- Paperback: 428 pages
- Publisher: The Harvill Press (19 April 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1860468543
- ISBN-13: 978-1860468544
- Product Dimensions: 23 x 15.2 x 3.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,526,191 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Fifth Woman
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
A series of men who seem to have nothing in common are brutally killed--one is impaled, another starved and then strangled. We know more than the police--we know that the killer is a woman and we gradually understand some of her motivation; her much wronged mother was murdered almost by chance in a North African country--but we don't know who she is, or, for a while at least, her motives and principles of selection of her victims. Inspector Wallender finds himself investigating the case--two missing person enquiries that turn into a murder hunt--and finds himself endlessly confused by red herrings and side issues; a set of leads concerning mercenaries in the Congo of the 1960s turn out to have little to do with the case and Wallender has to waste considerable time suppressing an attempt by the far Right to turn the murders into a reason to set up vigilante justice.The Fifth Woman is a stylish police procedural which lets us see not only the leg work of investigation but also the diligence which makes effective murder possible--the killer Wallender is trying to catch is at least as good at her job of murder as he is at his of prevention. --Roz Kaveney
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
When his father dies and a serial killer confounds him and his team of detectives with increasingly brutal murders, Wallander is plunged into the dark reality of his life as a cop. He must find out how a series of seemingly unrelated deaths are connected before it happens again.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Fifth Woman is First Class,
By MRS C E DREWETT (Croydon, Surrey United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Fifth Woman: A Kurt Wallander Mystery (Kurt Wallender Mystery) (Paperback)
Kurt Wallender, a Swedish detective, is faced with a race to find a serial killer before he or she strikes again. The first grisly murder is an elderly birdwatcher found impaled on bamboo sticks in a tiger pit, but for those of a sensitive disposition, the subsequent murders are not so gruesome.We know the identity of the killer from the beginning but can Wallender find out before more people die? This tightly plotted novel shows the utter weariness and drudgery of the police search while keeping us gripped enough to keep turning the pages until 1am!! Wallender's love life is on the back burner in this novel, but the death of his father provides the emotional subtheme. For those who aren't yet Wallender fans, you soon will be and for those coming back for more - you won't be disappointed, this is the best one yet.
23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very existential, very Swedish, very, very good,
By
This review is from: The Fifth Woman (Panther) (Paperback)
The human, all too human, Inspector Kurt Wallander is thrown up against personal and professional challenges in this worthy addition to a sucessful series.In the bleakness of a Skane autumn, beautifully evoked, a serial killer is murdering men with the utmost barbarity. Wallander and his team investigate against the backdrop of a changing Sweden where the old certanties and social cohesion have gone and an unsure future awaits. In addition Wallander faces the uncertainties and decisions of his own life. Mankell has created a post-modern investigator who in addition to solving a brutal series of killings and prevent more deaths, must also confront his own existential problems. The story-telling is effective, the plot tight, the round of police investigation (99 % hard routine work, 1 % brilliant deduction) is superby recreated. Very effective, very existential, very Swedish and very very good. Highly recommended
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent detective and well marked trail of detection,
By
This review is from: The Fifth Woman: A Kurt Wallander Mystery (Kurt Wallender Mystery) (Paperback)
What a refreshing change to find a real person in charge of an investigation rather than the larger than life comic book creations too common in the staple American detective fiction. As plots go, Mankell's "Fifth Woman" is far fetched but what makes it so absorbing and believeable is the painstaking procedural plodding by Inspector Wallender's team. It builds up an incredible mountain of forensic and circumstantial evidence, dead ends and red herrings which for a long time seem to lead nowhere. To a certain extent the reader is a step ahead, seeing also from the killer's perspective, so part of the book's fascination is the tension we feel when the clues become tantalisingly close to revealing the identity. Kurt Wallender is certainly an engaging and sympathetic character whose intuitive leaps are generally credible because he also gets his hands dirty, makes mistakes and shows real human frailties. The book is relentlessly paced and indeed hard to put down at times. "Sidetracked" and "One Step behind" are equally good in the series, "Faceless Killers" a bit below par, and avoid "Dogs of Riga" which is more a far fetched spy thriller.
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