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joaniesickler's review against another edition
2.0
It's not about Kennedy's Brain. It's about aids in Africa, and it's about a mother's search for the reason for her son's suspected suicide/murder. I've loved all of Henning Menkell's Swedish inspector series. This is darker and more unresolved. He has had personal experience with Africa and observing the impact of aids. So you figure he's trying to tell us the nasty truth of awful things that go on there between the covers of his fictional story. Would I recommend it? Only if you don't mind being dark for a while. Menkel's writing is still worth it.
smolek's review against another edition
2.0
I love Henning Mankell's Wallander books, as well as several of his other mysteries. This one just didn't do it for me.
liberrydude's review against another edition
2.0
Very different from his other mysteries and I knew that coming in. I really didn't like this novel. The suspense is there initially but then it starts to fade. This book is about a topic near and dear to the author's heart-Africa and its exploitation. The protagonist, for whom you have some empathy, slowly starts to come across as a judgmental, cold, obsessive woman who might know much about the Bronze Age but not much about her family or the real world out there. Her quest is a whirlwind of travel from Greece to Sweden to Spain to Australia to Mozambique. The travel, her circumstances, and her increasing anxiety exact a toll on her. The title is intriguing but is deceptive and totally irrelevant to the plot. There is no resolution and it just ends. The reader is left frustrated and angry. Perhaps that's how Mankell wanted you to feel? But anger for the exploitation of Africans not anger for having wasted your time.
ronan_palmer's review against another edition
challenging
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.5
The emotion (which is very commendable!) may get in the way of the plot, but there is a real drive to this book - I worry that for many of the "Scandinavian Thriller" genre, the implicit evil is actually hard to deliver, in the confines of a book.
pianorunner421's review against another edition
1.0
300/0327 pages in and I still was not sure why I should care or if I even wanted to know the outcome. This was by far the most boring, non-engsging mystery I ha Ave ever read. If you want to journey with a mother in her guilt trip without any real reason to find out why the dead is dead read this. If you want a gripping, can't put it down book don't read this one
tammyw14's review against another edition
2.0
I just couldn't make it to the end of this one. Normally, I love Henning Mankell. But this one just didn't grab me. There was not enough character development to grab me - I stuck with it for about 150 pages, and felt like I didn't know (or like) the character of Louise well enough to stick around, and the plot just wasn't getting going. This book is just a slow-starter. It's one of those where if I had more time on my hands, I might stick around to see if it got better... but I just got Firewall (the 8th in the Wallander series) and it was shouting my name.
aigra's review against another edition
1.0
"For a moment, nothing happened. Then, after a second or so, nothing continued to happen."
Douglas Adams
When the author tells you at the end, that the book could have ended 200 pages earlier and you totally agree. Because nothing f.... happened.
Douglas Adams
When the author tells you at the end, that the book could have ended 200 pages earlier and you totally agree. Because nothing f.... happened.
marielle3090's review against another edition
3.0
Le roman se passe surtout en Afrique et tourne autour du sida
Je n’ai pas vraiment accroché.
Je n’ai pas vraiment accroché.