A Troubled Man: Henning Mankell

[poliphilo]

The solution to the mystery is presented to Wallander quite early on, but he doesn't pick up on it because of his political conditioning. As a detective novel The Troubled Man is really rather unsatisfactory, but Mankell means it to be; the loose ends are there to make a point. On the face of it Wallander is investigating a double disappearance, but really he's investigating his own past- with its small triumphs, its missed opportunities and failed connections. He has turned sixty, his diabetes is out of control, he is beginning to suffer from unpredictable memory black-outs. He has lived the greater part of his life and it's too late for him to rectify his ignorance or change what he has made of himself.

Comments

[calizen.livejournal.com]

Love Wallander. I've read quite a few of the Scandinavian mystery writers, and it's always Henning Mankell I return to. Maybe Mankell's time in Africa has leavened some of the typical doom-and-great-gloom that I've found in many northern writers. In any case, I always end up thinking about his characters and what the writer is actually saying about life long after finishing the story.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I've read Mankell and Larsson. Mankell is far superior.