Review: The Troubled Man by Henning Mankell

I thought I'd post my review straight into the blog so people can comment on it and the Wallander series if they so wish. The Troubled Man is published today.

The Troubled Man by Henning Mankell, tr Laurie Thompson (March 2011, Harvill Secker, ISBN: 1846553717)

Is there something special about having a ten-book series? Sjowall and Wahloo wrote ten Martin Becks, Stieg Larsson was set to write ten about Millennium and now Henning Mankell's tenth and final book about Kurt Wallander has been published in English.

Wallander is now sixty and there are few recognisable faces from the earlier books, except for his colleague Martinsson and daughter Linda. Linda has settled down with a financier, Hans von Enke and they have a new-born daughter. Wallander meets Hans's parents Louise and Hakan, and Hakan, a former high-up in the navy, makes him feel very welcome, and at Hakan's 75th birthday party he corners Wallander and tells him a tale about a cover-up of Russian submarines being in Swedish waters back in the 80s. Wallander thinks Hakan looks worried and sure enough, he vanishes; he goes out on his regular walk and does not return. Though not in charge of the case Wallander makes enquiries of his own. He concludes nothing and then there is a second disappearance and then a body is found.

Wallander's investigation reveals deep family secrets and quite a bit about recent Swedish naval history, and eventually he gets to the bottom of the case, but THE TROUBLED MAN is more than a straightforward police procedural. Wallander is not a particularly happy person at the best of times but working on his own, during his summer holiday, there is plenty of time for morose introspection; he revisits his life and achievements, his relationships with Linda, his ex-wife Mona and other people that meant something to him. There are also references to the earlier cases and there is a sense of all loose ends having been tied up.

The mystery is intriguing and there is the fascination to see how an established series is concluded – see Ian Rankin's Rebus – and this series is well wrapped up but the final few sentences left me quite upset, even though the signs were there all along. THE TROUBLED MAN had me gripped but ultimately, saddened that there would be no more in this series and just plain sad at the way it ended.

The Troubled Man - Cover Opinions

This week's selection for "cover opinions" is the US, UK, Swedish, French, Dutch and Polish covers for Henning Mankell's The Troubled Man, translated by Laurie Thompson.

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.