Sidetracked (Kurt Wallender Mystery) (Paperback)

Sidetracked, the fifth of Henning Mankell's acclaimed Kurt Wallander mysteries, and the second to be translated into English, is an engrossing police procedural. The hard-boiled Kurt Wallander has softened slightly since he was first introduced in Faceless Killers, the first title in the series. He drinks less, has more functional relationships and has developed a faith in his investigative team. Despite this, it is his other qualities as a character, his philosophical angst and his intuitive pursuit of hunches, which drive this novel as Wallander struggles to discover the leads that will trap the killer.

Mankell manages to squeeze in serious comments on the state of Swedish society. The over-stretched police force, child prostitution and the corruption of high politics, all come under the scrutiny of Wallander's wearied gaze as he struggles to come to terms with the new violence of his society. This is a dark novel peppered with genuinely nasty violence, but it is Wallander's struggle to uncover the truth and face his own demons that provide the real thrills. --Iain Robinson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
Kurt Wallender, the softhearted Swedish Detective-Inspector is back in his second adventure, and this time the stakes are higher. It's the summer of 1994, and the football World Cup is in full swing. First a young woman sets fire to herself in front of his eyes, and then the former Swedish Minister of Justice is butchered and scalped. Then we discover that a serial killer is on the loose, a man who believes himself to be an unholy twinning of the Indian chief Geronimo and Edgar Hoover, ex-head of the American FBI - a strange combination that makes for a fascinating story as the bodies pile up one by one. As the Swedish home football team battle for a place in the finals, the cops battles to solve the increasingly violent series of murders which vie with the soccer for a place in th