Sixth in the Kurt Wallander series.
In an African convent, four nuns and a unidentified fifth woman are brutally murdered--the death of the ... read full description
In an African convent, four nuns and a unidentified fifth woman are brutally murdered--the death of the ... read full description
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Oct 13, 2011
Rod
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Dec 14, 2008
Reinhold
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Gut mit ausgezeichnet geschriebenem Ende
Endlich schafft es Mankell einem Roman ein Ende zu geben, das nicht der große Showdown ist. Viel zu oft verläuft sich der schwedische Bestsellerautor in künstlich hochgepushte Dramatik, die dann unglaubwürdig wirkt. Mit diesem Buch setzt er neue Maßstabe für die Beurteilung.
Wie bei fast allen Werken der Wallanderreihe üblich ist der Aufbau des Romans dergestalt, dass man die ganze Zeit über sowohl den Protagonisten als auch den Ant More...
Endlich schafft es Mankell einem Roman ein Ende zu geben, das nicht der große Showdown ist. Viel zu oft verläuft sich der schwedische Bestsellerautor in künstlich hochgepushte Dramatik, die dann unglaubwürdig wirkt. Mit diesem Buch setzt er neue Maßstabe für die Beurteilung.
Wie bei fast allen Werken der Wallanderreihe üblich ist der Aufbau des Romans dergestalt, dass man die ganze Zeit über sowohl den Protagonisten als auch den Ant More...
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Sep 06, 2011
Anjali
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The Fifth Woman starts with a prologue where five women are brutally murdered by some unknown murderers in a remote place in Africa. Four of them are nuns and the fifth woman is a tourist who takes shelter with the nuns. While the nuns' death is acknowledged by the police and government, they hush up the murder of the fifth woman to avoid any political conflicts. The death of the fifth woman would have gone unnoticed if not for a policewoman who investigated this murder and who decides to write
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Mar 18, 2011
sabisteb
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Im Herbst 1994 ereignen sich in Schonen drei grausame Morde. Ein alter Hobbyornithologe fällt in eine Grube und wird auf Bambusstangen aufgespießt. Ein zweiter Mann wird gefangen gehalten, fast nackt an einen Baum gebunden und erwürgt. Ein dritter Mann wird in einem Jutesack verschnürt mit Gewichten in einem See ertränkt. Die Opfer weisen keine Gemeinsamkeiten auf und Kommissar Wallander steht vor einem schier unlösbaren Rätsel.
Dieses Hörspiel wurde 1999 vom WDR in zwei Teilen produzie More...
Dieses Hörspiel wurde 1999 vom WDR in zwei Teilen produzie More...
Dec 15, 2009
Deborah
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Henning Mankell's Swedish detective Kurt Wallander continues his ruminations on a changing society with this tale of a female serial killer out to settle past scores for women wronged by men.
For the longest time, the investigative team tries to apply all their knowledge to the capture of a male killer. It never occurs to them that it could be a woman. The crimes are too gruesome, too cunning, too physical, too planned. The killer becomes infuriated at their failure to imagine a woma More...
For the longest time, the investigative team tries to apply all their knowledge to the capture of a male killer. It never occurs to them that it could be a woman. The crimes are too gruesome, too cunning, too physical, too planned. The killer becomes infuriated at their failure to imagine a woma More...
Oct 19, 2009
Nancy
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In this the 6th book of the Wallander series, our hero has just returned to Ystad from Rome with his ailing father as the story opens, and it seems he is just in time to get to work on an incredibly brutal crime. A man is found impaled on sharpened sticks in a pit. As usual in a Mankell novel, this is just the tip of the iceberg and the beginning of a number of cruel and torturous murders. While Wallander's style is to thoroughly examine every aspect of these crimes, there is a move afoot among
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Oct 05, 2009
Lars
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As I get farther into this series ('The Fifth Woman' is the sixth book), I find the serial killers more and more unlikely and harder to see as actual characters. It's as if Mankell created them as progressively challenging exercises in motivation and execution and stopped working on them as people. That's not to say Mankell is not creative and clever (and shocking) in limning those motivations and executions, but I like more realistic villains (as in 'The White Lioness'). He makes up for this
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Apr 25, 2009
Aletha
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Excellent! This is my first of Henning's that I have read and he is just amazing. He is a master of mystery and this Kurt Wallander mystery is superb. He brings the landscape, emotions, eco-socio changes that the country of Sweden has gone thru, it paints a picture and is a wholesome reading- very few authors can paint a eco socio setting in a mystery and weave that through the story, including the emotions of characters, etc.
Just a para on pg 224: When I was growing up, Sweden was s More...
Just a para on pg 224: When I was growing up, Sweden was s More...
Jan 19, 2012
Mary Helene
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Jan 20, 2011
Nathan
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Henning Mankell's Wallander is a grouchy, aging detective who struggles to deal with his loneliness in a violent world. Often emotional, Wallander feels a personal connection to each case he deals with. In this mystery this tradition is continued; once again we find Wallander attached to a case where men are being brutally murdered. The story was good and is set a realistic crime-solving pace, that is to say that the case takes a number of weeks to solve and progress is slow. This isn't to say t
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Apr 08, 2011
Hart
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I thought this was a really good underlying plot, but the telling seemed a bit slow. There was a lot of 'thinking' to it, which shouldn't be off in a police procedural, but so much of it came to nothing... or came to nothing the first three times then FINALLY came to something... There were a lot of places something was JUST out of reach... things the READER sometimes knew, that it almost gave an incompetence impression (even when we only knew because of sometimes being in the killer's head), bu
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Aug 21, 2011
Mohnish
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Mankell in top form. I have read this book three times and it shows the exact way how police work can be a challenging work. You know who the killer is. Mankell gives the perspective of the killer too and mind you you ll feel sorry for the killer. I also loved that the murders committed are symbolic and will give Wallander the next rung of the ladder. Speaking of Wallander, this was the first Wallander series book for me and i was really amazed how Mankell has captured Wallander's moods in a sin
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May 02, 2011
Linda
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Chief Inspector Kurt Wallender is moody by nature, but as The Fifth Woman opens, he's feeling pretty positive. Kurt's elderly father has always wanted to see Rome, and Kurt agreed to accompany him. Father and son enjoyed the vacation as well as each other's company, and Kurt comes home ready to return to work. Sadly, another serial killer case will soon rear its ugly head, destroying Kurt's newfound peace of mind. When his dad suddenly dies, Kurt's chronic depression returns with a vengeance. He
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Sep 28, 2011
Åsmund
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Ich habe mein erstes Henning Mankel Buch mit große Hoffnungen gestartet. Ein neue Stig Larson oder ein neue Jo Nesbø? Spannenede und gut geschrieben in ein Skandinavische Kontext? Meine Erwartungen waren schon hochgeschraubt.
In das Buch geht das über eine Reihe von Morde, die irgendwie alles damit zusammen hängen, dass den Opfern gewalt an Frauen ausgeübt hat. An diese Thema könne sicher Mankell noch mehr schreiben, und das hätte das Buch vielleicht noch besser gemacht. Aber das tut More...
In das Buch geht das über eine Reihe von Morde, die irgendwie alles damit zusammen hängen, dass den Opfern gewalt an Frauen ausgeübt hat. An diese Thema könne sicher Mankell noch mehr schreiben, und das hätte das Buch vielleicht noch besser gemacht. Aber das tut More...
Oct 30, 2011
Kevin
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I've read several of Henning Mankell's novels and this is my third Kurt Wallander novel. The author brings back many of the same characters as well as the same feelings Wallander constantly carries with him. All through the story Wallander constantly struggles with his anger and his emotions towards Baiba his girlfriend, his father and his feelings towards Kurts choice of being a policeman and trying to keep contact with his adult daughter. While the story moves along you can see Wallander start
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Jul 13, 2010
Bunxena
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Nov 23, 2009
Diane
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Reading two Kurt Wallander/Henning Mankell books in a row--in the middle of a sometimes grey November--is almost enough to put a person into a permanent funk. The Fifth Woman, however, is an interesting study in obsession, both Wallander's and the person responsible for the serial killing of men who have brutalized women at one time or another. A nice addition to the cast of characters, Ann Hoglund, new to the Ystand police force, adds some lightness to balance Wallander's heaviness. Also, in th
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Feb 06, 2011
Jenn
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Dec 25, 2009
Chris
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I love Kenneth Branagh. When I found out he was going to be in PBS's Wallander series. I was thrilled. Until I saw the series. There was something off about it. In fact, I only watched the first one and had no desire to pick up the books. Then, I watched the Swedish version of Wallander. Those were good. Those made me want to pick up the books.
Branagh was totally miscast. It's like John Hannah playing Rebus. He's a good actor, but he's wrong for Rebus. Dan Sott isn't. More...
Branagh was totally miscast. It's like John Hannah playing Rebus. He's a good actor, but he's wrong for Rebus. Dan Sott isn't. More...
Jul 28, 2011
Derek
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A good mystery is unwrapped at slightly too slow a pace to be honest but the incidental details keep you interested: the weather, the unravelling of the Swedish welfare state, Kurt's irascible moods and appalling diet etc. On one occasion he eats a burger and then goes back for a hot dog, or it might have been the other way around - how he needs the love of a good woman the poor lamb. However things pick up nicely for the last 50 pages or so which is very well handled and the ending has a neat i
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Sep 11, 2010
Samantha
rated it:
Make that 4.5 stars.
After finishing the Millenium series, I decided to go out on the hunt for Swedish authors writing in similar styles. Adam lent me this one which I read (even though Mankell's politics in real life are something that leaves a lot to be desired...)This isn't quite as riveting as Steig Larsson's books, but a close second.
really enjoyed the style of writing that seems to mimic the slightly terse environment of Sweden. The language, the short sentence leng More...
After finishing the Millenium series, I decided to go out on the hunt for Swedish authors writing in similar styles. Adam lent me this one which I read (even though Mankell's politics in real life are something that leaves a lot to be desired...)This isn't quite as riveting as Steig Larsson's books, but a close second.
really enjoyed the style of writing that seems to mimic the slightly terse environment of Sweden. The language, the short sentence leng More...
Mar 24, 2011
Nikolaus
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Having experienced my first proper outing with Wallander only gave me further realization of how I dislike (in relative terms) the crime-fiction genre. After I completed its 550 pages, I believed this to be my favorite detective novel yet, since it is flawless in its execution and indeed very suspenseful; however, another novel quickly came to mind, and replaced its former No. 1 spot: I am referring to Eco's Foucault's Pendulum, a book which does nevertheless comprise a detective storyline, desp
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Oct 17, 2010
Stven
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A fascinating introduction to Henning Mankell and his Swedish police detective character Kurt Wallander. This personality resonates. Beset with problems ranging from the petty to the profound, lacking confidence at times, sometimes grasping a feeling that he is right without quite knowing why, often having to choose a potentially useless course of action if he's to keep moving at all, he manages to persevere. He's an organization man and spends an amazing amount of time calling meetings and s
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Jul 23, 2011
Martha
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This book was somewhat frustrating since the detectives seemed to lack basic detecting skills. If they just watched an occasional episode of CSI, maybe they'd learn something. They find blood at a probably crime scene and don't bother to take a sample of it, much less canvass the entire scene for clues. It's also somewhat tedious, as the events unfold in real time. You follow the main detective through his every moment, including meals, naps, just sitting at his desk not doing much of anything.
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Jul 06, 2011
Andrea
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Meticulously crafted, seemingly divergent threads converge, Mankell's usual detailed and vivid depictions - another wonderful offering. This one is particularly gripping.
Mankell has a genius for depicting fully-fleshed, three-dimension characters. And as detailed a background against which they struggle through life and it's rocky paths.
I read somewhere that in every book Mankell asks and answers a question - here obviously the question is - if the law fails to punish those who commit More...
Mankell has a genius for depicting fully-fleshed, three-dimension characters. And as detailed a background against which they struggle through life and it's rocky paths.
I read somewhere that in every book Mankell asks and answers a question - here obviously the question is - if the law fails to punish those who commit More...
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Oct 03, 2011
GS
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Phew! What a good police story...Mankell's prose and writing may not be as good as some of the others, but his stories are great, and the way the police work is described qualifies this as a top notch procedural. A series of horrifying murders happen, and it falls to Wallander to uncover who and why. And he does so, amidst personal tragedies, mid life crises, and inclement weather. How he does so, forms the story and it is quite well told.
Somewhere in the middle Mankell leaves a clue More...
Somewhere in the middle Mankell leaves a clue More...
Dec 16, 2010
Paola
rated it:
Un ottimo Menkell.
Intreccio costruito con maestria, ragionamento deduttivo dispiegato con eccellenza di doti.
Wallander & Co diventano amici con i loro umanissimi dolori, rimpianti, sensi di colpa, ricerca di senso in un mondo che pare non averlo più.
Vi trova posto anche la non tanto velata critica ad una politica sociale svedese che non sa più come gestire l'accrescersi della violenza non tanto in cifre quanto in efferatezza. Cittadini che si costituiscono in comitati di difesa e che si arroga More...
Intreccio costruito con maestria, ragionamento deduttivo dispiegato con eccellenza di doti.
Wallander & Co diventano amici con i loro umanissimi dolori, rimpianti, sensi di colpa, ricerca di senso in un mondo che pare non averlo più.
Vi trova posto anche la non tanto velata critica ad una politica sociale svedese che non sa più come gestire l'accrescersi della violenza non tanto in cifre quanto in efferatezza. Cittadini che si costituiscono in comitati di difesa e che si arroga More...
Nov 28, 2008
Carrie
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The seventh of Mankell’s Kurt Wallander series, The Fifth Woman was my first foray into Swedish noir. The novel is a moody police procedural that includes interesting bits about life and attitudes in Sweden with mention of mercenary soldiers in Africa. The lead detective is not your average Joe Friday, but is fraught with doubt and borders on depression. The murders are brutal, the landscape is bleak and it is nearly always raining. It examines issues of changes in society and domestic abuse
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Jul 29, 2011
After watching the Kenneth Braunaugh Walllender movies (which are absolutely brilliant, all three of the ones that i have seen, and I can only hope that there will be more to come--he positively channels Wallender and the Swedish countryside is jsut as gorgeous as being there), I had to return to read the ones of the series that I have missed reading, and this one was the beginning of that task, and really, mystery writing down't get much better than this. I love the Scandanavian novelists, and
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Aug 15, 2010
Sandra
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I don't remember where I read about the Wallander mysteries but I after finishing the Milenium series and wanting something similar to those I got The Fifth Woman from the library. A series of brutal murders are taking place in Wallander's district and he feels that there must be some connection. Piece by piece he looks at each murder wanting to stop the man responsible before any more take place. The suspense keeps mounting although at times the story seems to move slowly and then the reade
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