Customer Reviews

Before the Frost

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I think Henning Mankell is trying to up the ante in the Wallander books. The early books were about criminals, often loners. There was always some connection with national or world issues like immigration or racial tension, but the clever bit was how one small event in Ystad reflected world trends.
Lately though, Mankell is concentrating on more and more unlikely situations to, presumably, give the books a bigger impact. The trouble is, it has the opposite effect.
The last book, 'Firewall', had Ystad at the centre of a bunch of criminals infiltrating a computer network with the intention of world domination. It spoiled the book somewhat. In 'Before the Frost' it's a group of religious fundamentalists (how topical) with a 'grand plan'.
And I think Mankell's problem here is that even he doesn't really know what this grand plan is. So he has trouble describing it. The actions of the fundamentalists are a series of pseudo-symbolic acts, like burning animals, and putting women-who've-had-abortions to death. It's empty stuff, melodramatic, and dull. It doesn't move the plot along and feels like Mankell was struggling with his material.
The rest of the book deals with soon-to-be police officer, Linda Wallander, and her relationship with her father, our beloved Kurt. But even here, the writing is untypically stilted, and there are some downright unbelievable scenes. For instance, Linda has an argument with Kurt at the Police Station and throws a glass ashtray at him, making him bleed profusely. I didn't believe this scene at all. Much of the dialogue in the book, especially between Linda and her father, or Linda and her friends, is highly unrealistic and difficult to voice.
When Mankell gets back to the things he's good at, the novel is fine though. He's good at describing the Skåne landscape. He's phenomenally good at creating tension, suspense and atmosphere. He's good at describing the way the police station works.
'Before the Frost', more than any other Wallander novel, makes you think about what he's not so good at: dialogue is the chief culprit. He's okay when it's police matters, but he just doesn't have an ear for ordinary dialogue like, say, the Norwegian crime writer Karin Fossum, which makes me think it's not just a translation problem.
I'm not sure he's so great at writing from a woman's perspective either. Linda's character is not nearly as compelling nor empathetic as Kurt's. She's at times gloomy, like Kurt, at times childlike, and girly, but rarely realistic. Her previous life events are what define her, and they're like something from a 'build a character' kit. I'm not sure I look forward to the next Linda Wallander mystery.
All these criticisms aside, I still largely enjoyed the book, though I found much of the melodramatic religious stuff tedious. There are moments of great tension and horror, just like in any Mankell crime novel, but it seems to be spread more thinly than usual.
It makes me glad there's a Kurt Wallander novel ('The Man Who Smiled') still untranslated. Somehow I know it'll be better than this.

This is a terrifying thriller, written by Henning Mankell, a Swedish mystery writer. The book is the first featuring Linda Wallander, his main character's daughter, as a police officer, and I hope he plans on writing more. The author asks at the beginning, what if one man had survived the Jonestown massacre in Guyana in 1978, and proceeds to follow that man. The plot is exciting and escalates fast into frightening, with ritual murder and sacrifice, disappearances of Linda's two best friends. Underneath, and effectively communicated, is the theme that religion can be a force for either good or evil, and it is a most powerful tool for manipulating people. This is evident all the time in the news, when countries go to war or terrorists commit mass murder, it's always "God is on our side," and who can argue with that? Religious fervor in the wrong hands can result in the worst atrocities. The book finishes on Linda's first official day of work, Sept. 11, 2001. I highly recommend this book, it's one of the best I've read this year.

If you're a Mankell fan, you're a Wallander fan. If you think the parts of the Wallander books that don't feature Wallander were ho-hum and Return of the Dancing Master was good but Stefan is something of a Wallander rip-off, then you are about to meet heaven.
Linda Wallander is a chip off the old block. If Mankell is passing the torch down to Wallander's daughter and start a series there, he is on sure ground. She is every bit as fascinating a character as her father and since her father still features in the book, it works great.
What I especially love about this book is the way Mankell deals with their relationship. It shows Linda learning how to be a good cop, shows Wallander being his typical grumpy but brilliant self, and (as always) brings so damned much real humanity to the story that it's impossible not to feel you're participating.
Crime writers branching out with new characters is always iffy. Parker's Sunny Randall and Jesse Stone are good examples. But Mankell is giving real-time progress to his books by bringing Linda in.
It's absolutely fabulous and I can't wait to read more and more...

It is becoming nearly standard to add some life to a detective series by introducing a child of the main character (usually a daughter) as someone to follow in the footsteps of the parent. Most writers are not able to make it work (the failure of Cindy Decker in the Kellerman novels springs to mind) but Mankell makes it looks like an easy thing to do. Before the Frost succeeds remarkably well, and is one of my favorites in the Wallander series.

Mankell has a unique knack of dealing with criminals and subjects that would be too far-fetched in the hands of a lesser writer. In Before the Frost, he explores the subject of religious extremism and cults carried to criminal length. It is an interesting plot, and fits well with the general project that his books seem to have of exploring the changing state of Sweden.

Very highly recommended, either for established series readers or for people new to Kurt Wallander.

In this the ninth of Henning Mankell's detective mysteries about Police Office Kurt Wallander, his daughter Linda has just finished policy academy when this extremely-well written novel that appeals equally to both the head and heart begins. It has so much going for it: a very complicated plot but one that is very timely, characters you care about deeply, good writing, thoughtful commentary on relationships, mortality, religious cults, and finally-- without giving away the story-- a tribute to the U. S. and the tragedy of September 11, 2001.

Unlike many detective mysteries, this one is solved by police officers instead of, say, hairdressers or journalists or college English professors, making the story much more realistic. How many hairdressers in real life, for example, take time out from dyeing roots to avenge the dead?

There are beautiful passages here on a variety of subjects including death: "You only have so many races in your life. You just have to try to win a many of them as you can." And "Births and death are going on all around us all the time. But the dying seems more pronounced when you reach the front of the line. Now that my father [Kurt Wallander's] is dead there's no one ahead of me anymore."

This fine novel certainly rises about the genre of detective fiction. It is reminiscent of such first-class novels as Janette Turner Hospital's OYSTER and Margaret Atwood's THE HANDMAID'S TALE, just to name two.

As a brief point of reference, I have purchased and read seven of the nine Wallander novels and I am roughly familiar with the plots of the remaining two, i.e.: Firewall and The Fifth Woman.

The present novel is average in that series, i.e.: good entertainment but not a great novel. It is well written and it is a compelling read. It is similar in length to his later novels - about 500 pages - and it is well written with interesting characters. There is a very minor international element to the story. It is interesting to read about Linda but her role and the plot stretches the imagination to the breaking point.

I thank fellow reviewer Leonard Fleisig for bringing this author to my attention. The writing is superb and if for example you like Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks series you will love this book.

In the following comments, I have excluded elements of the plot that would reveal the story.

For Wallander fans, this is novel # 9 where Linda moves onto center stage replacing her father as the protagonist. The story is set in Ystad, in Southern Sweden, and it takes place just days before Linda joins the Ystad police force. In many sections Kurt Wallander plays a secondary role or no role. Linda takes the lead while her father reluctantly follows, often after a few shouting matches and the throwing of objects onto the floor or at each other.

The murder mystery element is minimal because the story is a third party narrative where we follow two parallel stories: the story of the killers, and a second story that follows Detective Kurt Wallander and his daughter Linda. The reader follows the crimes as part of the plot as they take place and the reader knows what is happening; there is no mystery with regard to "who did it." The only "mystery" here is when will Wallander and his daughter solve the crime? As we reach the end, the two stories converge and of course we can assume the Wallanders will solve the case. To find out whether they do or not you will have to read the book.

I thought that the novel was good but less than perfect. There are fewer murders than in some prior novels, which are good, and there is a lot written about the thoughts of Linda - including flashbacks to her childhood. If you are not familiar with the Mankell style, the standard Wallander formula is a story set in Southern Sweden, with a series of gruesome murders used to tie the story all together. In the other novels, Wallander works around the clock with other police officers including Chief Holgersson, Högland, Martinsson, and the crime scene investigator Nyberg. Wallander is usually in the station smoking and drinking coffee pulling all night sessions until they find the killers. That is mostly gone here but a bit remains. That technique and all the killing is mostly missing here, although some animals are killed and one person is murdered in the first half of the book. Now it is about Linda and her girl friends and how she solves the murder case almost by instinct.

The novel is not as good as Faceless Killers or as good as One Step Behind. Those two are still the best in the series.

Henning Mankell's Before the Frost combines the sleuthing skills of its main protagonist, Kurt Wallender and his daughter, Linda, who has now joined the force. Mankell takes us on his usual gripping journey as Kurt and Linda try to discover the identity of a murderer before he can kill again. This time, however, the murderer is fueled by religious mania, thus making Wallender's job more frustrating and dangerous as he attempts to decode a series of strange clues. Along the way, we are entertained by Kurt's evolving relationship with his grown up daughter as well as his insightful commentary on the demise of Sweden's social democratic society.
Over and over, Mankell proves himself as one of the best crime novelists in the world. As always, he has written another gem.

Donald Gallinger is the author ofThe Master Planets

I was very disappointed in Before the Frost. I found Mankell's writing to be stilted, forced even. Linda's character was so annoying and bratty that she was not fun to follow through her rookie days. I also was disappointed with how easily Mankell sold the descriptions of his other well established characters up the river through Linda's immature eyes. All of a sudden Ann-Britt wears too much make up and tight clothes? I don't know if Mankell was trying to do some kind of character study, but he lost me. Unless he allows Linda to mature and not have stupid friends and throw ashtrays, then I will consider pickin up the next novel. But my advice to those who have not read this: don't read it because you will miss Kurt Wallander as if he were dead.

This was a fun book to read--Linda Wallander is clearly going to be like her father Kurt in many respects now that she's begun her career as a police officer on the Ystad force.

Kurt is still the lonely old bear he's always been. He's lovable because he tries so hard to do the right thing as a police officer and as a father. Like so many regular people, however, he falls short much of the time. His pride and joy is his daughter Linda, and he's guardedly excited she'll be a junior member on the force he leads.

Mankell's writing is thoughtful, and his characters are so like the co-workers and neighbors we ourselves deal with on a daily basis. His writing is such that you can feel the tension between the characters when it develops; you can feel the ice-cold wind blow across the coast of southern Sweden; and you can sense the auditory hallucinations that tell the criminals in his novels to do the ghastly crimes Wallander must solve. There is a sparseness and loneliness that pervades Mankell's books, but they somehow avoid being depressing and maudlin.

I have read all of Mankell's mysteries, and this is a strong entry into his body of work. If you're a big Kurt Wallander fan (as we all come to be--those of us who've read those novels), don't be disappointed thinking it's only about his daughter. He's a major player throughout this book, and I was relieved to find out he'll likely be in subsequent books so we can find out if he ever finds a nice woman to keep him warm during the Swedish winters.

When Henning Mankell is in form, he is one of the best writers working in the crime novel genre. His book, "One Step Behind" is one of the finest crime novels I have ever read. On the surface, Kurt Wallander is not the most appealing of heroes. He is a middle aged Swedish detective with a gloomy disposition. However, his remarkable intelligence and driving energy make him a pleasure to know.

In this novel, the center of gravity switches from Kurt to his daughter, Linda Wallander. Linda is about to join the Ystad Police Force and becomes involved in her own mystery when a childhood friend dissapears. Linda Wallander has a lot of the negative aspects of Wallander's gloomy personality and none of the charm. For a crime novel to really work, the reader needs to sympathize with the protagonist. In the final analysis, I did not like Linda Wallander or her difficult relationship with her father.