Customer Reviews

Sidetracked: A Kurt Wallander Mystery (Kurt Wallander Mysteries)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Inspector Kurt Wallander of the Ystad police force in south Sweden has to solve his most challenging murder case yet: somebody is killing off elderly men using an axe to split their skulls and scalping them afterwards. It is clear that the killer is meticulously preparing his killings, staking out the victims and making sure nobody sees him. The team of policemen and -women seems to be always one step behind and even the profiler that has come to help them has problems coming up with a good profile of the killer.

What makes this book special is that the reader also gets the perspective of the killer: it soon becomes clear who he is and why he does what he is doing. This could be a major handicap as the book may loose most of its excitement of the "whodunnit", but here this is not the case. This is mainly due to the fact that Kurt Wallander is a full-fetched character with good and bad traits, doubts, hypochondric moments and moments of sudden,clear insight, making it a pleasure to follow how, in the end, he solves the case.

In "Sidetracked" Mankell is at his very best as a crime writer. The story starts as two completely unrelated events: the girl setting herself on fire and the murder of the former Swedish minister of justice. The second one, which turns out to be the beginning of a series is, of course, the matter of utmost priority for the police, so Wallander has to work hard before his planned holidays. However, he cannot let the girl in flames get out of his memory...

The reader gets more clues than the police and therefore knows the identity of the killer faster, which allows for concentrating on the work of the team of detectives. Their reasoning can be followed easily, showing differences in approach based on personality and attitude. The psychological side is very important for Mankell, here he brings for the first time the psychologist who helps make the portrait of the killer.

The political background of Sweden plays, as usual, a significant role, and the downsides of the system are shown as well as its advantages.

Henning Mankell's detective stories get only better as he goes. This is a gem of the genre. Absolutely recommended for the fans of crime fiction.

After reading a German translation of the original Swedish version of "Sidetracked" by Henning Mankell, I was enthralled by the complexity of the plot and of the main character, Kurt Wallander. Reading this book(my first by Mankell), my apppetite to continue reading his books grew steadily. I had never been a fan of niether murder mysteries nor detective novels, but this book really changed my mind. I highly recommend this to any reader.

The fifht book about Kurt Wallander is set on one of the most memorable swedish summers of the 90's, 1994. The weather was wonderful, and all of Sweden were watching the fabolous swedish succes in the soccer world cup in the USA. Therefore it's fortunate that Mankell chose this year as setting for what was to be the Wallander-series masterpiece. Everything the other books tries to be, this one is. It's a horrifying novel of suspense, as well as a sharp comment on the swedish society. Wallander's brilliand mind, which in the other volumes is a bit too brilliant, is here dulled by the tiredness and confusion that springs from the shrewdness of the killer they can't seem to catch. In the most memorable of summers raves the most memorable of killers. Because, without turning this into a spoiler, I have to add that the killer's what gives the book the final touch, and makes it not only a great detective story, but a great novel, to.

A policeman's lot is not a happy one! W.S. Gilbert.

Even in Sweden if Henning Mankell's police procedurals provide any clue. Detective Inspector Wallander's lot is not a happy one in "Sidetracked". By the time you get through the first two chapters Wallander has seen an unidentified teenage girl douse herself with gasoline and watched helplessly as she burned to death. He is then placed in charge of the investigation of the murder of a former Minister of Justice who was killed with an axe and then scalped. To make matters worse, while Wallander is busy trying to solve these apparently unrelated events, Sweden has pretty much come to a standstill as the whole nation (with the possibly sole exception of Wallander) as it watches Sweden's run to third place in the 1994 World Cup. As Sweden's World Cup fever increases the scalper strikes again and again and Wallander feels as if he is the only person not glued to a TV set.

Mankell's Kurt Wallander series is often compared to the Martin Beck detective mysteries authored by the husband and wife team of Per Wahloo and Maj Sjowall. Wallander, like Beck, is a police detective in Sweden. Unlike Beck, whose beat was Stockholm, Wallander works in the small southern-Swedish city of Ystad. The Wallander series takes place in the 1990s while the Beck series took place in the 1960s and 1970s. Although I tend to prefer the Beck series, the Wallander books are entertaining page-turners. Mankell stays well within the `police procedural' formula and has not tried to reinvent the genre. However, he has done a good job of developing the character of Mankell and his supporting cast of characters. Wallander is no Sherlock Holmes and gets results more by perspiration than inspiration. He is also a fully drawn character. We see him dealing with the break-up of a marriage, an estranged daughter, and a father who is developing senile dementia. The supporting characters, particularly his fellow detectives, are also well drawn.

I thought Mankell did a good job in Sidetracked. As the plot is advanced we see Wallander struggling to find clues and then struggling to get a grasp of their meaning. The reader has an advantage in that Mankell reveals more to the reader than to Wallander. The interest for the reader (or at least for me) is to see Wallander gradually put the pieces together. Basically, this is a well-written police procedural. It does not break new ground or transcend its genre but it is a very entertaining, if sometimes depressing, book to read.

Potential readers should know that this is the fifth in a series of Kurt Wallander mysteries. (There is likely to be a Comment under this review with a list of Wallander books in chronological order.) Although each stands on its own as a self-contained story there is a lot of subtext that may be lost on readers who read the books out of order. Mankell's characters and their relationships with each other evolve over time. I suggest that anyone interested in this series start of with the first book, Faceless Killers, before picking up Sidetracked. Some books in the series are more entertaining than others but I don't regret having read the first five books. Recommended. L. Fleisig

This is the best of the four Inspector Kurt Wallender police procedurals I've read so far. No secret excursions across the Baltic, no geopolitical-racial thrillers. Just a solidly professional, sometimes uncertain, often brilliant, but always persistent detective plowing through disparate evidence to catch a serial killer. The title is important, too -- even a good, widely experienced cop can be led astray. "The first thing that happens isn't necessarily the beginning of the case," or words to that effect. Wallender is a fascinating character, and very human, too. He worries about his relationships with his father and his daughter, feels slightly guilty pleasure when his superiors compliment him, gets scared when he thinks he or those close to him are physically threatened. He even has vaguely erotic dreams about a female pastor he meets in the course of the investigation. But always, after spending an hour with his own bugbears, he shifts gears and becomes a cop again, and a good one. He's a loner who can organize and lead a crack investigative team, an anti-bureaucrat who knows how to orchestrate a productive meeting, a logical rationalist who always listens to his hunches. And even though you'll know pretty early who the killer is in this case, you'll hold your breath every time Wallender unknowingly comes near him. A terrific story.

Here is the problem with Henning Mankell: He writes so well and his plots are so gripping that reading his books almost becomes an obsession.

I thank fellow reviewer Leonard Fleisig for bringing this author to my attention. The writing is simply superb. I am very interested in reading more books by the Mankell. So far, I have bought and read six novels in the Wallander series.

I thought that the novel was excellent up to a point. But then when the bloody and gruesome murders go on and on - and right to the end - it becomes a bit too much. For that reason I think that Faceless Killers or One Step Behind are his best novels. But the present novel is not far behind. This problem with the murders is that the story is set over a very short time frame, and Wallander does not have enough time to solve the case. I thought that Mankell was doing a great job with the novel and it might be his best, until the murders become tiresome. The novel reminded me a bit of the Peter Robinson Inspector Banks series and of course here the multiple murders set the structure of the novel.

The book opens with a map of southern Sweden showing the location of the town of Ystad. The latter is the primary setting, although the crimes are spread around the southern part of Sweden. The police station is located in Ystad which is near the most southerly part of Sweden, south and east of Malmo and on the Baltic. Malmo itself is on the west coast of Sweden, just 10 km across the narrow straights from Copenhagen. Part of the tale takes place in Malmo and part in Helsingborg, north of Malmo.

I will not give away the plot and the essential plot elements are outlined by the publisher: there is a series of murders and an unrelated suicide. The policeman, Kurt Wallender, takes a personal interest in the suicide, and is somewhat "sidetracked."

This is a great and a fast read that I was able to read with a great deal of enjoyment in less than a day or two - even though it is 500 pages. I read it while staying at a hotel in southern Sweden, not too far from the crime scene, and that the details and descriptions of the places, people, and other details are made to seem authentic.

This is a book that I highly recommend, but because of the multiple murders it merits between 4 and 5 stars. The writing is smooth and flawless.

Mr. Mankell's story about a bizarre Geromino-Hoover serial killer is a great study of life inside and outside the police department. All his characters are finely drawn, and the atmosphere is fairly dripping with fluid description. Inspector Wallender is among the very best of today's thoughtful and slightly burned out police detectives, and the social background here is done beautifully,too. The 3 flaws are(1) we know the killer too soon, which makes this reviewer less likely to turn the pages,(2) Wallender's forgetfulness of losing his keys,(3)his forgetfulness in checking out photos of the crime scene.This gives away nothing in this otherwise near perfect realistic, contemporary European thriller.

"Sidetracked" is a wonderful example of the impressive writing skill of Swedish author Henning Mankell.

Celebrated police inspector Kurt Wallendar based in the southern town of Ystad is anticipating the start of the summer and a well deserved vacation. Quite unexpectedly he is called to investigate a young girl who has been hiding in a field of rapeseed on a farm on the outskirts of town. After conferring with the aged farmer, he approaches the girl only to watch in horror as she douses herself with gasoline, lights a match and turns herself into a human inferno.

Badly shaken Wallendar returns to the station house confident that the forensic investigation has been properly undertaken. In this usually criminally sedate time of year, he again is jolted to learn of a reported homicide. Previous Minister of Justice Gustaf Wetterstedt, a wealthy, powerful yet despised individual with alleged underworld connections is found in his seaside villa with his head split open by an axe and part of his scalp cut off.

So begins a series of murders committed by a psychopath who fancies himself as being imbued with the spirit of indian chief Geronimo. He paints his face and stalks his victims while walking around barefoot. Soon a wealthy but allegedly corrupt art dealer is also found scalped and his face cleaved by an axe.

Wallendar and his team begin an intensive and exhaustive probe into these violently savage killings which continue on. They are stymied in trying to identify the murderers identity but continue doggedly investigating.

While the psychopathic killer is eventually identified midway through the book, Mankell expertly whets our appetite by giving us little clues as to his psychological profile. When the startling revelation is finally made, we can understand why Wallendar has been flummoxed.

Mankell gives us deep insight into the exasperation of Wallendar and his fellow officers as the inquest spills into the surrounding towns as victims begin mounting. They are tirelessly working against the clock to prevent further killings and Mankell elaborates about the psychological toll that is created.

Mankell is very adept at combining crime drama with its psychological ramifications to create an extremely engrossing novel.