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24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
"Though this be madness
yet there is method in 't." Hamlet: Act II, Scene 2.
Four nuns have been found brutally murdered in a convent in an unnamed North African country. A fifth woman has also been murdered. Although news of the murders is suppressed and the fifth woman is never publicly identified a policewoman with a conscience forwards letters found in her possession to her...
Published on 20 Feb 2007 by Leonard Fleisig
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8 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
Kurt Plods After Another Serial Killer
This is the sixth book in the Wallander series, and probably the last I'll read for quite a while. The series started out promisingly enough with Faceless Killers, an interesting police procedural plot introducing the reader to the ever-forlorn Wallander and his southern Swedish district. However, subsequent books have strayed into over-the-top thriller areas, including...
Published on 24 Aug 2005 by A. Ross
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24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
"Though this be madness, 20 Feb 2007
yet there is method in 't." Hamlet: Act II, Scene 2.
Four nuns have been found brutally murdered in a convent in an unnamed North African country. A fifth woman has also been murdered. Although news of the murders is suppressed and the fifth woman is never publicly identified a policewoman with a conscience forwards letters found in her possession to her daughter in Sweden. Soon thereafter a series of seemingly unconnected and brutal murders grip the small, Southern-Swedish city of Ystad. The murders are well planned and executed. They seem designed to inflict as much pain as possible. Detective Inspect Kurt Wallander is tasked with identifying the killer or killers and the motive behind the killing. If Wallander cannot discover a motive he must at least learn enough about the killer's method to stop him or her before more people lay dead in strange surrounding. That is the plot of Henning Mankell's "The Fifth Woman".
"The Fifth Woman" is the sixth book in Mankell's Kurt Wallander series. This series is often compared to the Martin Beck detective mysteries authored by the husband and wife team of Per Wahloo and Maj Sjowall. Wallander, like Beck, is a police detective in Sweden. Unlike Beck, whose beat was Stockholm, Wallander works in the small southern-Swedish city of Ystad. The Wallander series takes place in the 1990s while the Beck series took place in the 1960s and 1970s. Although I tend to prefer the Beck series, the Wallander books are entertaining page-turners. Mankell stays well within the `police procedural' formula and has not tried to reinvent the genre. However, he has done a good job, through the first books in the series, of developing the character of Mankell and his supporting cast of characters. Wallander is no Sherlock Holmes and gets results more by perspiration than inspiration. He is also a fully drawn character. We see him dealing with the break-up of a marriage, an estranged daughter, and a father who is developing senile dementia. The supporting characters, particularly his fellow detectives, are also well drawn.
As the plot in "The Fifth Woman" plays itself out Mankell does a good job of showing the grunt work that goes into a murder investigation. Mankell also does a good job portraying the relationship of Wallander with his fellow police officers and with his family, especially his aged and failing father. Wallander is shown as a flawed man, a man with a temper and someone who can be more than a bit stubborn. However, I found myself drawn to the character as much for his flaws as for his detective skills.
The Fifth Woman is, in my opinion, one of the better books in the Wallander series and I have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone interested in a good police story, especially one set in a location outside the United States. Recommended. L. Fleisig
For those who prefer to read a detective series in chronological order this is the order of the Kurt Wallander series written by Henning Mankell. The dates listed are the dates of publication in Sweden.
Faceless Killers (1991)
The Dogs of Riga (1992)
The White Lioness (1993)
The Man Who Smiled (1994)
Sidetracked (1995)
The Fifth Woman (1996)
One Step Behind (1997)
Firewall (1998)
Before the Frost (Linda Wallander) - 2002
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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent detective and well marked trail of detection, 24 Feb 2004
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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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
Very existential, very Swedish, very, very good, 29 Sep 2001
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
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
A cracking read - just hang in there!, 29 Dec 2002
By A Customer
A great read, some parts are real page-turners, others are a little introspective and deal with Wallander's personal life, but, all in all, very gripping. These are excellent crime novels. I came across the Wallander books while studying Swedish at university, and found them very enjoyable and an excellent way to improve my Swedish! I'm glad English translations are now available so that lots more people can appreciate these little-known but very readable books.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
The Fifth Woman is First Class, 8 Dec 2002
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.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Gripping, 31 Dec 2003
The Kurt Wallander series gets better as it goes along, though getting to know Wallander certainly helps. His character is developed quite nicely.
In this book, Wallander is tantalisingly close to the solution, but never quite close enough to stop the next horrific murder. As always, the logical process of the investigation is brilliantly described and Wallander's journey through it, and the effect it has on his personal life, skilfully interwoven.
Again, as always, the Skåne landscape is an integral part of the novel, and I've started to have a distinct desire to go there myself.
The Fifth Woman is perfectly paced, with a gripping rush of adrenaline as the investigation comes to a finale and an interesting postscript in the form of Kurt's conversations with the killer after their arrest.
This is the best in the series up to this point.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
These books are now like an old friend, 23 Aug 2007
Firstly I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Its the 6th Kurt Wallender book and all of them have been very enjoyable. This one especially so.
It is best to read the books in sequence (see the previous review). That way you get to understand the mind of Wallender, why things get him down, weary, his thoughts on colleagues and friends. It also helps you realise why in this story Wallender at times becomes angry, stubborn and annoyed at vigilante groups springing up around the Ystad area.
I now consider these books like an old friend. You look forwad to seeing them, miss them when you are not reading them, like them even though the characters have their own flaws.
If you like an extremely well written police mystery then these books are for you.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Just Fab!, 2 Mar 2003
By A Customer
The book was just absolutely fab. While a friend just bought the book a few weeks ago, we've both read it and managed to lose at least one night's sleep. It was so gripping that, as we neared the end, we just had to finish it. It's not the kind of "who done it?" suspense that keeps you going but the writing and the fact that you really want the crime to be over as you empathise for the exhausted Wallander. The focus of story is the crime and Mankell is so skillful a writer (and fair dues to Steven T. Murray for translation) that personalities and context are richly provided but do not distract from the story. I was devastated when I finished the book. I've since bought all the other books that I could get and can't wait to start reading them. I just can't recommend this book enough.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
atmospheric murder mystery, 13 Jul 2001
By A Customer
A fairly typical genre detective novel which, because it is set in the bleak landscape of small-town Sweden, aquires an added element of atmosphere, at least for the non-Swedish viewer. Daily life in a Police Department which is in the middle of trying to solve a series of brutal murders is extremely well described - the sense of urgency, overwork,weariness and the problems of combining work with family life. The characters are likeable and well described, and very human in their failings. The story has a satisfying amount of twists. I really enjoyed reading it.
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
Very Good, 6 Mar 2005
If you're not familiar with Henning Mankell and his leading character, Detective Kurt Wallander, then 'Fifth Woman' is a good place to start. Mankell is extremely easy to read and also very intriguing. The plots and police investigations in his books are not exaggerated or overdone, but instead are methodical and realistic. At times you will put yourselves in Wallander's shoes and realise that you are just as clueless about the crimes as he is. This is how most real-life police work, I imagine, begins.Fifth Woman follows the murder of several men, seemingly unconnected. But the brutality of each murder is too coincidental for chance. Wallander and his team are set on a wild goose chase, with practically no clues whatsoever, but a whole lot of guess work and effort. This one of the weaker novels in the Wallander series, but the standard of this series is set at a pretty high level anyway. This is still an entertaining read for all.
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