Depths
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Review
'skilfully woven' --Guardian
`totally absorbing'
--Guardian
`totally absorbing'
--Guardian
Guardian
"one of the most impressive crime writers at work in Europe
today"
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
today"
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
It is now a month since I finished reading this absorbing book, which, despite my best endeavours, has found its way deep inside my mind. The reader will realise from the first sentence that this is no light detective story but a dark and disturbing novel. "They used to say that when there was no wind the cries of the lunatics could be heard on the other side of the lake". I describe it as disturbing, because it makes no attempt to prepare the reader for the shocking depravity of a seriously disturbed mind. At times, shock causes the reader to gasp, to read the paragraph again to confirm what has just been read. There were moments when I had to put the book down and leave it but very soon was drawn back. It is a book that gets under your skin.
I believe that this book is in the top bracket of modern literature.I will re-read it but not for now. I need time to come to terms with it. It is beautifully written. The author is a master storyteller but one who has a grasp on the human psyche. I cannot recommend this book too highly for those who want a novel that is different and thought provoking.
I believe that this book is in the top bracket of modern literature.I will re-read it but not for now. I need time to come to terms with it. It is beautifully written. The author is a master storyteller but one who has a grasp on the human psyche. I cannot recommend this book too highly for those who want a novel that is different and thought provoking.
41 of 45 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The novel opens with the harrowing scene of a woman called Kristina Tacker as she escapes from a psychiatric asylum. She vaguely remembers that her husband had the rank of Commander in the Swedish army and that he was a hydrographical survey engineer. At this moment, in 1937, Kristina Tacker is fifty-seven and it is twelve years since she has uttered her last word.
The reader is immediately drawn into the suspense created by this opening as he follows the story of the main character, Lars Tobiasson-Svartman, a man obsessed by the depths of the sea and torn between two women, Sara Frederika and his wife Kristina Tacker. We follow his destiny at the beginning of World War I as he slowly loses his grip on his surroundings and becomes entangled in a web of lies and crimes which inexorably leads to his downfall. He ends up by living in a world entirely created by lies. Indeed he becomes an impostor; an impostor lives a life but the deceit involved lives a different life. It is the tragic fate of a man whose life has always been based on lunatic ideas and who has built his existence on distances and depths instead of seeking closeness.
The reader is immediately drawn into the suspense created by this opening as he follows the story of the main character, Lars Tobiasson-Svartman, a man obsessed by the depths of the sea and torn between two women, Sara Frederika and his wife Kristina Tacker. We follow his destiny at the beginning of World War I as he slowly loses his grip on his surroundings and becomes entangled in a web of lies and crimes which inexorably leads to his downfall. He ends up by living in a world entirely created by lies. Indeed he becomes an impostor; an impostor lives a life but the deceit involved lives a different life. It is the tragic fate of a man whose life has always been based on lunatic ideas and who has built his existence on distances and depths instead of seeking closeness.
82 of 91 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Depths is a staggering novel. It's one of those books that sneaks into the lumber-room of your consciousness and entwines itself round whatever stuff you happen to keep in there.
Depths shares some of the qualities of Mankel's detective fiction. At the start of this novel, the protagonist, Lars Tobiasson-Svartman, appears to be a character not unlike Inspector Kurt Wallender - steadfast, disciplined, professional.
It is the start of the First World War. Sweden is non-aligned but worried about getting dragged into the conflict. Lars Tobiasson-Svartman is a hydrographer who has the job of carefully checking measurements of the depth of water in straits south of Stockholm.
From these unpromising beginnings, the prose builds an understated atmosphere. If you've read and enjoyed other Mankell novels, you'll recognise the stripped-back style.
The landscape is haunting (again, like the countryside in the Kurt Wallender books). In the case of Depths, most of the action takes place near an archipelago - and, in particular, on a single rocky outcrop, surrounded either by sea or ice. This setting becomes bewitching, unsettling.
The events that unfold in the course of the story are at once ordinary and brutally shocking. This is a novel that made me gasp out loud (which hasn't happened since I read Sarah Waters' Fingersmith, which is a totally different sort of book). You'll have to read it for yourself to find out why.
To summarise, this is a disturbing but completely gripping book. It reminded me most of Camus' L'Etranger (The Outsider) and various folk stories, but Depths is its own book - distinctive and haunting.
Depths shares some of the qualities of Mankel's detective fiction. At the start of this novel, the protagonist, Lars Tobiasson-Svartman, appears to be a character not unlike Inspector Kurt Wallender - steadfast, disciplined, professional.
It is the start of the First World War. Sweden is non-aligned but worried about getting dragged into the conflict. Lars Tobiasson-Svartman is a hydrographer who has the job of carefully checking measurements of the depth of water in straits south of Stockholm.
From these unpromising beginnings, the prose builds an understated atmosphere. If you've read and enjoyed other Mankell novels, you'll recognise the stripped-back style.
The landscape is haunting (again, like the countryside in the Kurt Wallender books). In the case of Depths, most of the action takes place near an archipelago - and, in particular, on a single rocky outcrop, surrounded either by sea or ice. This setting becomes bewitching, unsettling.
The events that unfold in the course of the story are at once ordinary and brutally shocking. This is a novel that made me gasp out loud (which hasn't happened since I read Sarah Waters' Fingersmith, which is a totally different sort of book). You'll have to read it for yourself to find out why.
To summarise, this is a disturbing but completely gripping book. It reminded me most of Camus' L'Etranger (The Outsider) and various folk stories, but Depths is its own book - distinctive and haunting.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Disappointing
Did not like this story at all and was very disappointed as I had been looking forward to another Mankell book. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Madeleine Godbold
Not a `Whodunit' but a `Whydunit'
I have read two of the Wallander books by Mankell and they were good. This book is in a totally different league. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Like2Read
Could be better
This book is set in the first world war and is about a Swedish hydrographer tasked to check and find possible new navigation channels. Read more
Published 4 months ago by JimBrazil
Engrossing and atmospheric novel
I'm a fan of Henning Mankell. His books are well crafted, easy to read and very atmospheric. This book proved to be more of the same. Read more
Published 6 months ago by The Lamb
Deep Impact
This is one of those novels which catches you unawares. From the brief description on the back cover, you are totally unprepared for the quality of writing as Mankell moves away... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Warren Bowman
DEPTH
IT WAS INTESTING TO READ ABOUT THING'S THAT WRE GOING ON IN SWEDEN IN THE WAR,AND WHAT THEY DID OR NOT DO,THEV PERSON IN THE STORY WAS A BITB MIXED UP IN HIS MIND SOME TIMES,
Published 8 months ago by Mr. Kevin W. Hayes
What a stonking good read
I chose this book as I loved the Wallender books, I did not read the cover and was a little disappointed when I realise what it was about - BUT I could not put the book down, it... Read more
Published 10 months ago by A. TURNER
Deeps of the psyche
Mankell has a wonderful ability to create characters who are like icebergs - much of their workings are invisible, and sometimes deadly, even to themselves. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Lady Fancifull
Gripping and Intelligent
A great book to read for the Swedophile!. It gives the reader an enormous insight into Swedish attitudes and history although it is written as a smouldering psychological thriller. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Mr. Peter Willett
The more I read him the more I like his style
I started with the Wallander books and got totally hooked.
This is different but if possible even darker and disturbing
wonderful
This is different but if possible even darker and disturbing
wonderful
Published 20 months ago by Ms. K. M. J. Gatelet
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