The Fifth Woman

This fifth in Mankell's "Kurt Wallander" series (my 3rd) is a superb and detailed police procedural surrounding two particularly appalling murders. Wallander is a moody and depressive man who sounds much older than his late 40-something years, but he is a talented, patient and thoughtful detective. Being inside his head for the 400+ pages of this novel as he unravels a particularly complex and conflicting case is pure delight. Along the way, we learn of the issues and difficulties plaguing crime-fighting in Sweden and elsewhere in the world and the psychology of both the criminals and those who make a career of catching them. The suspense builds very, very slowly in the book - deliciously so. This is the best Wallander novel of the show more three I have read thus far. show less

In this the 6th book of the Wallander series, our hero has just returned to Ystad from Rome with his ailing father as the story opens, and it seems he is just in time to get to work on an incredibly brutal crime. A man is found impaled on sharpened sticks in a pit. As usual in a Mankell novel, this is just the tip of the iceberg and the beginning of a number of cruel and torturous murders. While Wallander's style is to thoroughly examine every aspect of these crimes, there is a move afoot among some of the public to form a citizens' militia, making the job of the police even harder and putting them under a great deal of pressure to catch the murderer. But these are no ordinary crimes and their perpetrator no ordinary murderer -- and show more Wallander and his team have their work cut out for them.

Mankell's excellent writing will keep you reading until the end. In his hands, Wallander becomes quite real, and you can clearly see that he is a flawed but steady individual, an excellent investigator and a workaholic, who is always pushing his team to work harder. Mankell's plotting is exquisite and believable, and the author manages to capture the nuances of a disgruntled public and a Sweden that is changing rapidly and not always for the better.

The Wallander series overall is excellent; one of the best out there. I would highly recommend this book (as well as the series) to anyone who enjoys great crime writing in general and Scandinavian mystery novels in particular. Do not let this book be your introduction to Kurt Wallander -- definitely start with the first one in the series and read them in order. show less

WARNING: This review contains spoilers.

****

Another excellent Wallander book. If you liked Sidetracked, you'll probably like this one -- the murders are just about as creepy. Our first victim is found impaled on sharp bamboo stakes, and he essentially drowns from his lungs filling with blood. The second victim is held captive, weakened and then strangled while tied to a tree. The third victim is tied up in a sack and thrown in a lake to drown. None of them seem to be related -- but is there a connection?

As was the case in Sidetracked, we do have a vague idea of who the killer is, so the thrill of the chase is in watching the detectives' progress and gradually becoming enlightened as to the killer's identity and motivation. It's show more interesting when the killer's motivation is revealed and the reason the victims were chosen -- a bit of a moral dilemma while you wrestle the implications and your reaction. Is it justified to kill when the person you're killing is an abusive jerk? Wallander's colleagues also wrestle with this question, as well as the growing problem in the book of citizen militias that are springing up as a result of the crimes in Sidetracked and this book -- people taking justice into their own hands.

Wallander also grows a bit in this book. His father dies after they take Wallander Sr's long-awaited trip to Rome, so Wallander has to come to terms with the loss and his own mortality. He also ponders where he wants to go with the woman he's seeing, Baiba, and has to figure out his relationship with his daughter, who is now a young adult with her own life and opinions.

So overall this is a very good book, well translated, and the mood is very well established. Good plot, good characterization. The pace is rather slow, but then most investigations do tend to be slow, especially when there seems to be no logical connection. A recommended read for those who have read Sidetracked. show less

Wallander, Kriminalkommissar bei der Mordkommission im südschwedischen Ystad, ist ein wohltuend normaler Mann. Er schläft zuwenig und ißt zuviel Fastfood, er ist geschieden, hat Probleme mit seinem Vater, eine erwachsene Tochter und eine Freundin in Riga, er denkt mit Wehmut an die Zeit, in der man die Strümpfe noch stopfte, anstatt sie wegzuwerfen, und er ist zutiefst beunruhigt über die zunehmende Gewalt in seinem Distrikt. Gerade hat er eine Reihe besonders grausamer Morde aufzuklären, bei denen es selbst erfahrenen Polizisten kalt den Rücken hinunterläuft. Einen alten Mann findet man in einer Pfahlgrube aufgespießt, einen anderen halbverhungert, beinahe nackt an einen Baum gebunden und erwürgt. Ein dritter wurde in einem show more mit Steinen beschwerten Sack in einem See ertränkt. Der eine schrieb Gedichte und war Vogelliebhaber, der andere besaß einen Blumenladen und hatte sich auf Orchideen spezialisiert, der dritte war Forscher an der Universität. Warum verfolgt der Mörder harmlose Bürger mit so brutaler Gewalt? Und warum legt er Wert darauf, dass man die sadistische Grausamkeit seiner Verbrechen sofort bemerkt? Wallanders kluge Devise heißt: "Die Menschen sind selten das, was man von ihnen denkt." Und er macht eine verstörende Entdeckung: Alle Opfer waren selbst rücksichtslose, brutale Männer, die Frauen körperlich und seelisch misshandelten. Wenn aber der Mord die Rache des Opfers an den Mördern und Vergewaltigern ist, muss Wallander sich beeilen, bevor das nächste, noch grausamere Verbrechen geschieht. show less

Why do I read Mankell mysteries? Because there's always something else going on, always a serious examination of something. This time: why the violence in society? He seems to say it arises from our experience, even, as suggested early in the book, in our experience of our living spaces: ugly architecture, without regard to human need for interactions, contributes to violence. He examines vigilante justice and juxtaposes it with a woman taking revenge for voiceless ones. In the final pages, he juxtaposes the murderer, a monster even, with Wallander. Startling.

Counterpoint: "No one can experience being loved and remain unchanged." O'Collins, SJ in Pause for Thought.

I like how Henning Mankell sees our lives as effective on the margins, show more on the smallest of details and how each of our personalities contributes to the whole, or, at least, to healing. It gives one hope somehow.

One puzzling note: why is the woman wearing a wig that she tears off her head at the train station? show less

Yet another fantastic entry in the Wallander series, I'm sad I only have a few more to read. Once again, we got the POV of the killer and the police. I'm not totally convinced of this method but it did highlight how completely and utterly creepy and insane the killer was. This one seemed to wear Wallander down to his core and I felt rather sad, having read the book following this one already, knowing that the romance with Baiba was not going to work out. I want him to have some little happy moment. The trip to Rome and then death of his father were both incredibly and deftly handled and I'm really enjoying all of Wallander's character development. There is a wonderful complexity to him and it's great to learn him as the books move on. show more When I finish the series, I'll have to read alot more of Mankell. show less

Fare giustizia per quelli che la Giustizia ha dimenticato.

Si parte da un episodio. Come sempre. Lontano nel tempo o nello spazio. Un vaso di Pandora si scoperchia e da lì inizia tutto. Sembra incomprensibile, senza un collegamento, senza un filo logico, ma Wallander sa che c'è, sa che deve soltanto metterlo a fuoco. L'assassino colpisce, porta il suo disegno avanti e parallelamente somma anche indizi per il nostro commissario e la sua squadra. I delitti sono efferati, crudeli. Wallander inizia a farsi domande più profonde, tenta di estrapolare dagli eventi una regola generale, una degenerazione dei tempi. Ma molto spesso, la violenza è atavica, le ragioni si perdono nelle radici dell'uomo, e non sempre è un fatto gratuito e fine a show more se stesso. Quando il cerchio si stringe e l'assassino ha un nome, diventa una lotta contro il tempo, frenetica e non scevra da disattenzioni. Ferite fisiche e morali segneranno poliziotti che, prima di essere meri "bracci della legge", sono testimoni di complesse dinamiche sociali. Il Wallander di Mankell è il più anticonvenzionale dei poliziotti. Ogni indagine non finisce con l'arresto del colpevole. Non finisce mai. Restano sempre tracce, scalfiture, modificazioni permanenti nell'animo, sensi di colpa e una continua ricerca interiore. Wallander non è un'investigatore spocchioso e saccente che fa tabula rasa di ogni caso, pronto ad affrontare la risoluzione di un altro come se nulla fosse. E' umano, e come tutti gli umani ha un bagaglio di ricordi, piacevoli e terribili, e con essi convive, ed è per questo che lo sento vicino, ed è per questo che non è soltanto un amico "di carta". show less