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Sidetracked: A Kurt Wallander Mystery [Paperback]

Henning Mankell
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
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Book Description

May 13 2003
Fourth in the Kurt Wallander series.

In the award-winning Sidetracked, Kurt Wallander is called to a nearby rapeseed field where a teenage girl has been loitering all day long. He arrives just in time to watch her douse herself in gasoline and set herself aflame. The next day he is called to a beach where Sweden’s former Minister of Justice has been axed to death and scalped. The murder has the obvious markings of a demented serial killer, and Wallander is frantic to find him before he strikes again. But his investigation is beset with a handful of obstacles—a department distracted by the threat of impending cutbacks and the frivolity of World Cup soccer, a tenuous long-distance relationship with a murdered policeman’s widow, and the unshakably haunting preoccupation with the young girl who set herself on fire. Fascinating and astute, Sidetracked is a compelling mystery enhanced by keen social awareness.

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Sidetracked: A Kurt Wallander Mystery + The Man Who Smiled + One Step Behind: A Kurt Wallander Mystery (7)
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From Amazon

"The Swedish summer-time is too beautiful and too brief for something like this to happen." A young girl commits self-immolation, a former government minister is killed with an axe and scalped; these are the two brutal facts that confront Inspector Kurt Wallander as he prepares for his holiday. As the Swedish midsummer approaches there is no escaping from the darkness of society.

Sidetracked, the fifth of Henning Mankell's acclaimed Kurt Wallander mysteries, and the second to be translated into English, is an engrossing police procedural. The hard-boiled Kurt Wallander has softened slightly since he was first introduced in Faceless Killers, the first title in the series. He drinks less, has more functional relationships and has developed a faith in his investigative team. Despite this, it is his other qualities as a character, his philosophical angst and his intuitive pursuit of hunches, which drive this novel as Wallander struggles to discover the leads that will trap the killer.

Mankell manages to squeeze in serious comments on the state of Swedish society. The over-stretched police force, child prostitution and the corruption of high politics, all come under the scrutiny of Wallander's wearied gaze as he struggles to come to terms with the new violence of his society. This is a dark novel peppered with genuinely nasty violence, but it is Wallander's struggle to uncover the truth and face his own demons that provide the real thrills. --Iain Robinson --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Told from the perspectives of both cop and criminal, Mankell's third Kurt Wallander mystery revolves around the veteran Swedish inspector's search for a savage serial killer who scalps his victims after delivering a fatal hatchet blow. The novel opens as Wallander is called to a farmer's field, where he helplessly witnesses a teenage girl's self-immolation. The suicide unsettles the inspector, who can't understand why someone so young would kill herself. As the police try to identify the young woman, the serial killer's first victim, a former justice minister, is discovered on a beach in a wealthy neighborhood. Three more people are found murdered and scalped, and other signs of violence suggest that the perpetrator is becoming increasingly agitated. Following standard procedure, Wallander and his crew try to link the four victims, all male, a difficult task because their lives never seem to have intersected. Using American profiling methods as well as his own intuition, Wallander struggles to make headway in the case. What he doesn't consider, and what readers know, is that the murderer isn't a man but a boy, who hopes to revive his catatonic sister by the ritual presentation of the scalps. Mankell's meticulously detailed descriptions of the inspector's investigationAand his often lyrical portrayal of Wallander's struggle to rearrange his thought processes in order to catch the criminalAare masterful. The author's treatment of modern themes such as juvenile killers and broken families adds richness to what is essentially a straightforward police procedural. But above all, the novel stands out for its nuanced evocation of even the peripheral characters. Winner of Sweden's 1997 Best Crime Novel of the Year, this is another terrific offering from the talented Mankell.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Sidetracked Feb 7 2013
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I could not put the book down, it is one of his best mysteries. I can't wait to start the next book.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Sidetracked was first published in Sweden in 1995, and now with Steven T. Murray's able translation, the United States audience will be able to read this Scandinavian thriller/murder mystery. Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander series is very popular in Europe, and Sidetracked won the Best Crime Novel of the Year award there. Sidetracked is the third Kurt Wallander mystery, following Faceless Killers and The White Lioness. Mankell currently lives in exotic Mozambique. Inspector Kurt Wallander works at the police station in Ystad Sweden. He is divorced, ready to go on vacation with his girlfriend Baiba, and is undergoing the uncertainty of a new police chief, possible reorganization of his department, and a rising caseload. His nightmare begins with the suicide of an unknown girl in a farmer's rapeseed field: "Afterward Wallander would remember the burning girl in the rapeseed field the way you remember, with the greatest reluctance, a distant nightmare you'd rather forget. Even though he seemed to maintain at least an outward sense of calm for the entire evening and far into the night, later he could recall nothing but irrelevant details. Martinsson, Hansson, and especially Ann-Britt Höglund had been astonished by his impassiveness. But they couldn't see through the shield he had set up to protect himself. Inside him there was devastation like a house that had collapsed." Wallander's life becomes more complicated as a series of brutal axe murders surface. The motis operandi is basically the same, but with subtle differences. Wallander becomes obsessed with stopping the murderer and at the same time identifying the poor girl who had appeared in the rapeseed field and killed herself in such pain. Meanwhile, the murders continue, until Wallander becomes aware that the killer might be focusing on him. Sidetracked is a complex psychological thriller and a first rate murder mystery. It is told in the epic saga style of Scandinavia, complete with the dark richness of Sweden. Wallander is human, with limited resources which he stretches for a higher ideal. He is a hero.

Shelley Glodowski, Reviewer

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3.0 out of 5 stars If you're a murder mystery buff July 17 2011
By Len TOP 100 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
Sweden must have a problem with the trade of young women in the sex trade or it's a focus of popular interest because, like the considerably more famous Stieg Larsson, the mystery surrounding this particular tale, involves just that. I'm really not giving anything away. It begins with a young girl who commits suicide in a farmer's field by burning herself with gasoline. All very gruesome. Then, comes a series of vengeance murders. The novel is mildly engrossing and I did push through to the end despite the somewhat repetitive retelling of clues learned at various points in the story. If you're a murder mystery buff, this may be for you.
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Most recent customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely sidetracked!
Haveonly just come across Kurt Wallander after the TV series. These are the most fascinating detective booksI have read since P.D.James. Read more
Published on Oct 9 2009 by Jean Kentish
4.0 out of 5 stars Worthwhile Procedural
This is a strange, interesting story. Characteristically for Mankell, it opens arrestingly. The short prologue gives us a snapshot of Pedro Santana, a sugar plantation worker in... Read more
Published on May 31 2003 by snalen
4.0 out of 5 stars Not a whodunnit
It's summer in Sweden, which is a very inconvenient time for a serial killer to start working. Wallander has planned a vacation with the new woman in his life, but his troubles... Read more
Published on Oct 25 2002 by frumiousb
4.0 out of 5 stars Very Good Police Procedural
Older readers will recall the fine series of police procedurals featuring the Swedish policeman Martin Beck. Read more
Published on April 15 2002 by R. Albin
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
I found this book subtle, complex and well orchestrated. The psychiatric constructions were both gratifyingly sinister and soundly beleivable to me. Read more
Published on Dec 15 2001 by F. Rogers
4.0 out of 5 stars Die falsche F�rhte
Like several other readers I read the German version of this novel because a woman recommended it to my wife as giving beautiful descriptions of Swedish landscape. Read more
Published on Nov 6 2001 by Professor Joseph L. McCauley
5.0 out of 5 stars You can't get sidetracked from this book!
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... Read more
Published on Aug 28 2001 by Britt Breu
5.0 out of 5 stars A grown-up mystery
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.
Published on July 1 2001 by Thomas Minkus
5.0 out of 5 stars A great book
This book was my first "Wallander" and once started I simply could not put it down anymore. Read more
Published on April 5 2001 by "batcat6"
2.0 out of 5 stars Poorman's Martin Beck novel
It must be said that this review refers to the translation of the Swedish original and there is always a chance that the blame for this rather boring police procedural lies with... Read more
Published on Jan 11 2001 by Werehamster
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