Mankell, Henning - FACELESS KILLERS

[LJ Roberts]

FACELESS KILLERS (Swedish Police Procedural)- G+ Henning Mankell – 7th in series
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard. English Translation, 2003 – Trade Paperback

Police Inspector Kurt Wallander is called to the scene of a particularly violent attack of an elderly couple on a small farm. The husband is dead but the wife, found with a noose around her neck, utters the work “foreign” before dying. Wallander becomes obsessed with solving the case before feelings against Sweden’s immigrants becomes violent.

Although the translation into English made the dialogue a bit awkward at times, it did not take away from my enjoyment of the story. Wallander is fully dimensional, very fallible-yet-determined, and surrounded by strong supporting characters. Although told in third person, the writing has a first person feel in the way you know what’s going on inside Wallander’s thoughts. There’s plenty of action and suspense, and even a red herring that leaves you feeling the frustration of Wallander trying to solve his case. It also introduced me to the problems in a country about which I hadn’t previously known. I recommend the book and know I’ll be looking for others by the author.