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falconerreader 's review for:
Sidetracked
by Henning Mankell
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.