One Step Behind

I seem to give lots of books 3.5 stars these days (or at least initially consider doing so), which admittedly is kind of a cop-out. This is the seventh book in the Wallander series and the third book adapted for the Kenneth Branagh-starring TV series. It begins with the murder of three young people in a nature reserve and continues with the murder of one of Wallander's colleagues, who considered Wallander his closest friend but about whom Wallander knew almost nothing, learning more about him in the murder investigation than he ever did when his colleague was alive.

For the first part of the book at least, I was very much influenced by my memories of the TV adaptation. While I knew what was coming re the police officer's murder, the show more description of the crime scene made my hands shake and my stomach churn with horror as I recalled the TV series' version of events. I had been rather fond of the character as portrayed in the series and the written description of the events really brought home the violence of the murder.

About halfway through the book I hit a wall and had to really push myself to finish it, although I am not quite sure the reason for that. Was my trying to remember how things played out in the adaptation was proving a distraction? Had I lost interest in how the mystery was solved, since I'd already seen it on TV? Or were library books and other new acquisitions clamouring for attention? Maybe it was all of those things.

In any case, I can definitely see this being an interesting ride for someone who hasn't seen the adaptation yet. As mentioned, it has excellent description, Wallander experiences a good deal of growth as he delves into the previously unknown life of his colleague and must also face up to his declining health (he is diagnosed with diabetes), and of course the stakes are high for the entire Ystad police force as they avenge one of their own. Recommended for those who enjoyed Sidetracked in particular by this author, with the caveat that you should probably read the book first. show less

very close to 5 star [edit: went back and awarded the full 5 stars. The book rocks. ] . Awesome, intricate police procedural with a breathlessly exciting finale. Love Wallander's character. Pushing 50, overweight, now with diabetes, wracked with self-doubt and even self-loathing, but he is a total badass when he needs to be.

As a Swedish police officer, Kurt Wallander is an interesting character. One of my favorite elements of Mankell's writing is how real his characters are drawn. Kurt lost his father and takes the time to help his stepmother sell the house. He has bad dreams and concerning health issues. He doesn't always listen to his colleagues. He doesn't have the greatest attention to detail (odd for a police officer). Despite his personal problems he has a dogged dedication to his job. When a group of young people are found murdered he realizes he downplayed the urgency back when they were reported missing months earlier. He assumed they were happy-go-lucky youths and the only crime was their refusal to check in with mom and dad. Then more bodies are show more found, including that of a fellow police officer with ties to the first victims. Suddenly, Wallander and his team have a serial killer in their midst. Can he solve the crime before more people are slain? show less

This is my first Kurt Wallander novel. Wallander is a Swedish police detective, and in this installment, at least, he seems a bit out of his element investigating a series of brutal murders of overtly happy people. He forgets his mobile phone, thereby landing himself in dire straits on more than one occasion. He makes very little progress in the investigation; most of his interviews seem to come to nothing, and when he does identify the suspect it is almost by accident. He is coping (not well) with recently discovered health issues including elevated blood pressure and blood sugar, and cannot seem to remember to take his medication or to eat when he ought to. The man is borderline incompetent, not to put too fine a point upon it. I feel show more I may have done the series a disservice by starting in the middle somewhere, but I find the style a bit dreary and repetitive, and I suspect the translation may be partly to blame. As a police procedural, One Step Behind lacks a lot in the procedure department, and we never get a decent explanation as to what the psychopathic killer was all about. I may give another Mankell a chance, because I know there are many many devoted Wallander fans out there, and they must see something I'm missing.
Review written in 2012 show less

Henning Mankell’s police procedural novels are like potato chips: the first one is so fine, you wonder why you’re not devouring handfuls every day. But by the time you get to the bottom of the bag – or perhaps to the fifth or sixth of Mankell’s novels you’ve read – a bit of backlash sets in. What you’ve got is still great, sure, but you just don’t have the same appetite for it you once did.

I suspect, therefore, that if you’re new to Mankell’s work (which I do recommend), you will find One Step Behind a real treat. It’s highly competent work, with a good protagonist, i.e. Detective Chief Inspector Kurt Wallander.

In this story, Wallander is battling not only the black dog of depression that regularly haunts him, but show more also incipient diabetes: let’s just say you are not likely to find a work of popular fiction in which more time is spent in the men’s room than this one.

The mystery is also well-plotted; two separate killings are quite quickly recognized as related (which is a relief; who doesn’t hate a murder mystery in which seemingly-random threads ‘come together’ at the end in ridiculously unlikely fashion?), and Wallander and team are soon working round the clock as the killer leaves them constantly feeling ‘one step behind’.

On the downside, this book is utterly humorless – this seems typical of the Scandinavian murder-mystery sub-genre – and its translation is unusually flat. It’s a pace-y but prosaic journey we take around southern Sweden.

Also, although there is no one incident in the story that shatters the suspension of disbelief, there are many implausible and unlikely events. I won’t include spoilers, but there were several sequences in which it’s clear Mankell was finding it hard to keep at bay the imaginary screen adapters looking over his shoulder.

Never the less, One Step Behind is an enjoyable read, and is recommended. show less

A very good and very entertaining and suspenseful crime novel. Kurt Wallander--the main detective in a series of books by Henning Mankell is given the job of finding the murderer of three young people out celebrating midsummer's eve in a forest preserve--but it's not as simple as that because at first there are no bodies and foul play is only presumed by one of the parents of those kids. Instead it's a missing persons case while at the same time there is another mysterious murder of one of Wallander's detective team--Svedberg who as it happens had been investigating the disappearance (at the request of said concerned parent on his own time and unknown to Wallander etal) of the very same kids.

Well--a murderer is on the loose and no one show more has a clue as to his identity or what his motivation is. The scene of Svedberg's murder--his apartment is strewn with his belongings and the shotgun--the murder weapon is there as well. And as it happens the midsummer's night celebration was meant to be for 4 kids and not 3--a young lady begging off because of a stomach ailment. Returning to Svedberg's apartment on his own Wallander discovers a hiding place in which there is two photographs--one of one of the kids in the group that had been murdered and another of a mysterious woman--later on identified as Louise. Still not a lot to go on. And then there are more murders including the girl who had been sick which happens right under Wallander's nose.

Anyway one of the things that makes One step behind so good is being taken through the whole process of the investigation--numerous interviews, dead ends, evaporating leads. Wallander himself is not feeling very well for all this--he's in the initial stages of a diabetes diagnosis and the investigation as well will exacerbate a chronic case of insomnia. Well you can imagine. To top it all off they will have to dig into the dirt of the life of one of their own--a very well liked detective about whom they will very soon find out they knew very little about his private life.

Eventually some leads do start paying off--and slowly they will begin collating the good information from the bad--circling in on the culprit--as it happens a disgruntled transvestite postal worker with a habit of reading other peoples mail. Well it takes all kinds.

All in all it's well written, keenly observed and the pace is right on the money. That's a combination that is hard to beat and this is one of--though not quite--the best crime novels I've read. To sum up I do see myself reading more of Mankell's work--very well done. show less

Another exciting adventure of Kurt Wallander and the Ystad police in which they investigate serial murders for a total of eight people. Young people dressed in costume are murdered at a Midsummer's celebration, then a policeman colleague is bumped off. Are the murders connected? Wallander thinks so. The murders are meticulously planned and carried out. The police are always "one step behind" the murderer. The bodies pile up and so do the red herrings. The author leads us through a labyrinth to get at the truth. I guessed wrong all the way through; the author certainly kept my interest!

Highly recommended.