Henning Mankell

The troubled man

"Every morning Hakan von Enke takes a walk in the forest near his home in Stockholm. However, one winter's day he fails to come home. It seems that the retired naval officer has vanished without trace. Detective Kurt Wallander is not officially involved in the investigation but he has personal reasons for involving himself in the case as Hakan's son is engaged to his daughter Linda. A few months earlier, at Hakan's 75th birthday party, Kurt noticed that the old man appeared uneasy and seemed eager to talk about a controversial incident from his past career that remained shrouded in mystery. Could this be connected to his disappearance? When Hakan's wife Louise also goes missing, Wallander is determined to uncover the truth. His search leads him down dark and unexpected avenues involving espionage, betrayal and new information about events during the Cold War that threatens to cause a political scandal on a scale unprecedented in Swedish history. The investigation also forces Kurt to look back over his own past and consider his hopes and regrets, as he comes to the unsettling realisation that even those we love the most can remain strangers to us. And then an even darker cloud appears on the horizon ..."--Publisher description.

Sian Wadey

The Troubled Man by Henning Mankell

I'm a massive fan of the Swedish television series Wallander, so was excited to get my hands on the book that it was based on. Unfortunately I was disappointed. The main character of Kurt Wallander was a cold, almost detached person, nothing like the series, even if the books came first. I also missed the presence of the other characters such as Svartman, Martinsson and Nyberg. Sometimes I felt like the translation was a bit iffy as well, not quite hitting the mark or flowing smoothly. Otherwise it was well written and had 'the pull'. The plot was good, but didn't cover a subject matter I was interested in. However, I will investigate the first Wallander books in hope of a more warm protagonist, surrounded by his team.

The troubled man

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