The acclaimed author of the Kurt Wallander mysteries, writing at the height of his powers, now gives us an electrifying stand-alone global thriller...
read full description
reviews
Feb 07, 2012
Kemper
rated it: 
Despite a bloody gore fest kicking off the action and a story that spans from 19th century America to present day China, Sweden, Africa and England, this ended up being about as interesting as a lecture on geopolitics from a semi-bright junior high student.
This book begins with the discovery of a massacre of almost the entire population of a tiny village in a remote area of Sweden. 19 people have been sliced and diced in various ways. Even the pets have been brutally killed. (Hey, More...
This book begins with the discovery of a massacre of almost the entire population of a tiny village in a remote area of Sweden. 19 people have been sliced and diced in various ways. Even the pets have been brutally killed. (Hey, More...
21 comments
like
(45 people liked it)
Jan 23, 2011
A
rated it: 
Descontando la serie de Wallander, El Chino es la primera novela de Mankell que leo. No pedía demasiado, ya que es un thriller; me conformaba con entretenimiento. Pero por suerte encontré mucho más. Mankell es un escritor muy político. Podría plantearse a priori que en novelas como ésta lo que destaca es la acción, y no la profundidad de los personajes; es cierto. Pero igualmente en el aspecto político hay mucha tela para cortar.
La novela está dividida en varias partes, y van cambiando tant More...
La novela está dividida en varias partes, y van cambiando tant More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Jun 26, 2010
Shell
rated it: 
Hesjövallen, a small village in Sweden is to be the last place that Karsten Höglin visits to complete his study of deserted settlements. However, when he arrives he is almost instantly aware that something is very wrong. When the police arrive, they are baffled by the horror awaiting them in most of the houses. Is this the work of a mad man or a deranged gang?
When Judge Birgitta Roslin realises that two of the victims were her Mother's adopted parents, she finds that doing some More...
Jan 30, 2012
Ian
rated it:
He can certainly tell a story, however I found his characters, in this book, very thinly drawn and unsympathetic. Also, the primary plot line ultimately makes little sense when all is said and done.
I liked it a lot in the beginning and began to dislike it more and more as I got further along. He wants to talk about globalization and colonization and the New China. Fine. Why not write a travel book or non-fiction essay or something ? This is a poor piece of fiction used as a wrapper More...
I liked it a lot in the beginning and began to dislike it more and more as I got further along. He wants to talk about globalization and colonization and the New China. Fine. Why not write a travel book or non-fiction essay or something ? This is a poor piece of fiction used as a wrapper More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Dec 29, 2011
Anmiryam
rated it:
I've heard a lot about Henning Mankell from others that know I am an aficionado of Nordic mysteries, so I was excited when a friend passed this along for me to read. My enthusiasm was premature. If I was to use this book to pass my final judgement on Mankell as an author, I'm afraid I would be rather harsh. There were hints through this book of the thriller that could have been -- compelling, fast-paced, filled with interesting characters -- but these are drowned in extended polemics about the
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Feb 10, 2012
Laura
rated it: 
I loved the Wallander series on PBS with Kenneth Branagh as the gray and brittle detective, Wallander. (I mean - who does not love Kenneth Branagh?) This novel is by Henning Mankell, who also wrote the Wallander novels upon which that series is based. This story begins with a wolf. Then there is a horrific murder. For me, two things pervade this novel. One is the curious refusal of the main character, Birgitta Roslin, a judge in Sweden, to tell anyone in her family about the unusual events
More...
Feb 08, 2012
Fiberguy
rated it:
I really loved the Wallander novers, so when I saw this Mankell book on a shelf in an airport bookstore, I decided to grab it. Ultimately, it wasn't as satisfying a read as I'd hoped. The main reason for that is that this isn't one book it's three books that desperately try to meet each other and, when they finally meet, don't do so convincingly.
The first storyline is that of a horrific murder in Northern Sweden. That opening third is stunning, gripping and very powerful. At the end More...
The first storyline is that of a horrific murder in Northern Sweden. That opening third is stunning, gripping and very powerful. At the end More...
Feb 06, 2012
Steve
rated it:
I cannot over-emphasize how disappinting this book was. It started out great: nearly everyone in a small village in cold and snowy northern Sweden is massacred, a hideous scene. A woman deputy is introduced, then a woman with a connection to some of the victims. Then Mankell takes us back to a the American West, where some Chinese immigrants find themselves serving as slave laborers on the continental railroad. I was fully engrossed.
But I don’t think Mankell really thought through wher More...
But I don’t think Mankell really thought through wher More...
Nov 26, 2011
Steve
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Oct 22, 2011
Ken
rated it:
A sprawling work which spans over a century and a half, and visits nearly every continent on the globe. Yet, maybe it's just a bit too sprawling.
The novel begins after a mass murder in a tiny village in rural Sweden. The reason for these killings seems to be linked to a trio of Chinese brothers who were shanghaied, and forced to work on the American continental railroad project of the mid nineteenth century. The evil gang/boss of these railroad workers had relatives in this Swedish ham More...
The novel begins after a mass murder in a tiny village in rural Sweden. The reason for these killings seems to be linked to a trio of Chinese brothers who were shanghaied, and forced to work on the American continental railroad project of the mid nineteenth century. The evil gang/boss of these railroad workers had relatives in this Swedish ham More...
Oct 09, 2011
Alana
rated it: 
This is one of the worst books I've ever read. Maybe I should back up and say that I don't like crime fiction and that the only reason I read this book is that it was given to me as a gift from my in-laws (who I now respect less for recommending this garbage. I kid. Sort of).
Internationally bestselling novelist? This is a joke, right? The author is in serious need of a thesaurus because you can only read the same descriptive phrase so many times in a single page, let alone par More...
Internationally bestselling novelist? This is a joke, right? The author is in serious need of a thesaurus because you can only read the same descriptive phrase so many times in a single page, let alone par More...
2 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Aug 27, 2011
Stephen
rated it:
It is possible to like a book and be disappointed with it at the same time. That's the way I feel about The Man From Beijing.
The parts that work best are those when one character is being stalked by another, especially when Hong Qiu suspects that her psychopathic brother Ya Ru plans to kill her, and when the main character, Birgitta Roslin, realizes the killer is now coming for her. The mood in both sections is pretty creepy.
So the story has appeal (assuming you like the More...
The parts that work best are those when one character is being stalked by another, especially when Hong Qiu suspects that her psychopathic brother Ya Ru plans to kill her, and when the main character, Birgitta Roslin, realizes the killer is now coming for her. The mood in both sections is pretty creepy.
So the story has appeal (assuming you like the More...
Aug 09, 2011
Meg
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Aug 04, 2011
Javier_fernandez
rated it:
Henning Mankell. EL CHINO.
Es la primera vez que encuentro en una historia de Henning Mankell lagunas tan grandes, aristas tan notorias que primero asoman como si fueran errores tipográficos, sobresalen, irrumpen y alcabo de 300 página casi desencuadernan el trabajo de Tusquets Editores. Me da la impresión (pero es sólo una impresión: esto puede cambiar con el paso de los meses, con el glaciar de los años) que Mankell tomó excesivos riesgos al querer adentrarse en la cultura cantonesa y específi More...
Es la primera vez que encuentro en una historia de Henning Mankell lagunas tan grandes, aristas tan notorias que primero asoman como si fueran errores tipográficos, sobresalen, irrumpen y alcabo de 300 página casi desencuadernan el trabajo de Tusquets Editores. Me da la impresión (pero es sólo una impresión: esto puede cambiar con el paso de los meses, con el glaciar de los años) que Mankell tomó excesivos riesgos al querer adentrarse en la cultura cantonesa y específi More...
Jul 15, 2011
Aaron
rated it:
I couldn't really tell if the plodding details were a Swedish thing, or a result of the translation. I'm lucky enough to have a Swede in my reading group. Apparently, it's a Swedish thing.
What I mean by this is... the judge is expecting a call, the phone rings, the judge picks it up and it's not who she expected. The judge says she's waiting on a phone call and promises to call the person back, hangs up, then gets the call she was expecting. Things like this might be an attempt a More...
What I mean by this is... the judge is expecting a call, the phone rings, the judge picks it up and it's not who she expected. The judge says she's waiting on a phone call and promises to call the person back, hangs up, then gets the call she was expecting. Things like this might be an attempt a More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Jul 10, 2011
Nicole
rated it:
We read this book for book group in the month of June, and the overall average score that this book received was a 3.43 out of 5. Originally I gave it a 4 star rating, but upon considering things as I prepared for this post I think I would have to knock my rating down to a 3.5, so I don't know what that would do to the above average.
Henning Mankell is a well-known author, though this was the first of his books that I had ever read. I got the free sample from Amazon and was hooked - the More...
Henning Mankell is a well-known author, though this was the first of his books that I had ever read. I got the free sample from Amazon and was hooked - the More...
Jul 06, 2011
Al
rated it:
I was disappointed in this book. It's like Mr. Mankell suddenly decided to write something about China politics, and had to fabricate a plot to support his subject. The plot is disjointed, and the few loosely connected acts of violence do little to support it. The protagonist, a female Swedish judge, has the requisite existential angst seemingly required in Swedish detective novels, but floats in a cloud of vague dread and foreboding throughout most of the book. She's aware something
More...
Jul 04, 2011
Karen
rated it:
I picked up this book after reading something about it which said like Stieg Larsson, Henning Mankell was a Swedish author, and like Larsson this book had a strong female character, but it was a middle aged judge. It sounded interesting. And the book is. It revolves around a massacre of nineteen people in a small village in Sweden. Turns out the judge is related to two of the victims, and she becomes involved in the case, doing some of her own detective work. The book then goes back in time
More...
Jul 01, 2011
Allan
rated it:
So I watched all three of those movies with the dragon-tattooed girl, even though only the first one held my full interest, and the viewings left me open to the notion that Scandinavian noir may be the new noir for me. If The Man From Beijing is good enough for the book kiosks at JFK, I further reasoned, it should be good enough for me, and I suppose the book is partially a dark treat of low horizon pessimism and chill. But the narrative slips from the precise and complete butchery of a tiny ice
More...
Jun 23, 2011
Gerry
rated it:
There is no question that China has become an economic powerhouse. The question is, is it a communist country, a capitalist country or both? This book looks at those in China who who want China to adhere to the principals of Chairman Mao and place the well being of the masses above all else and those in China who have become capitalists and are hell bent on amassing wealth no matter what the cost.
All of this is played out starting with a massacre in a small Swedish town that makes no More...
All of this is played out starting with a massacre in a small Swedish town that makes no More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
May 16, 2011
Sophia
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
May 12, 2011
Rachel
rated it:
Okay, I freely admit that I am one of those people that tends to think in outline form. I like things to flow in a logical manner. At times, this book made me feel like I was listening to my four year old nephew tell me about a movie. It was here, there, and all over the place, meandering into circumstances in China, Africa, the history of Mao's policies, etc. There were parts where I found myself wondering: did this book have an editor? If so, where were they? I mean, the background of th
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
May 06, 2011
Rod
rated it:
While this is a crime novel it is also a wide-ranging and ambitious book, connecting events in Sweden with the neo-colonialist activity of the Chinese in Africa.
The starting point is a series of murders all occurring in the same night in a remote Swedish village. The local police believe that the murderer was a deranged Swedish man who commits suicide while in custody. However a visiting judge, Birgitta Roslin, who has connections with some of the victims, comes to the view that the m More...
The starting point is a series of murders all occurring in the same night in a remote Swedish village. The local police believe that the murderer was a deranged Swedish man who commits suicide while in custody. However a visiting judge, Birgitta Roslin, who has connections with some of the victims, comes to the view that the m More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jan 26, 2011
Darryl
rated it:
In this novel of racial intolerance and generational vengeance, Mankell takes us from 1860’s Nevada to modern day Sweden, Beijing, London and Mozambique; from the harsh slave labor conditions imposed upon Chinese workers building the western U.S. railroads to the gleaming towers of Communist Beijing’s fabulously wealthy business magnates, to the hideous torture murders of eighteen seniors, one child and one dog living in the tiny hamlet of Hesjovallen, Sweden. What is the reason for the murde
More...
Dec 17, 2010
Susan
rated it:
A carefully written tale of misguided retribution that explains but of course does not justify an atrocious crime by finding its origin in the past, the atrocities suffered over 150 years ago by Chinese immigrants who built the Western pieces of American railroad and were treated no better than slaves. As imperfect as Wallander, the truth-seeker here is Judge Birgitta Roslin who becomes obsessed with figuring out an apparently senseless crime, the murder of 19 people in the little hamlet where
More...
Dec 01, 2010
Susanhayeshotmail.com
rated it:
Hmmm, how to describe this one...starts out with a bang,then wanders around quite a lot, from one storyline to another, across time and through several countries. It was engaging enough and yet, yet it seemed to me to lack something, parts that could have/should have been more fully developed? I found the geopolitics kind of interesting, if kind of scary and appalling. I don't need every t crossed and every i dotted in a mystery to enjoy it but really, though this was pretty good I felt like i
More...
Sep 08, 2010
Beth
rated it:
On page 328 of THE MAN FROM BEIJING, Henning Mankell writes, as part of a conversation, “We are still embroiled in a large-scale investigation with lots of complicated details.” This pretty much describes the book. It starts with the murders of 18 elderly people and 1 child in a hamlet in Sweden in 2006. By the time the story ends, the reader has been to China in 1863, Nevada during the building of the transcontinental railroad, back to China while still in the 19th century but then More...
Sep 04, 2010
Barbara
rated it:
Chinese ideology aside, this is a very interesting standalone novel for Mankell. And despite the title, some of the action takes place in Mozambique, where Mankell resides part of the year. It's certainly the most peripatetic novel I can remember Mankell writing, with scenes taking place in Sweden, England, China, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. If Mankell had deleted the overly long explanation of current Chinese backroom politics, the novel would have been far less than the 363 pages, and the story
More...
Aug 24, 2010
Sugarski
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Aug 22, 2010
Vegantrav
rated it:
Having been thoroughly delighted with and entranced by Stieg Larsson's Millenium trilogy, I decided to read this mystery/thriller from another renowned Swedish author, Henning Mankell.
Mankell, though, is no Larsson. The Man from Beijing begins as an intriguing mystery with a mass murder in a small village in a remote area in the northern part of Sweden. As the novel progresses and we learn who massacred the elderly residents and one child in this village, our normal willingness to More...
Mankell, though, is no Larsson. The Man from Beijing begins as an intriguing mystery with a mass murder in a small village in a remote area in the northern part of Sweden. As the novel progresses and we learn who massacred the elderly residents and one child in this village, our normal willingness to More...
