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Apr 12, 2009

Cynthia rated it:

I confess to having only read the first two of the five stories in this book. They're tightly written, intelligent and have intelligent psychology but I found them kind of grim and austere so I didn't finish the book. This set of stories is, I guess, a prequel to the Kurt Wallander series. I think I would find them less depressing if Wallander didn't spend so much time fighting with his wife and brooding over their cruddy relationship. I am probably more aware of this dynamic than other Wallande More...

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Jul 28, 2011

Derek rated it:

I've grown very fond of the two TV series of Wallander with Krister Henriksson but hadn't read any of the novels. In a way these stories/novellas, written after the novels but set before them, are probably a pretty good place to start. Exploring some episodes in KW's early career, and his relationships with his father, wife, and daughter, none of the stories outstays their welcome. The last one, The Pyramid, is the longest and the best one. Even in the shortest stories I find the minute details More...

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May 12, 2011

John rated it:

The PBS series starring Kenneth Brannagh got me interested in Wallander, but reading this book really got me hooked. This seemed like a great place to start, as the stories fill in some of the gaps in Wallander's career as a rookie cop, and then later working his way up the ranks. On that score, there seems to be a pretty big temporal leap from "rookie" Wallender to the nearly fully realized one, but I guess an author can only write the stories he's inspired to write. As much or mor More...

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Mar 18, 2011

sabisteb rated it:

Malmö 1969 - Kurt Wallander, gerade mal Anfang 20, ist noch ein junger Streifenpolizist, der sich bei der Kripo um eine Stelle beworben hat. Der Streifendienst jedoch ist so gar nicht nach Kurt Wallanders Geschmack, er hasst es auf unschuldige Demonstranten losgehen zu müssen. Wallanders kriminalistische Neugier wird das erste Mal geweckt als sein Nachbar Halén Selbstmord begeht. Wallander glaubt, dass es Mord war und will dies auf eigene Faust beweisen. Dabei begibt es sich leichtisnnig in Gefa More...

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Jan 13, 2011

Tabata rated it:

The Pyramid was my first Wallander book. After being hooked to the TV series with Kenneth Branagh again by watching the last episode of season 2 with a friend, we decided to give the novels a go.

I personally hate having to read translations and I would have much preferred to read the Swedish original, but unfortunately I know next to no Swedish so I settled for at least the English translation.

The first bookstore I checked only had The Pyramid, Mankell's ninth Wallander novel More...

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Jan 02, 2011

Mal rated it:

What is it about Swedish mystery writers?

First (at least in my consciousness) there were the ten Martin Beck police procedurals of Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo, published from 1965 to 1975. Now we flock to bookstores and movie theaters to enter the world of Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomqvist, who sprang from the mind of the late Stieg Larsson in the captivating form of the Millennium Trilogy.

In between there was Kurt Wallender, the moody small-town police inspector created b More...

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Oct 26, 2010

Beth rated it:

THE PYRAMID is a collection of 5 short mysteries by which Henning Mankell introduces us to Kurt Wallender when he is a 21 year-old patrolman investigating the first homicide of his career. In a foreward, Mankell explains that he has received many inquires over the years about what happened to Wallender in the years before he receives the phone call the begins the first book in the series, FACELESS KILLERS. Mankell acknowledges that there have been inconsistencies in Wallender’s story More...

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Oct 10, 2010

Tony rated it:

Mankell, Hennng. THE PYRAMID. (1999; this trans. 2008). ***. Most readers have a problem with fiction that doesn’t have the usual flow of a beginning, a middle, and an end. This is why fans clamor for more and more information about the early life of a character – the influences and events that shaped a character that suddenly appears before them in whole cloth. It isn’t clear whether the stories in this collection were previously published or were made to order to satisfy fan demand, but More...

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Mar 19, 2010

Carolyn rated it:

Kurt Wallander isn't just my favorite fictional detective. He's one of my favorite characters from any book. When I finished Before the Frost a few years ago, my heart sank at the realization that there was no more Wallander available. I missed his company. I missed hanging out at the Ystad police station with him, drinking endless cups of coffee, having meeting after meeting with colleagues in which the facts of a case are pored over yet again, in the hopes that this time, something new will be More...

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Jul 22, 2009

Marsena rated it:

I am loathe to give this book only two stars because Henning Mankell is one of my favorite mystery authors and I eagerly await new installments (i.e., translations) with his character, Kurt Wallander. (How thrilling to discover a PBS Mystery series of Wallander, played by Kenneth Brannaugh!)

This book includes four stories that go back to the beginning of Wallander's career as an investigator, supposedly fleshing out those experiences that the other books only allude to. But I keep thi More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Mar 18, 2011

John rated it:

Pam and I have watched and enjoyed several of the Kenneth Branagh Wallander mysteries, and so I thought it was about time I read some of the Real Thing; as chance would have it, what I picked was not one of the novels but a sort of later adjunct to the series, a fat volume containing two short novels, a novella, and a couple of novelettes.

I was left very much in two minds as to whether I wanted to read any more. Segerberg's translation really plods; there are countless sentences that exhibit a s More...

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Jan 29, 2012

Andrew rated it:

These five short tales appeared last in the Wallander series but are chronologically first, making for a belated introduction of the character. There are no major surprises here - Wallander was ever unhealthy and overworked - and no changes to Mankell's method. Using his almost staccato timeline approach, things moving always compellingly forward, the stories never really catch as bona fide mysteries. The resolutions are always due to intuitions of Wallander's that are not really prepared by the More...

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Jul 15, 2011

charlie rated it:

After finishing the last Wallander novel, I discovered I had skipped a collection of 5 short stories - these span almost the whole career of Wallander, starting with his first case as a detective. I normally am not a fan of short stories - but in the context of procedurals with a character who i know intimately - I really really enjoyed these... perhaps more than some of the novels, since none of them get bogged down with Mankell's need to comment on the bleak state of Sweden's crumbling (or at More...

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Jul 14, 2011

Jenn rated it:

i'm a huge wallander/mankell fan and this collection of short stories reminded me why i love them so. although it also made me a wee bit sad because i want *more* and that's apparently not going to happen ... it was great to revisit the characters though and i quite enjoyed the insight this book offered into the characters, while also serving up a handful of great mysteries.

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Jan 04, 2012

Annabelle rated it:

Mankell wrote this post the end of the prolific Wallander books. He created a series of short stories to explain some of Wallander’s background, I thought big snooze. But I liked it a lot. Unlike other famous authors (i.e. P.D. James). Mankell never disrespects his reader, and keeps his attention up with creating a detailed setting and excellent character development, and some good mysteries. I liked the details of Wallander’s as a new policeman, more on his ex wife Mona, Wallander’s mentor R More...

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Dec 02, 2008

Judy rated it:

What a downer Swedish society must be if the atmosphere evoked by Henning Mankell is even close to accurate. Sometimes I have to put his books aside for an hour and go outside and stand for a while in a patch of sunshine. This book is a collection of four stories and a novella that follow Kurt Wallander from hsi first stab at detective work (and I use that term literally) when he was 21, and covers a 30 year period as he matures into a divorced man who misses his wife (and seems unsure why the More...

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Dec 08, 2010

Tim rated it:

My first introduction to the character of Kurt Wallander was not the books or the popular BBC versions starring Kenneth Branagh. A local pbs station shows foreign mysteries one day week. Despite being in Swedish and subtitled I enjoyed the character. With the success of the BBC version I decided to finally pick up a Wallander book.
The Pyramid features a series of stories that take Wallander from a new cop in 1969 till right before the start of the first Wallander novel. These stories are More...

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Nov 16, 2010

Mighelon rated it:

In questo libro conosciamo Wallander prima dell'indagine 'Assassino senza volto' attraverso dei racconti. Come, da semplice agente, sia rimasto coinvolto in un'indagine che con le sue intuizioni riesce a risolvere, facendosi notare dal capo della sezione investigativa, nonostante a volte abbia agito da solo, anche a sue spese. Il secondo episodio capita prima di trasferirsi a Ystad. Quindi tre indagini nel periodo in cui dalla sua vita escono Mona e Linda, si ritrova a vivere solo, e dirige la More...

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Nov 16, 2011

Irene rated it:

This book is a prequel to the Wallander series -- much shorter cases, meant to give us insight into his early career, marriage, family relationships, colleagues, traumatic events that shaped his life -- on the one hand it was nice to meet him as a young man, but I don't feel I learned that much about him. His father is portrayed as an eccentric person, but we already know that. We are there when he meets Mona and see how his job interferes with their relationship, but I don't feel like I got to More...

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Jan 08, 2009

Ted rated it:

This is a must for any serious reader of the Wallendar mystery series as it gives more heft to the backstories that come out in the series.

Individually, certain of the stories are more interesting than others. I found it somewhat annoying that the first two stories and final story find Wallendar in mortal danger as a result of being somewhat careless. The final story is interesting more for the developing relationship between Wallendar and his father then the mystery which ties its More...

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Jan 01, 2012

Marjorie rated it:

This was my first Kurt Wallender book and I am planning on reading more. Mankell has created a very interesting character in Wallender and the plots also raise interesting ethical questions about social issues. The writing is also quite good.

I can't remember how I came across Mankell but reading more about him raised questions for me. It turns out that Mankell is quite a vehement spokesperson against Israel and in fact participated in the flotilla that tried to break the Gaza embar More...

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Apr 09, 2011

Sho rated it:

My first foray into the World of Wallander. In German since I figure that it's translated out of Swedish anyway so it makes no difference if I read it in German or English.

(Don't worry - the review isn't in my excrable written German...)

I've seen Wallander on German TV and on English TV - with Kenneth Brannagh in the title role in the English language version, and with subtitles in the Swedish version which meant that I missed all the action. Coming in, fashionably late a More...

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Oct 28, 2010

Robert rated it:

As far as I am concerned the best of the Wallander books I have read. The book consists of 5 cases in the early life of the protagonist and the book is a prequel published after the 8th Wallander book. The book starts in 1975 when Wallander was an uniform patrolman in Malmo and goes to 1989. The stories are simple and concise with a smaller amount of social commentary. The prologue contain the strongest commentary on social democracy. The longest of the stories is "The Pyramid" a More...

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Mar 22, 2011

Mariana rated it:

Maybe I should have read this in the order it was published, as book number 9. But once I knew these were the first stories (chronologically speaking) of Kurt Wallander, I decided to start from his origins. Not my best idea.

If you are a complete n00b like me, these stories do little to introduce you to Wallander as a person. He's a faceless, uninteresting, and unremarkable protagonist. Don't get me wrong, I don't need to know/care/like the main character to be engaged in their story More...

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Apr 23, 2011

False rated it:

I read about Mankell in the magazine "Entertainment Weekly" and promptly ordered all of his books through the library. I just finished Pyramid, which is the first novel, as well as four short stories that predate Kurt Wallander being introduced into the long running series of novels. The writing charms in odd ways you really have to think about. A flawed hero who has sweaters for every degree of temperature change. Someone whose car won't start, whose washing machine breaks down, w More...

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Jun 13, 2010

Jenn rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Dec 31, 2009

Liisa rated it:

I stumbled upon the Yellow Bird series of Henning Mankell's "Wallander" on BBC4 (Swedish version) and was immediately captivated. A fan of mystery, drama and crime-thriller, I liked this fresh approach to the genre and really interested to check out the books that sparked both the Swedish and English shows.

Henning Mankell's "The Pyramid" is a prequel to the Wallander series. Comprising four stories, it shows through cases how Wallander's police-style and personali More...

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Dec 16, 2010

Paola rated it:

Le inchieste e il lavoro di Wallander da giovane.
Un prequel, la vita privata e professionale prima di diventare "famoso".
Giovane poliziotto di ronda, innamorato della giovane donna che poi sposerà e da cui divorzierà, le incomprensioni con il padre, anche un viaggio in Egitto per andare a riprenderlo perché arrestato mentre cercava di scalare le piramidi. Vedere le piramidi e poter salire sulla più alta era il sogno di sempre del padre. E bisogna essere leali nei confronti dei propri More...

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Mar 21, 2011

Rebecca rated it:

The advantage of writing these prequel stories of Wallander's career is that the writing is of the same high quality as the novels that trace Wallander's later life and that, well, much is explained. These stories are snapshots of the first couple of decades of Wallander's police work, the time before his marriage (which we know will turn out badly), the marriage itself, and so on. The character develops convincingly into the melancholy, lonely, rather dissipated detective we have met in his l More...

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Jan 20, 2010

Jessica rated it:

disappointing...though I'm a Wallander fan, these stories which follow Wallender's early career (written later) seemed mechanical, uninspired, the prose flat and unadorned. Some stories were better than others (wish I could remember which now). Mankell does better with novel-length mysteries than with stories I think. Just skip to the novels*. They vary in quality, but are generally much more absorbing and fun reads.

*I'm referring here to his procedural detective novels, the More...

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