Mankell, Henning. One Step Behind. Translated by Ebba Segerberg. Havrill Press, 1997.
Reason read: at one time I researched the best time to be a tourist in various countries. I later decided that wasn’t a good enough reason to read a book so I deleted all of the “best time to visit” lists. I guess I missed Sweden. According to something I read a million years ago, July is the best month to visit. Who knows if that is still true. New Reason read: the Bayside Festival is being held this July in Helsingborg.
As a Swedish police officer, Kurt Wallander is an interesting character. One of my favorite elements of Mankell’s writing is how real his characters are drawn. Kurt lost his father and takes the time to help his stepmother sell the house. He has bad dreams and concerning health issues. He doesn’t always listen to his colleagues. He doesn’t have the greatest attention to detail (odd for a police officer). Despite his personal problems he has a dogged dedication to his job. When a group of young people are found murdered he realizes he downplayed the urgency back when they were reported missing months earlier. He assumed they were happy-go-lucky youths and the only crime was their refusal to check in with mom and dad. Then more bodies are found, including that of a fellow police officer with ties to the first victims. Suddenly, Wallander and his team have a serial killer in their midst. Can he solve the crime before more people are slain?
Author fact: Henning Mankell’s photograph looks like how I would picture Kurt Wallander.
Book trivia: confessional – I listened to this on audio and it was hard to differentiate the various characters with their foreign names.
Setlist: the Overture to Rigoletto by Guiseppe Verdi.
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “I Love a Mystery” (p 117).
~*LunaSea*~ 