- Hardcover: 336 pages
- Publisher: New Press (April 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1565847873
- ISBN-13: 978-1565847873
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 14.7 x 3.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,128,102 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Dogs of Riga (Kurt Wallander)
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Product Description
Review
'Menkell's knowledge of his topics and his landscapes give a great atmosphere to his stories.'
--www.bfkbooks.com --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
--www.bfkbooks.com --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Product Description
A few days later what they have been warned of comes to pass: a life raft is washed up on a beach. In it are two men, dressed in expensive suits, shot dead.The dead men were Eastern European criminals, victims of what seems to have been a gangland hit. But what appears in Sweden to be an open-and-shut case soon takes on a far more sinister aspect. Wallander travels across the Baltic Sea to Riga in Latvia, a nation experiencing the massive social and political upheaval that will lead to its independence from the Soviet Union. There Wallander is plunged into a frozen, alien world of police surveillance, scarcely veiled threats, and lies. Doomed always to be one step behind the shadowy figures he pursues , he comes to understand what it is to live in a nation in which democracy is still only a dream. Only his dogged, almost subconscious desire to se that justice is done brings the truth to light.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have just read this in one long run during a very long day of train journeys. I found it absolutely riveting. I love the fact that Wallander is an ordinary, imperfect man. He tries to do the right thing but doesn't always manage it. As the story progresses we can see him become more and more mentally and physically exhausted. When he gets too tired he drinks too much and almost mucks things up, pulling things back at the last moment. The setting in Latvia-with its atmosphere of menace and not being able to fully trust anyone is fascinating.It doesn't matter that the Iron Curtain has come down-there are still plenty of countries like this around. Highly recommended.
51 of 54 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Of the two 'Kurt Wallander' novels I have read, 'The Dogs of Riga' is the weaker: 'Faceless Killers' has a more compelling plot, and a more interesting narrative. However, 'The Dogs of Riga' is still a very good book. The ending is slightly cluttered, with Mankell pushing credibility a little, but the novel as a whole is an excellent portrait of a determined Swedish Police detective who happens to be a little unlucky and a little unhealthy.
'The Dogs of Riga' is basically a Police Procedural detective novel and a no-details-ignored, everything-included study of a middle-aged man going through a variety of problems, whether they be medical, personal, or career-related. We may not aspire to be like Wallander in all respects, but the character earns the respect, admiration, and - at times - symphathy of the reader. Mankell weaves the most mundane details of Wallander's life and police investigations into a narrative which is always compelling. And he is astute not only with regard to character: there is a superb sense of geographical place, time, and politics in these novels. And this sense is nuanced, and not in any way simplistic. If anything, Mankell paints the world in too realistic a way: it is so plausible and real that reading about certain aspects of it can be depressing.
Recommended, although 'Faceless Killers' is the first novel, in terms of Wallander's chronology. After reading 'Faceless Killers' and 'The Dogs of Riga', read 'Sidetracked' and 'The Fifth Woman', in that order.
22 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I was surprised by a previous reviewer's comment that they found Dogs of Riga unengaging - I found it totally compelling. I do think that there are production glitches - sloppy editorial work on Vintage's part which seriously interfere with the readability of the book - but that aside Wallender is a very engaging, somewhat Rebus-esque hero. In this volume he finds himself sucked almost powerlessly into the decaying world of the collapsing Communist regime of Latvia. I enjoyed Faceless Killers, the previous volume, but I think Dogs of Riga is a dramatic step up in terms of sophistication. You can feel the author inhabiting Wallender's skin more fully with every page. Excellent stuff, I say!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Dismal. Gone to the Dogs.
Dismal - poorly constructed, tedious - once I put it down, I didn't want to pick it up again. I like many of the other books by this author - I think this is an early one and by... Read more
Published 22 days ago by Mrs K
The Dogs OF Riga
Henning Mankell"s DOGS OF RIGA was the next book i purchased after getting the PYRAMID and THE FACELESS KILLERS which were brought as gifts, i was so taken with his main character... Read more
Published 27 days ago by susanaj
The Man Who Went Up in Riga
I really enjoyed the first 232 pages of this book. Unfortunately the final 100 or so pages are just silly. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Comrade Mitchell
brilliant book
I LOVED THE FIST WALLANDER BOOK.....BUT THIS IS BETTER BY FAR ! you DO need to read FACELESS KILLERS first, it realy sets the characters up for this ,A MUCH BETTER BOOK. Read more
Published 2 months ago by gary
The Dogs of Riga
Another gripping detective story from Henning Mankell,set in the terrifying world of Russian-dominated Riga where factions within the state and the police are fighting a deadly war... Read more
Published 2 months ago by J. Liddle
Not recommended
Not a very good book, I'm sorry to say. The plot is rather thin, and anything that could have added any literary quality to the story is lacking: no intricate metaphors to... Read more
Published 5 months ago by R. Kotvis
ARRRGH! I didn't like this
I like Mankell's writing - but I can't recommend this book. It's my fault for reading it last probably, as the book is set in 1991 and is heavily characteristic of the era i.e. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Josey Wales
Entertaining but not very believable
I had read other reviews here that say the story is not believable, but I bought the book anyway because I don't want to read the Wallander stories out of sequence. Read more
Published 8 months ago by M. Parry
Good read
I really enjoyed this book, plus I had not seen it on tv - not sure if this one was dramatised.
Really good read, it had me gripped
Really good read, it had me gripped
Published 10 months ago by A. TURNER
Very disappointing
After reading and enjoying "Faceless Killers" I was looking forward to this book. However, from a very encouraging start, it meanders into a kind of dystopian travel book, of... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Techhead58
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