The Troubled Man
Henning Mankell
I can’t have many more Walanders to read,
even with this one, all the way through I felt I had read it before, not enough
to spoil the enjoyment. That is the trouble when reading books that have been
televised, especially as the TV versions are always abridged versions, which is
the nature of TV adaptations.
Until a couple of years ago, my knowledge
of Sweden as a neutral country where nothing much happened, I pictured it being
cold with a lot of snow. I also knew that Olof Palme was a Social Democrat
Prime Minister that had been assassinated, but that was about it. But now after
reading Millenium, Mankell, Hakan Nesser and others, and watching sub-titled TV
films I feel I know much more.
I now think of it being more wet than cold,
I also understand that it has a very strong far right element and that their
secret service and military have a great fear of their near neighbour, Ruussia.
I see that many of their attitudes are like ours with many of the same tensions
on immigration.
Back to the book, not a straight “detective”
novel as it is mixed with espionage, but Walander has his usual self-doubt and conflicts, his
fear of getting old and losing his memory, not that he was ever confident in
the earlier books, is a constant theme. Most of the action, and thinking, takes
place whilst he is on suspension waiting to hear his fate.
Well worth a read.
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