レビュー要約

• 題材の強さと構成の個性が読後に残る作品として受け止められている。背景説明よりも人物の選択や場面の余韻を重視する読み方に向いている。

レビュー

• 第４作は連続殺人

  Curt Wallanderシリーズはスウェーデンの片田舎（半島の南端，イースタッド）が舞台です。頻繁に大きな港町メルモにも行きますが，いずれにしろ，田舎。ここを舞台に趣向を凝らした事件が起きます。今回は猟奇殺人事件。次から次へと人が死に，その関係者の取り調べをし，警察も増員しますので，登場人物がかなりの人数になります。さらに，aの上に○がついたアルファベットなどスウェーデン語特有の文字がついた名前や地名が登場して，混乱します。そういったことをカバーするストリーテラーマンケルの力量（あるいは翻訳者Steven Murray?)によって，長さを感じさせず読ませます。マンケルの作品を読んでいると，これだけ平易な英語でかなりのことが書けるのだと，感心してしまいます。マンケルを読んでスウェーデンの片田舎イースタッドの住民になろう。

• Super comme toujours

  Mankell que voulez-vous c'est une ambiance ... Et si vous aimer le genre "roman policier nordique" et bien vous aller adorer ...

• A very interesting tale

  This is an interesting Swedish mystery with Kurt Wallander leading a team of detectives attempting to solve two crimes. While the mood of the story is often gloomy – rain, personal worries, fear that his (Wallander’s) girlfriend is seeing another man, illnesses, old age, deaths, needing to give up planned vacations, lack of sleep, Wallander’s new boss being unsure of himself – this atmosphere does not detract from the story. It offers readers a more in-depth understanding of characters and the difficulties facing the police. It is true that when I watched the TV versions of several Wallander mysteries which were moody, I was somewhat turned off by the gloom, but I did not have this feeling reading this book or the several other Mankell Wallander mysteries that I read. In fact, I looked forward to reading this book and enjoyed it. It is well written and gripping. One of the mysteries, the smaller one, the one that takes up less police and story time, is the apparent suicide of a young Jamaican girl who showed up in Sweden for unknown reasons, seemed to be afraid of something, went out to a strange field, apparently simply because it was there, poured gasoline in a circle around her and on her, and when Wallander began to approach her, she ignited herself and burned to death. Wallander and his team try to find out why she apparently wanted to commit suicide and why she did it the way she did, for there is just about no more hurtful way to die than to be burned to death. This is why Joan of Arc was burned and why witched were burned, to give them as much pain as possible. The other mystery is what seem to be bizarre serial killings. We are told that the murderer identifies with Herbert Hoover of the American FBI and with the Indian Chief Geronimo, and that he paints his face when he goes out to kill. We are also told that he is seeking revenge for his sister. This is about all we know at the onset of the novel, but the police do not know this. What they do know is that the murders are carefully planned, an ax or hatchet is used, and the victims are scalped. They try to find a connection between the victims but do not find it and they try to delve into the psychology of the murderer but do not see it.

• Un'altra spettacolare prova d'autore

  Trama complessa, sviluppata in modo impeccabile, come tutti i romanzi del mai troppo compianto Mankell. Da leggere tutto d'un fiato.

• Arrived quickly

  Swedish noire as you'd expect

• A gripping Wallander page-turner!

  All the usual Wallander quirks that make these books so readable. Here is a man who faces his own problems and shortcomings as he solves crimes with rare insight. His hunches, born of a career of hard-won experience usually bring him to the right conclusions.

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