The Fifth Woman: A Kurt Wallander Mystery (6) [Paperback]

Kurt Wallander is both the main character and setting of Mankell's 'procedural' crime series. While based in southern Sweden, "The Fifth Woman" is in fact grounded in the rugged landscape of Wallander's interior life - his memories, hopes, shopping lists, prejudices and anxieties. Not since Lawrence Block's Matt Scudder have I read such an angst-ridden and ethically driven protagonist. This is the ultimate introverted hero - he solves crimes using weapons of solitude, intuition, memory-interrogation and a phenonomenal eye for detail. How could you not love a policeman who reminds himself in the midst of the chase to book the laundry room, alert his superiors to a colleague's excessive workload or take time to grieve for his father. Mankell also provides a vivid account of the broader issues that confronted Swedish society in the 1990s - refugees, law and order, social capital and shifting moral foundations. Wallander characterises the times as an age where people have forgotten how to darn their socks, preferring to discard a blemish rather than repair a resource. And the storyline of "The Fifth Woman"? Like Laurie King's "Night Work", "The Fifth Woman" explores issues of violence, revenge and enforcing justice when the system cannot deliver. It is, like Mankell's other Wallander titles, a monumental chronicle of detail, connection and the unfolding of a tightly-bound investigation. The Swedish atmospherics will also help take one's mind off an endless summer.

Inspector Kurt Wallander is at it again. The reader should not be disappointed with this particular Mankell's psychological thriller that once again goes inside the Swedish criminal mind looking for answers to perplexing problems. Of all the Wallander novels to date, this one succeeds the best at being able to capture the concept of wickedness while promoting the strength of virtue. In this setting , we find Wallander attempting to solve a complex series of crimes involving the disappearance and murder of a number of apparently unrelated people in the Swedish town of Ystad. All he has to go on is a modus operandi that reflects a killer(s)who is earnestly seeking revenge by torturing his or her victims. Thrown in for good measure is the African connection that Mankell loves to exploit in order to tease the reader out of being too comfortable with the nordic setting. As usual, it is Wallander and his team of unassuming and low-paid cops who methodically take this case apart, layer by layer, as they establish a timeline that links the homicides to a serial killer operating in their midst. This novel offers sufficient momentum to move the reader from place to place on the Swedish physical and mental landscapes. By time the killer is revealed near the end, we are well equipped with a thorough plotline and a consistent character profile to determine who the culprit really is. No unwelcome surprises await the reader at end. Paralleling the main thrust of the book is the opportunity to get inside Wallander's personal life. Here we often see a whirl of fear, loathing, love and ill-will take up residence in the mind of the great detective in his seemingly tireless search for clues. Like the rest of us, he has his personal battles and demons to contend with as he seeks answers to the bigger issues of life like what motives people to kill each other in inexplicably horrific fashion. What I discovered anew in this book is that while society continues to struggle with those of its members who are set on criminally destroying it , Mankell attempts to build it up by promoting decency, kindness and above all else an abiding rule of law. Each of the pieces of the puzzle in this story are well developed with respect to character, flow of action, setting, and ultimate purpose. Where the novel might bog down a tad is in the plodding pace Wallander the devoted detective tends to work as he moves between various criminal scenes. That and the incredible detail the reader is expected to carry between these points in pursuit of justice is not ordinary. Reading a Wallander novel is truly an experience never to be forgotten because it puts one squarely in the shoes and mindset of the chief investigator himself. No sitting on the sidelines with this one if you want to be there at end to make the all-important arrest. Great stuff for an evening read by the fire on a cold nordic night! This is truly an unforgettable adventure into the world of modern police forensics.

I started reading this mystery novel just after having finshed reading Stieg Larsson's riveting mystery trilogy about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Whereas this book is not of the same calibre, it is compelling reading - enough so for me to want to read the other novels in the Kurt Wallander series as well. The Swedes surely have some fine writers.