So what are you thoughts on the top: US (LHS) and UK (RHS), middle: Swedish (LHS) and French (RHS), bottom Dutch (LHS) and Polish (RHS) covers? Which would entice you most to pick the book up in the unlikely event that you were not familiar with Henning Mankell?
The Troubled Man will be published 29 March (US) and 31 March (UK). Here's the synopsis:
The much-anticipated return of Henning Mankell's brilliant, brooding detective Kurt Wallander. Every morning Håkan von Enke takes a walk in the forest near his apartment in Stockholm. However, one winter’s day he fails to come home. It seems that the retired naval officer has vanished without trace.
Detective Kurt Wallander is not officially involved in the investigation but he has personal reasons for his interest in the case as Håkan’s son is engaged to his daughter Linda. A few months earlier, at Håkan’s 75th birthday party, Kurt noticed that the old man appeared uneasy and seemed eager to talk about a controversial incident from his past career that remained shrouded in mystery. Could this be connected to his disappearance? When Håkan’s wife Louise also goes missing, Wallander is determined to uncover the truth.
His search leads him down dark and unexpected avenues involving espionage, betrayal and new information about events during the Cold War that threatens to cause a political scandal on a scale unprecedented in Swedish history. The investigation also forces Kurt to look back over his own past and consider his hopes and regrets, as he comes to the unsettling realisation that even those we love the most can remain strangers to us.
And then an even darker cloud appears on the horizon...
The return of Kurt Wallander, for his final case, has already caused a sensation around the globe. The Troubled Man confirms Henning Mankell’s position as the king of crime writing.
11 comments:
Karen - Thanks for sharing these. I like the UK cover the best. It's stark and just draws me right in.
What a great set of covers. I like the Dutch one.
The UK cover is spoilt by having a little Kenneth Brannagh gurning in mid-air off to the right (of course, that might be a peel-off sticker, and at least he's not all over the whole cover). I'm fairly sure I've seen the almost white-out covers before - Giles Blunt, maybe?
The Polish seems plain weird, unless a stampede of horses plays an important part in the book (in which case it's a spoiler), and the US cover is differently wierd - does Wallender get a job in a retro printshop?
I think I prefer the Dutch cover. Nice lake.
I'm a fan of the French cover, but then I love split covers like that (when they're well done).
I like the Dutch cover best. It is sort of Scandinavian and "troubled-mannish" (not that I've read the book!) without being cliched (ie they have resisted snow).
The UK cover is quite good and consistent with the design of the other Mankell books published in the UK, but it is just so typical of the Scandinavian crime fiction covers that we see all the time in the shops, that I wish they could do something more original.
I think the US cover is dreadful, almost as bad as the US covers of the Stieg Larsson books. The horses are weird, but perhaps you have to read the book to get it! I look forward to a comment on these from Donna (particularly the horses and that submarine/shark thingy).
(Maxine)
I like the Dutch one best too.
i like the Dutch cover the best, and can't wait to get my hands on the book.
Definitely Dutch and if I had to pick a second choice, the French cover.
The U.S. cover is boring, the UK one seems a bit weird, the others don't seem related to the book, and the poor horses, don't know why they're there.
I too like the Dutch cover.
I think the UK cover is too like the one on The Man from Beijing. and I would prefer Krister Henriksson on the sticker !
I read it in German (a version you didn't show here), and found *that* cover to be a bit odd. It sort of fits, but...
http://www.amazon.de/Feind-im-Schatten-Henning-Mankell/dp/3552054960/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1295035027&sr=8-1
(And I don't recall a stampede of horses, unless I wasn't paying close enough attention!)
I'm glad it's out in English soon. I'm starting to go mad keeping my mouth shut. I'll be interested to know what others think - for example, I could see where the ending was going, and I really, didn't want it to go there...I actually felt angry when I put it down!
I did try and find the German one but wasn't sure which one it was! That's a very odd cover too.
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