This was one of the Swedish authors suggested to me in Sweden for good light reading. He has both been on European best seller lists and gotten literary prizes. The only other book I read was a young adult one. This was a mystery from the Kurt Wallander series, and I will definitely read more of them. Two things I liked right away. First there was a map of the southern tip of Sweden, so one could keep track of the action between the towns there and get a sense of distances and relations. I didn't realize how close Denmark and Sweden are at that point. and that Copenhagen is just a ferry ride away. The other thing that I liked, was that detective Wallander (I don't know his official title) has a Latvian girlfriend named Baiba. I liked the Swedish countryside and small towns - and kept thinking of my visit to Nykoping.
Though in some ways a typical mystery - starting out with seemingly unrelated scenes in the Domnican Republic and an awful suicide by a young girl, and then it moves into the murders. They all seem to be pretty despicable men, but did they deserve to be axed and scalped? Kurt Wallander leads the investigative team. I mostly like the way Wallander thinks. He has some sixth sense that some investigators seem to have, and then a thoroughness and lots of sleepless nights. There was a slightly similar feel in Steig Larrson's books. We also see the murderer's thoughts and actions, and as they slowly are brought together with the murder investigation, I felt a growing sense of horror as I realized what was going on. Very well done.
No comments:
Post a Comment