallander is absolutely stunning, making him much more human in this book as compared to all of the other ones. It was absolutely amazing to be allowed into Wallander's thought processes -- I think Wallander became very real for me in this book for the first time in the series. When a character can become that real, it's definitely a sign that his or her creator is a top-notch writer.

The author does not only offer up a first-rate criminal and first-rate policemen here; he also raises several questions about the future of police forces, about the decline of the whole basis of the modern Swedish state as the profits of corruption become more entrenched, and about issues of morality & the true nature of justice in a world where crime is constantly changing and the police and justice system are trying to adapt. These questions are not relevant just to Sweden, but everywhere.

A bit on the gloomy side, this is not a book for readers looking for a lighthearted crime novel. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants a superb reading experience, but I suggest starting with book one, Faceless Killers, and continuing the books in series order. Mankell is an excellent writer, definitely not to be missed. ( )

It amazes me that with each Mankell book I read he captures me and makes me such a part of the events. I can feel Kurt's depression, understand his pain about Harderberg leaving Sweden guilty of the murders and able to continue his evil ways elsewhere. It goes against his understanding of justice. And his worries about Christmas with Baiba Liepa. Kurt does not know how to let himself go and enjoy the moment he is too concerned with what can go wrong and he makes me feel this with him. A great read. ( )

excellent, translated from swedish, from tiiu ( )

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! ( )