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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
This was definitely my favorite of Mankell's Wallander series so far. I particularly enjoyed the changes in the narrative between Wallander and the murderer in the midst of enacting the crimes. Without leaving any spoilers, I found the character profile of the murderer quite an interesting and refreshing one after reading many murder mystery novels. In addition, unlike the other Mankell works I've read, I found Sidetracked was well paced and didn't drag.
Serial killer alert....yawn. Lazy subject matter aside, the writing style is the least appealing aspect of this novel. This may be partly a consequence of translation from Swedish but still.....it's rather bare. For all that it was fairly compelling but I won't bother with another in the Wallander saga.
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
In rural Sweden, the world’s busiest provincial detective returns as a serial killer is on the loose who scalps and kills his victims with an axe. For a while when reading this I thought it was a copy of plot of a movie I had seen, but then I remembered that the plot from the first episode of the BBC Wallander series, the only episode that I’ve seen from a few years ago before starting the series of novels. Stupid me. Anyway, very engaging and entertaining plot, like all novels in the series you need to suspend your disbelief a bit, but probably the best of the series so far. Although I’m not used to the warm summer setting in this book in place of the usual cold dreary Swedish winter.
Hard to put down, particularly in the first half of the book, but not my favorite of his.
Kurt Wallander is asked to check out something suspicious in a farm's field. He finds a young girl who sets herself on fire and kills herself. He wants to know who she is and why she did it. He is haunted by this thru the entire book.
Then a series of gruesome murders occur and his attention is taken up with that but he comes back to the girls death every once in awhile. He and his team work hard trying to connect the victims and figure out who the killer is and the reasons behind the killings.
Kurt is also dealing with his father having alzheimers and his relationship with his Latvian girlfriend. It is summer and he is supposed to be going on vacation soon but is worried he won't solve the case in time and is reluctant to tell the girlfriend. He worries a lot and is a bit depressed. Typical moodiness in a Swedish novel. He finally puts all the pieces together and has a close call with a bad guy.
Some bad guys are killed. It seems like there are two stories happening but they are linked and we don't see that right away. There is some trafficking in young girls along with a person's desire to avenge a wrong that leads to becoming a killer.
Then a series of gruesome murders occur and his attention is taken up with that but he comes back to the girls death every once in awhile. He and his team work hard trying to connect the victims and figure out who the killer is and the reasons behind the killings.
Kurt is also dealing with his father having alzheimers and his relationship with his Latvian girlfriend. It is summer and he is supposed to be going on vacation soon but is worried he won't solve the case in time and is reluctant to tell the girlfriend. He worries a lot and is a bit depressed. Typical moodiness in a Swedish novel. He finally puts all the pieces together and has a close call with a bad guy.
Some bad guys are killed. It seems like there are two stories happening but they are linked and we don't see that right away. There is some trafficking in young girls along with a person's desire to avenge a wrong that leads to becoming a killer.
I realized when I started the book that I had seen an episode on TV based on this book, but I couldn't remember the story. It was only the scene at the beginning, with a girl immolating herself in a yellow rapeseed field that stuck in mind. Yet the plot of the book is pretty memorable. I guess the written word sticks more with me.
A Kurt Wallander mystery told from the perspectives of police and criminal. A foreign teenage girl burns herself to death under inspector Wallander's eyes. Several homicides take place where the victim is not only killed but scalped. The victims don't seem to have any connection. The viewer will know quite early that the serial killer is a deranged adolescent boy, but what exactly is his motive?
4* Faceless Killers (Kurt Wallander, #1)
4* The Dogs of Riga (Kurt Wallander, #2)
4* The White Lioness (Kurt Wallander, #3)
4* The Man Who Smiled (Kurt Wallander, #4)
4* Sidetracked (Kurt Wallander, #5)
4* The Fifth Woman (Kurt Wallander, #6)
4* One Step Behind (Kurt Wallander, #7)
TR Firewall (Kurt Wallander, #8)
TR The Pyramid: And Four Other Kurt Wallander Mysteries (Kurt Wallander, #9)
TR An Event in Autumn (Kurt Wallander, #9.5)
TR The Troubled Man (Kurt Wallander, #10)
2* Quicksand
4* O Homem de Beijing
TR A Treacherous Paradise
4* Faceless Killers (Kurt Wallander, #1)
4* The Dogs of Riga (Kurt Wallander, #2)
4* The White Lioness (Kurt Wallander, #3)
4* The Man Who Smiled (Kurt Wallander, #4)
4* Sidetracked (Kurt Wallander, #5)
4* The Fifth Woman (Kurt Wallander, #6)
4* One Step Behind (Kurt Wallander, #7)
TR Firewall (Kurt Wallander, #8)
TR The Pyramid: And Four Other Kurt Wallander Mysteries (Kurt Wallander, #9)
TR An Event in Autumn (Kurt Wallander, #9.5)
TR The Troubled Man (Kurt Wallander, #10)
2* Quicksand
4* O Homem de Beijing
TR A Treacherous Paradise
Scandinavian mysteries, man. They're so...literal. Matter of fact. i can never tell if the sense of distance is due to the way they're translated or a cultural writing style, like the circular loops of Latin American novels.
But as a Latvia fan, I'm a sucker for any series where the main character is dating Baiba Liepa. This one was fascinating in that we knew so much about the murderer (but not everything!), so we even knew when the detective was meeting him. A really different and interesting twist on the standard mystery.
I was of two minds about the prologue. Part of me was like, seriously? You have to take this terrible thing and make me feel even worse about it? But then again, when you write about an "issue"--in this case, human trafficking--it is maybe too easy for the reader to think, "Oh, that's terrible, those sure are bad guys doing that." But to find out how dearly cherished one victim was, to see how thoroughly her spirit was broken despite being born into love and devotion--this makes the political personal again. We all know trafficking is wrong; but it is easy to forget that each single individual caught up in it has a story.
But as a Latvia fan, I'm a sucker for any series where the main character is dating Baiba Liepa. This one was fascinating in that we knew so much about the murderer (but not everything!), so we even knew when the detective was meeting him. A really different and interesting twist on the standard mystery.
I was of two minds about the prologue. Part of me was like, seriously? You have to take this terrible thing and make me feel even worse about it? But then again, when you write about an "issue"--in this case, human trafficking--it is maybe too easy for the reader to think, "Oh, that's terrible, those sure are bad guys doing that." But to find out how dearly cherished one victim was, to see how thoroughly her spirit was broken despite being born into love and devotion--this makes the political personal again. We all know trafficking is wrong; but it is easy to forget that each single individual caught up in it has a story.