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Kurt Wallander #2
Los perros de Riga
En esta segunda entrega, tras haber familiarizado a sus lectores con la fría región de Suecia donde Wallander es jefe de policía, Mankell traslada al inspector fuera de su jurisdicción, al vecino país de Letonia. En la capital debe investigar la muerte de dos letones, cuyos cadáveres llegaron a la costa sueca, paradójicamente, a bordo de un bote salvavidas. Acosado por sus problemas de salud, sus remordimientos por desatender a su anciano padre o la angustia por la separación de su mujer y la pérdida de contacto con su hija, la vida del inspector dará un vuelco cuando conozca a Baiba Lepa, una mujer que agregará a los conflictos políticos de Letonia las turbulencias propias del amor.
332 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
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7082 people want to read
About the author
Henning Mankell
227 books3,818 followersHenning Mankell was an internationally known Swedish crime writer, children's author and playwright. He was best known for his literary character Kurt Wallander.
Mankell split his time between Sweden and Mozambique. He was married to Eva Bergman, Swedish director and daughter of Ingmar Bergman.
Mankell split his time between Sweden and Mozambique. He was married to Eva Bergman, Swedish director and daughter of Ingmar Bergman.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,947 reviews
February 10, 2017
Kurt Wallander, Swedish detective, is inexplicably sent to Latvia to investigate the death of a Latvian police officer who was killed ...in Latvia.
Wallander doesn't know why he's in Latvia. Henning Mankell doesn't appear to know why Wallander is in Latvia. I don't know why Wallander is in Latvia. After 300 pages of Wallander being driven around Latvia, being cold, eating omelettes, drinking coffee, wandering around with a map, and sitting around asking himself why he's in Latvia, I don't actually care. The subplot of shadowy...whatever they were...freedom fighters...? made no sense whatsoever (seriously, he's investigating the death of a police officer and he voluntarily lets himself be taken around by guys who throw hoods over his head? To hang out with people with whom he can barely communicate in bad English? Who does that?), and the other subplot with the love interest was ridiculous. Wallander is 40-ish, not 14.
I should have paid attention to my instinct to drop this in the discard pile, but I was determined to ride it out. I'm going to pay attention to my instincts from now on.
Wallander doesn't know why he's in Latvia. Henning Mankell doesn't appear to know why Wallander is in Latvia. I don't know why Wallander is in Latvia. After 300 pages of Wallander being driven around Latvia, being cold, eating omelettes, drinking coffee, wandering around with a map, and sitting around asking himself why he's in Latvia, I don't actually care. The subplot of shadowy...whatever they were...freedom fighters...? made no sense whatsoever (seriously, he's investigating the death of a police officer and he voluntarily lets himself be taken around by guys who throw hoods over his head? To hang out with people with whom he can barely communicate in bad English? Who does that?), and the other subplot with the love interest was ridiculous. Wallander is 40-ish, not 14.
I should have paid attention to my instinct to drop this in the discard pile, but I was determined to ride it out. I'm going to pay attention to my instincts from now on.
August 11, 2020
Es el segundo de la serie Kurt Wallander, y fue publicado en los primeros años de los 90. Aunque he leído posteriores, tenía pendientes este, y también el tercero, que leeré en breve.
Tengo que confesar que no está entre los mejores de este magnífico escritor (siempre según mi opinión, por supuesto). Pero me han gustado, y mucho, su desarrollo en Letonia, y el trasfondo político en el que estaban sumergidos los países del este a la caída del Muro de Berlín y del colapso de la Unión Soviética. Mankell lo escribió por aquella época, por lo que el relato denota la frescura del momento, sin saber aún qué pasaría con este y otros países satélites de Moscú. Aquí la investigación en sí es lo de menos. Lo realmente interesante está en revivir las experiencias del comisario en una Letonia que, para Wallander, era un gran misterio. A menudo compara las condiciones de vida letonas con las de su propio país, mucho más avanzado en todos los sentidos, y aún así, termina por cogerle cariño a una Riga (la capital) decrépita y decadente, donde la corrupción y el espionaje al vecino campan a sus anchas.
Recomendable para los seguidores de la serie, entre los cuales me encuentro.
Tengo que confesar que no está entre los mejores de este magnífico escritor (siempre según mi opinión, por supuesto). Pero me han gustado, y mucho, su desarrollo en Letonia, y el trasfondo político en el que estaban sumergidos los países del este a la caída del Muro de Berlín y del colapso de la Unión Soviética. Mankell lo escribió por aquella época, por lo que el relato denota la frescura del momento, sin saber aún qué pasaría con este y otros países satélites de Moscú. Aquí la investigación en sí es lo de menos. Lo realmente interesante está en revivir las experiencias del comisario en una Letonia que, para Wallander, era un gran misterio. A menudo compara las condiciones de vida letonas con las de su propio país, mucho más avanzado en todos los sentidos, y aún así, termina por cogerle cariño a una Riga (la capital) decrépita y decadente, donde la corrupción y el espionaje al vecino campan a sus anchas.
Recomendable para los seguidores de la serie, entre los cuales me encuentro.
February 14, 2017
Have you ever been to Latvia?
Me neither. Turns out Riga is the capital of this Baltic state. Back in the olden days of 1991 and thereabouts, this evil empire called the Soviet Union (once and again called Russia – home of the Rooskies) controlled a big chunk of the globe, especially the cold wintry parts.
Including Riga, Latvia. (**I was happily showed otherwise when I first posted this review, check out the comments below and the friendly reader from sunny and warm Riga)
Another cold and dark place, though with happy trees and surly and reclusive police detectives is Sweden. Henning Mankell’s second Kurt Wallander novel was better than the first, 1991’s Faceless Killers, and much of the enhanced praise comes from Mankell’s use of and exploration of the dichotomy between these northern countries and at this time and place.
The Cold War was winding down, The Scorpions were releasing a song called “Wind of Change”, Ronald Reagan was telling eastern folks to tear down a wall, and Hey, let's face it, there was a lot of transformations in the world.
In Latvia, citizens would get the choice (more or less) about whether to stay in the Soviet orbit or go it alone and free. Mankell makes another interesting observation in that not all Latvians wanted Coca-Cola capitalism, were just hunky dorey with communism but were dissatisfied at how the revolution was going. Mankell also provides a good explanation for how, when the Iron Curtain fell, Russian style gangsters were more than ready to fill the void created by the end of totalitarian rule. Why? Because they were already there and in business.
A lifeboat with two dead Russian thugs, having been tortured and shot, washes up on the shores of Sweden. Inspector Wallander and his shift of Swedish police officers investigate until a Latvian police major arrives. Later, Wallander is summoned to Riga to help the Latvian police and he gets embroiled in the changes sweeping the communist world.
An inspired, introspective but dynamic story told with style and character.
Me neither. Turns out Riga is the capital of this Baltic state. Back in the olden days of 1991 and thereabouts, this evil empire called the Soviet Union (once and again called Russia – home of the Rooskies) controlled a big chunk of the globe, especially the cold wintry parts.
Including Riga, Latvia. (**I was happily showed otherwise when I first posted this review, check out the comments below and the friendly reader from sunny and warm Riga)
Another cold and dark place, though with happy trees and surly and reclusive police detectives is Sweden. Henning Mankell’s second Kurt Wallander novel was better than the first, 1991’s Faceless Killers, and much of the enhanced praise comes from Mankell’s use of and exploration of the dichotomy between these northern countries and at this time and place.
The Cold War was winding down, The Scorpions were releasing a song called “Wind of Change”, Ronald Reagan was telling eastern folks to tear down a wall, and Hey, let's face it, there was a lot of transformations in the world.
In Latvia, citizens would get the choice (more or less) about whether to stay in the Soviet orbit or go it alone and free. Mankell makes another interesting observation in that not all Latvians wanted Coca-Cola capitalism, were just hunky dorey with communism but were dissatisfied at how the revolution was going. Mankell also provides a good explanation for how, when the Iron Curtain fell, Russian style gangsters were more than ready to fill the void created by the end of totalitarian rule. Why? Because they were already there and in business.
A lifeboat with two dead Russian thugs, having been tortured and shot, washes up on the shores of Sweden. Inspector Wallander and his shift of Swedish police officers investigate until a Latvian police major arrives. Later, Wallander is summoned to Riga to help the Latvian police and he gets embroiled in the changes sweeping the communist world.
An inspired, introspective but dynamic story told with style and character.
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May 2, 2025Back when you were still young and I was quite a bit younger, I read a Jo Nesbo novel while my wife read The Dogs Of Riga. I don't recall which Nesbo novel I read back then, but I suspect it was The Bat because that's the first Harry Hole book, and it takes place in Australia.
Now, believing that I had never read a Henning Mankell novel, I decided to give The Dogs Of Riga a whirl. However, by the time Wallander got to Latvia, I'd realized I'd been there already. So rather than trodding over well trodded territory, I'm gonna check out Faceless Killers.
Now, believing that I had never read a Henning Mankell novel, I decided to give The Dogs Of Riga a whirl. However, by the time Wallander got to Latvia, I'd realized I'd been there already. So rather than trodding over well trodded territory, I'm gonna check out Faceless Killers.
March 6, 2021
رواية بوليسية
“قل الحقيقة مثلما هي، فالألم الذي ستسببه ليس أسوأ من الحقيقة ذاتها، عليك أن تقول الحقيقة مثلما هي”.
هنينغ مانكل.
December 1, 2009
Poor old Kurt Wallander. I just want to buy the guy a beer and tell him to quit being so hard on himself.
The Swedish police detective isn’t faring much better in the second book of the series than he was in the first. Still lonely after his divorce and worried about his flighty daughter and elderly father, Wallander has also lost his best friend on the police force to cancer. The new breed of crime rising in the early ‘90s in Sweden continues to shock him and makes him uncertain whether he should even continue being a cop.
When a life raft with a couple of tortured and murdered bodies washes up on shore, Wallander doubts that there will be any way to solve the crime, and when the victims turn out be from Latvia, he’s all too happy to turn the case over to the Latvian detective sent to investigate. Of course, things don’t go that smoothly and Wallander ends up having to travel to Riga and finds himself wrapped up in dangerous political and police corruption as the country struggles to free itself from the last remains of Soviet communism.
Like the first novel, Faceless Killers, the main appeal in the books is the character of Wallander. A great everyman sort of detective, who is very insecure about his professional skills and private life, Wallander seems always on the verge of just giving up in frustration. Yet he always manages to keep plodding along and working on the case at hand, and showing the kind of grim determination that others call bravery even if Wallander would scoff at the idea.
It’s been very interesting to read these Swedish books that were written right as communism fell in Eastern Europe. It gives a lot of new perspective to what that part of the world had to deal with.
The Swedish police detective isn’t faring much better in the second book of the series than he was in the first. Still lonely after his divorce and worried about his flighty daughter and elderly father, Wallander has also lost his best friend on the police force to cancer. The new breed of crime rising in the early ‘90s in Sweden continues to shock him and makes him uncertain whether he should even continue being a cop.
When a life raft with a couple of tortured and murdered bodies washes up on shore, Wallander doubts that there will be any way to solve the crime, and when the victims turn out be from Latvia, he’s all too happy to turn the case over to the Latvian detective sent to investigate. Of course, things don’t go that smoothly and Wallander ends up having to travel to Riga and finds himself wrapped up in dangerous political and police corruption as the country struggles to free itself from the last remains of Soviet communism.
Like the first novel, Faceless Killers, the main appeal in the books is the character of Wallander. A great everyman sort of detective, who is very insecure about his professional skills and private life, Wallander seems always on the verge of just giving up in frustration. Yet he always manages to keep plodding along and working on the case at hand, and showing the kind of grim determination that others call bravery even if Wallander would scoff at the idea.
It’s been very interesting to read these Swedish books that were written right as communism fell in Eastern Europe. It gives a lot of new perspective to what that part of the world had to deal with.
November 4, 2015
I was looking forward to reading this one because it hadn't been adapted for Kenneth Branagh's Wallander TV series, which I've been a fan of. I suppose I should have wondered instead why they'd skipped it. This one starts off ok, with an intriguing mystery of suited men, dead of gunshot wounds, adrift in a dinghy. There's some interesting hangovers from Faceless Killers, not least Wallander's former confidant, the deceased detective Rydberg haunting his decision making. Mankell tries to establish two of the underused characters from the first book, Martinsson and Svedberg, and Wallander is having more health problems but before we can relax into the investigation he introduces a twist and Wallander ends up going solo for some extended cloak and daggering in Riga, Latvia. It's very much a book nailed into 1991, in that transitional period between the Baltic state's break with Russia and eventual adoption into the EU. Descriptively there's hardly anything beyond generic urban areas with brief statements of being in the countryside. Wallander voices Mankell's philosophical musings about national identity interspersed with dollops of canine symbolism. Let's face it Wallander isn't James Bond. In fact he's probably more in line with Michael Crawford's Condorman. I look forward to reading the next book in the series which hopefully will have Wallander, shouting at his subordinates, stuffing down cold pizza and struggling with his personal life in Sweden - where he belongs.
May 6, 2023
Read it for the second time and I was just as impressed! 5 stars again.
June 17, 2012
I enjoyed the first Wallander book and this one starts off promising but it ultimately fizzles. The set up rapidly takes us through some standard police procedural but after a few reveals it switches focus to a new, seemingly unrelated crime. Wallander is promptly sent to Riga in Latvia and for much of the middle section he wanders/mopes around Riga with little focus. He can't seem to figure out why he's there and I couldn't either to be honest.
After a lot of nothing very much he gets caught up in a possible conspiracy and things become a little unbelievable, given the starkly realistic portrayal of police work in the first book. Some melodrama starts seeping in, very little happens and at times he starts behaving like a lovesick teenage boy. Then he goes off to play at James Bond. Kind of. By this point I had lost interest and it all seemed rather silly.
Ultimately I didn't find the story or any of the new characters that engaging. It's also quite dated; an afterword explaining the rapidly changing political/social situation in the Baltic states back in 1991 is interesting but highlights that times have changed.
I still like the character and wouldn't rule out any further books, especially as most people seem to like them. I'd just rather he stayed closer to home next time.
After a lot of nothing very much he gets caught up in a possible conspiracy and things become a little unbelievable, given the starkly realistic portrayal of police work in the first book. Some melodrama starts seeping in, very little happens and at times he starts behaving like a lovesick teenage boy. Then he goes off to play at James Bond. Kind of. By this point I had lost interest and it all seemed rather silly.
Ultimately I didn't find the story or any of the new characters that engaging. It's also quite dated; an afterword explaining the rapidly changing political/social situation in the Baltic states back in 1991 is interesting but highlights that times have changed.
I still like the character and wouldn't rule out any further books, especially as most people seem to like them. I'd just rather he stayed closer to home next time.
April 6, 2021
معمای کارآگاهیش چنگی به دل نمیزد و بعضی از سوالات مهم هم بیجواب میموند، ولی نکتهی جالبتر از موضوع پلیسی شرح زندگی و مناسبات سیاسی و اجتماعی کشور لتونی در دورهی فروپاشی شوروی بود که البته اون هم از دید یه نویسندهی غربی روایت شده و خدا میدونه تا چه حد منطبق با واقعیته. یه نکتهی از اون هم جالبتر جملاتی که فکر نمیکردم در مورد سوئد صدق کنند، مثل این:
رسواییهای زیادی که سیاستمداران در چند سال گذشته مرتکب شده بودند در میان تونلهای نامرئی بین وزارت خارجه و سایر سازمانها و دستگاههای دولتی مدفون میشد و دستگاه پلیس نباید چیزی از آنها برملا میکرد.
یا:
چنین چیزی در مورد سوئد هم صادق است. [...] یک شبکة پیچیده و گسترده از روابط فقط مختص کشورهای دیکتاتوری هم نیست.
و البته به هر حال تفاوتی بین سوئد و لتونی وجود دارد:
«در سوئد غیرممکن است که پلیسی وارد رستورانی شو�� و چون میز خالی نیست دستور بدهد میزی برایش بیاورند.»
ستوان زیدز گفت: «ولی اینجا فرق میکند. همه میخواهند روابط خوبی با پلیس داشته باشند.»
رسواییهای زیادی که سیاستمداران در چند سال گذشته مرتکب شده بودند در میان تونلهای نامرئی بین وزارت خارجه و سایر سازمانها و دستگاههای دولتی مدفون میشد و دستگاه پلیس نباید چیزی از آنها برملا میکرد.
یا:
چنین چیزی در مورد سوئد هم صادق است. [...] یک شبکة پیچیده و گسترده از روابط فقط مختص کشورهای دیکتاتوری هم نیست.
و البته به هر حال تفاوتی بین سوئد و لتونی وجود دارد:
«در سوئد غیرممکن است که پلیسی وارد رستورانی شو�� و چون میز خالی نیست دستور بدهد میزی برایش بیاورند.»
ستوان زیدز گفت: «ولی اینجا فرق میکند. همه میخواهند روابط خوبی با پلیس داشته باشند.»
November 5, 2020
I gave this three stars and that seems to be about right, though I will read more in this series featuring everyday provincial Swedish detective Kurt Wallender, a kind of dour and dumpy but somehow likeable guy. He's Detective Everyman--middle-aged, just dumped by his wife, estranged for his flighty daughter, his fave partner dead from cancer, feeling guilty about not spending enough time with his father who is descending in dementia. as a detective, he's not Sherlock Holmes. He doesn't have the physical prowess of Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole; he has a paunch, he sometimes gets chest pains, and while brilliant Harry teaches detective courses at the Oslo Police Academy, Wallender thinks about quitting in this newer, more violent age of policing, and he's not brilliant. He pokes around mostly, determinedly, and once in a while gets lucky.
Two dead guys in a rowboat drift ashore and they find they have been murdered in Riga. A Latvian cop comes to Sweden to investigate, goes home and is killed. Wallender gets invited by the widow of the Latvian cop to come to Riga and help solve the crime. Wallemder goes because he feels a spark with the widow, so he smuggles himself into Latvia and soon learns of levels of political intrigue involving Latvian gangsters, the former Soviet Union (this is the nineties) and drug cartels that leave him feeling like he is way over his head. He's a cop, not an MI6 operative.
The action is slow for awhile until we get somewhat background on the political situation, and then it turns (somewhat improbable) thriller as Wallender sort of stumbles onto a solution to both the crimes involving the guys in the rowboat and the Latvian detective. No one in Sweden knows he went to Latvia, so I am curious whether that secret makes its way into the series.
I like Wallender and Mankell writes well, mostly grounded in reality, the every day. I see that Mankell also wrote a series involving his daughter Linda, so that intrigues me. I may read on. Mankell is a good writer who in an afterword makes his political commitments as a writer clear. Unlike Nesbo, Mankell wants to weave world politics into his provincial cop's life. Wallender professes no interest in or knowledge of world politics, but is forced to confront them, so that is an interesting aspect of the work.
Two dead guys in a rowboat drift ashore and they find they have been murdered in Riga. A Latvian cop comes to Sweden to investigate, goes home and is killed. Wallender gets invited by the widow of the Latvian cop to come to Riga and help solve the crime. Wallemder goes because he feels a spark with the widow, so he smuggles himself into Latvia and soon learns of levels of political intrigue involving Latvian gangsters, the former Soviet Union (this is the nineties) and drug cartels that leave him feeling like he is way over his head. He's a cop, not an MI6 operative.
The action is slow for awhile until we get somewhat background on the political situation, and then it turns (somewhat improbable) thriller as Wallender sort of stumbles onto a solution to both the crimes involving the guys in the rowboat and the Latvian detective. No one in Sweden knows he went to Latvia, so I am curious whether that secret makes its way into the series.
I like Wallender and Mankell writes well, mostly grounded in reality, the every day. I see that Mankell also wrote a series involving his daughter Linda, so that intrigues me. I may read on. Mankell is a good writer who in an afterword makes his political commitments as a writer clear. Unlike Nesbo, Mankell wants to weave world politics into his provincial cop's life. Wallender professes no interest in or knowledge of world politics, but is forced to confront them, so that is an interesting aspect of the work.
December 16, 2022
Los perros de Riga
Segunda novela de la serie Wallander publicada en 1992. Escrita durante el año anterior, está influenciada por el derrumbamiento de los regímenes comunistas que se estaban produciendo al mismo tiempo. Seguramente ese sería el motivo de localizar la historia en Riga, capital de Letonia.
Mankell transmite la incertidumbre de esos días, los suecos no sabían nada de la vida letona ni los letones de la vida sueca siendo vecinos solo separados por el mar báltico. Estaban preocupados por cómo les iba a sentar la libertad después de tantos años bajo el yugo soviético. Cosa normal en unos países que llevaban décadas cerrados en sí mismos mientras se arruinaban sin dejar libertad a sus habitantes.
Esta situación tan confusa de esos momentos está presente en la novela y el mismo Mankell lo explica al final, una vez ya publicada, cuando los países bálticos consiguieron la independencia de la URSS.
Es una buena novela, no me ha parecido mucho más que eso. Una investigación sobre unos cuerpos aparecidos en una playa, con un Wallander por momentos sobrepasado. El momento de la historia en la que se desarrolla es lo interesante, visto desde hoy en día.
Segunda novela de la serie Wallander publicada en 1992. Escrita durante el año anterior, está influenciada por el derrumbamiento de los regímenes comunistas que se estaban produciendo al mismo tiempo. Seguramente ese sería el motivo de localizar la historia en Riga, capital de Letonia.
Mankell transmite la incertidumbre de esos días, los suecos no sabían nada de la vida letona ni los letones de la vida sueca siendo vecinos solo separados por el mar báltico. Estaban preocupados por cómo les iba a sentar la libertad después de tantos años bajo el yugo soviético. Cosa normal en unos países que llevaban décadas cerrados en sí mismos mientras se arruinaban sin dejar libertad a sus habitantes.
Esta situación tan confusa de esos momentos está presente en la novela y el mismo Mankell lo explica al final, una vez ya publicada, cuando los países bálticos consiguieron la independencia de la URSS.
Es una buena novela, no me ha parecido mucho más que eso. Una investigación sobre unos cuerpos aparecidos en una playa, con un Wallander por momentos sobrepasado. El momento de la historia en la que se desarrolla es lo interesante, visto desde hoy en día.
July 30, 2021
This is the second book in the Wallander series and this was not quite as good as the first book, but still quite intriguing. Two bodies are found in a life-raft and it leads Wallander through a series of events to assisting the police in Riga, Latvia. In an eastern block country Wallander feels well out of his depth and not sure who around him can be trusted.
Certainly a lot of history in this book and a real insight into the character that is Wallander. For me 3.5 stars rounded up.
Certainly a lot of history in this book and a real insight into the character that is Wallander. For me 3.5 stars rounded up.
December 10, 2020
Updated review
I read the first book in the Wallander series back in 2016. Funnily enough, I read it for that year's Festive Season task. The second book in the series did not do much for me either. Sweden is still a hot bed of racism IMHO and we have Wallander still flailing about with regards to his relationship with his father, ex, and daughter. The investigation should have been interesting, but honestly it was not. The first half of the book was painful to get through. I do wish that there was a way to get these books via Kindle or a Nook so I could read it a bit easier. Trying to read this on my browser made it hard to get into I think.
"The Dogs of Riga" follows Chief Inspector Kurt Wallander. Wallander is dealing with feeling his "age" (he is 43) and feeling full of doubt and worry about his health. It's been a year since his wife left him and now his daughter is away at school. He also is still dealing with the aftermath of the last case we saw him in. When two Latvian men wash up ashore in a raft full of bullets, Wallander wonders if the men were there as part of some larger criminal act. Sweden is dealing with a lot of "foreigners" these days and Wallander represents a larger part of the Swedish population that wants them gone. When a Latvian detective shows up as part of the case (Major Liepa) Wallander feels like he has met someone who gets him. However, when Liepa returns back to Latvia, he is murdered and then Wallander is dispatched to help with the case. So readers get to watch as Wallander feels "foreign" in other place.
Wallander got pretty tiresome for me towards the end of the book and reading about his infatuation with a new woman just made me bored. I don't know, I think the only stories that I have actually liked starting Wallander have been the short stories I read. I think I can digest this character in small bites, and not longer novels.
I really did not get into the writing in this one and the flow was really poor for the first part of the book. The whole thing drags and I contemplated DNFing it after a while.
The setting of the book feels weird to me too. It takes place in 1992, and of course I was alive during this time period (I was 12) but the whole book had a Cold War vibe that I just felt was a bit jarring. I think the whole "spy" parts of the book just didn't work for me. Maybe because I have watched the Trump Administration for 4 years and I am befuddled about any country doing clandestine services these days. We also leave Sweden for most of the book and follow Wallander to Riga, Latvia. I am not familiar with the country or the history so felt a bit lost as I was reading along.
Initial review.
Will post a longer review later. Not much to say except I really could not get into this one. It wasn't a bad book, just don't think my brain couldn't get engrossed into it because I was hampered by only being able to view this by my computer's web browser. I didn't want to spend the money on purchasing a book that I may not have liked/loved.
I read the first book in the Wallander series back in 2016. Funnily enough, I read it for that year's Festive Season task. The second book in the series did not do much for me either. Sweden is still a hot bed of racism IMHO and we have Wallander still flailing about with regards to his relationship with his father, ex, and daughter. The investigation should have been interesting, but honestly it was not. The first half of the book was painful to get through. I do wish that there was a way to get these books via Kindle or a Nook so I could read it a bit easier. Trying to read this on my browser made it hard to get into I think.
"The Dogs of Riga" follows Chief Inspector Kurt Wallander. Wallander is dealing with feeling his "age" (he is 43) and feeling full of doubt and worry about his health. It's been a year since his wife left him and now his daughter is away at school. He also is still dealing with the aftermath of the last case we saw him in. When two Latvian men wash up ashore in a raft full of bullets, Wallander wonders if the men were there as part of some larger criminal act. Sweden is dealing with a lot of "foreigners" these days and Wallander represents a larger part of the Swedish population that wants them gone. When a Latvian detective shows up as part of the case (Major Liepa) Wallander feels like he has met someone who gets him. However, when Liepa returns back to Latvia, he is murdered and then Wallander is dispatched to help with the case. So readers get to watch as Wallander feels "foreign" in other place.
Wallander got pretty tiresome for me towards the end of the book and reading about his infatuation with a new woman just made me bored. I don't know, I think the only stories that I have actually liked starting Wallander have been the short stories I read. I think I can digest this character in small bites, and not longer novels.
I really did not get into the writing in this one and the flow was really poor for the first part of the book. The whole thing drags and I contemplated DNFing it after a while.
The setting of the book feels weird to me too. It takes place in 1992, and of course I was alive during this time period (I was 12) but the whole book had a Cold War vibe that I just felt was a bit jarring. I think the whole "spy" parts of the book just didn't work for me. Maybe because I have watched the Trump Administration for 4 years and I am befuddled about any country doing clandestine services these days. We also leave Sweden for most of the book and follow Wallander to Riga, Latvia. I am not familiar with the country or the history so felt a bit lost as I was reading along.
Initial review.
Will post a longer review later. Not much to say except I really could not get into this one. It wasn't a bad book, just don't think my brain couldn't get engrossed into it because I was hampered by only being able to view this by my computer's web browser. I didn't want to spend the money on purchasing a book that I may not have liked/loved.
March 5, 2016
My impending trip to Riga gave me the perfect pretext for reading this (though it's actually the second in the Wallander series; I haven't yet read the first). Good job I wasn't relying on it as a guide to the city, as it was written prior to Latvia's emancipation from the Soviet Union in 1991, and portrays Riga as a depressing totalitarian wasteland in which every room is bugged and you're liable to get kidnapped by the Russian mafia at any point. It certainly conjures up a very vivid image, just not of a place I would want to visit. I loved it as a crime novel, though - the sheer amount of detail makes it very absorbing, and the plot, though too convoluted to even outline here, is perfectly paced. I can see why the Wallander books have become near-ubiquitously popular; the character is very interesting but completely believable, with so many realistic imperfections. I'm definitely going to read more of these.
October 27, 2020
Great story. Farfetched but still a page turner. The mystery of two Latvian gangsters found dead in a life raft washed up on a Swedish beach lead Wallander on an investigation to Latvia. This was set in 1990 or thereabouts before it became completely independent from Russia.
You can feel the grittiness of Soviet influenced Riga leap off the pages. The grayness, fear and not knowing who to trust is palpable. Who can Kurt trust of the two colonels is it Putnis who lives in luxury and has a Russian father or is it Murnier or are they both corrupt.
Mankell hammers on once again about the social problems of Sweden and the crossroads Latvia is facing. However, he gets a good balance with Kurt trying to help the widow Baiba. The toilet incident with the waste basket in the police archives or evil room was slightly surreal. I will be intrigued to see if it is in the tv adaptation! Overall a good book to read.
You can feel the grittiness of Soviet influenced Riga leap off the pages. The grayness, fear and not knowing who to trust is palpable. Who can Kurt trust of the two colonels is it Putnis who lives in luxury and has a Russian father or is it Murnier or are they both corrupt.
Mankell hammers on once again about the social problems of Sweden and the crossroads Latvia is facing. However, he gets a good balance with Kurt trying to help the widow Baiba. The toilet incident with the waste basket in the police archives or evil room was slightly surreal. I will be intrigued to see if it is in the tv adaptation! Overall a good book to read.
Read
November 25, 2014Once upon a time I heard tell of a poet who always travelled with the same three books: the Bible, Don Quixote and Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. It was probably a symbolist poet now that I come to think of it . Although I approve of travelling with a book or two - I'll admit to being a bigamist reader - as a rule I prefer a little more variety even if this does require prolonged dithering in front of the book shelves. Sometimes though I entrust myself to fate, or more accurately, the glory and the grandeur of the airport or station station book seller. And this led me to pick up Dogs of Riga.
A couple of snarling dogs on the cover, the author had a familiar name, looked as though it would fit in a coat pocket - what more could I want?
Sadly it turned out that I wanted a great deal more.
I see a lot of people have liked this book a lot. Perhaps they are all crazy. As a hypothesis this seems just a little sweeping, so maybe it's me. I had the same problem with this as with The White Lioness. I enjoy the characters and the settings, but with the second or more murders the story loses it's credibility for me. In this case I was also unconvinced by Wallander's ability to smuggle himself back into Latvia and the final denouement.
I suppose I buy into the gritty realism of the detective novel and simplistically take this to mean that it will be realistic. Perhaps you've read Homicide , perhaps you read the papers or follow the news and know that most murder cases are not at all like the stories in Detective fiction, but still perhaps you are still able to enjoy such stories. I can't. They just stick in my throat after the second murder. I read about the second murder and I remember the man who tried to murder his parents by driving them into a canal. British canals on the whole aren't that deep and are typically full of sludge. So the man got out of the car and stood on the roof to get it to sink faster. Passers-by gathered on the tow paths and shouted at him until he got down and let his parents out of the car. Later he drove round to their home and killed them with a shot-gun
The problem with this kind of stupidity is that it doesn't make for long novels. However it is real and brutal. Crime novels on the other hand generally seem too clever to be plausible. If I was reading a book about city bankers in the middle of which a dragon crashed into Bishopsgate I'd put it down to the culture of dugs and drinking among raider-traders. But intricate plotting in a murder story? Nah. Can you get suspension of disbelief transfusions yet?
A couple of snarling dogs on the cover, the author had a familiar name, looked as though it would fit in a coat pocket - what more could I want?
Sadly it turned out that I wanted a great deal more.
I see a lot of people have liked this book a lot. Perhaps they are all crazy. As a hypothesis this seems just a little sweeping, so maybe it's me. I had the same problem with this as with The White Lioness. I enjoy the characters and the settings, but with the second or more murders the story loses it's credibility for me. In this case I was also unconvinced by Wallander's ability to smuggle himself back into Latvia and the final denouement.
I suppose I buy into the gritty realism of the detective novel and simplistically take this to mean that it will be realistic. Perhaps you've read Homicide , perhaps you read the papers or follow the news and know that most murder cases are not at all like the stories in Detective fiction, but still perhaps you are still able to enjoy such stories. I can't. They just stick in my throat after the second murder. I read about the second murder and I remember the man who tried to murder his parents by driving them into a canal. British canals on the whole aren't that deep and are typically full of sludge. So the man got out of the car and stood on the roof to get it to sink faster. Passers-by gathered on the tow paths and shouted at him until he got down and let his parents out of the car. Later he drove round to their home and killed them with a shot-gun
The problem with this kind of stupidity is that it doesn't make for long novels. However it is real and brutal. Crime novels on the other hand generally seem too clever to be plausible. If I was reading a book about city bankers in the middle of which a dragon crashed into Bishopsgate I'd put it down to the culture of dugs and drinking among raider-traders. But intricate plotting in a murder story? Nah. Can you get suspension of disbelief transfusions yet?
June 18, 2014
Swedish detective Kurt Wallander is plunged into another depressing mystery when two bodies wash ashore on the Swedish coast in a life raft. The two male victims have been shot to death and then wrapped in an embrace in the lifeboat and cast adrift. They are carrying no identification, but their dental work suggests that they are from somewhere in Eastern Europe.
The victims are finally traced to Latvia and a police official from Riga named Major Liepa comes to Sweden to participate in the investigation. It seems clear that the crime did not occur on Swedish soil and so Wallander is happy to pass the case on to his Latvian counterpart and assume that his job is done.
In fairly short order, however, complications ensue and Wallander winds up going to Latvia to assist in the continuing investigation. The story is set in the early 1990s in the wake of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Soviet Union is teetering and this has major implications for the satellite countries that have been dragged into its orbit, Latvia included.
The tension in the country is palpable. Native Latvians hope to take advantage of the international situation to win their freedom from the Soviets, but many Soviet transplants to the country want to maintain ties to the Soviet Union. The police force itself is divided and no one knows who to trust.
The bulk of the book, then, takes place in Latvia against the backdrop of these tensions. Wallander is basically a fish out of water, especially since he cannot speak Latvian. The case he is investigating becomes increasingly complex, and Wallander is soon at the mercy of forces beyond his control.
Wallander continues to be a fairly dour character who is now plunged into a very depressing situation. In other words, although well-written, this is not a book likely to brighten anyone's day. The situation in Latvia is described very believably, and Mankell has clearly done a lot of research. My problem with the book is that, in the end, I could not sustain the level of disbelief required to make the story work.
Wallander makes some decisions along the way that left me scratching my head and which were so illogical as to take me out of the story. And I found the climax to be way too implausible. This is one of those series that I read fairly infrequently. Wallander is an interesting character, but he works best for me if I visit him sparingly.
The victims are finally traced to Latvia and a police official from Riga named Major Liepa comes to Sweden to participate in the investigation. It seems clear that the crime did not occur on Swedish soil and so Wallander is happy to pass the case on to his Latvian counterpart and assume that his job is done.
In fairly short order, however, complications ensue and Wallander winds up going to Latvia to assist in the continuing investigation. The story is set in the early 1990s in the wake of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Soviet Union is teetering and this has major implications for the satellite countries that have been dragged into its orbit, Latvia included.
The tension in the country is palpable. Native Latvians hope to take advantage of the international situation to win their freedom from the Soviets, but many Soviet transplants to the country want to maintain ties to the Soviet Union. The police force itself is divided and no one knows who to trust.
The bulk of the book, then, takes place in Latvia against the backdrop of these tensions. Wallander is basically a fish out of water, especially since he cannot speak Latvian. The case he is investigating becomes increasingly complex, and Wallander is soon at the mercy of forces beyond his control.
Wallander continues to be a fairly dour character who is now plunged into a very depressing situation. In other words, although well-written, this is not a book likely to brighten anyone's day. The situation in Latvia is described very believably, and Mankell has clearly done a lot of research. My problem with the book is that, in the end, I could not sustain the level of disbelief required to make the story work.
Wallander makes some decisions along the way that left me scratching my head and which were so illogical as to take me out of the story. And I found the climax to be way too implausible. This is one of those series that I read fairly infrequently. Wallander is an interesting character, but he works best for me if I visit him sparingly.
November 12, 2025
Er spoelt een rubberen vlot aan met twee dode mannen erin, in het Zweedse Skane. Na onderzoek wijst er een spoor naar Riga, in Letland. Wallander wordt erop af gestuurd en raakt verwikkeld in een Baltische intrige.
Heel spannend boek, ook wel grimmig; de sfeer in Letland wordt heel goed weergegeven, en is bangelijk. Er komt heel duidelijk naar voren hoe onveilig Wallander zich de hele tijd voelt, wat afstraalt op de lezer.
Heel spannend boek, ook wel grimmig; de sfeer in Letland wordt heel goed weergegeven, en is bangelijk. Er komt heel duidelijk naar voren hoe onveilig Wallander zich de hele tijd voelt, wat afstraalt op de lezer.
June 3, 2020
Wallander book No. 2 is not as psychological intense and introspective within Wallander, as much as the other books in the series, and is almost a stand-alone American style thriller, but despite this, this book covers a key period of Walllander's life that impacts on the rest of the series. Mankell attempts to mix the worlds of the crumbling power of the Soviet Union over the Baltic States with a Wallander crime thriller. 6 out of 12.
August 25, 2013
Book Review
Dogs of Riga, the second in the Kurt Wallander series places Wallander outside of his comfort zone: in Riga, capital of Latvia and without the presence of his familiar Swedish colleagues to whom we were introduced in the first of the series.
Riga, Latvia
An oft rendered opinion of Americans by Europeans is that the average European appears to know more about American politics than does the average American. And so it is with slight amusement that I find Wallander cast adrift in the same boat: he knows nothing about Latvia. Kurt is in fact ignorant of the eastern bloc nations and chides himself as to that fact as the novel finds him comparing Sweden, which he considers relatively droll, grey, cold, and saturated with a certain ennui, looks suddenly like the jovial Caribbean islands when compared to post Cold War Latvia.
Spy stuff. Hyper-inflation; crime as always politically motivated; KGB-like watchdogs everywhere; bugs as standard in hotel rooms; buildings and structures made of grey concrete left to whither in the country side; violent and secret interrogations; crime syndicates in cohort with corrupt government officials as they vie for post Cold War spoils; an anti-communist underground movement that meets regularly to oppose the betrayal of communism (yeah, I had to read that twice too); police officials where allegiances fall based on shifting power. For Wallander, it is like trying to hold onto a greased ball. Unnerving and gastronomically ominous.
Struggling with the death of Rydberg to the big C, Wallander takes comfort in having dialogues with Rydberg's ghost instead. Alone and miserable in Riga he is drawn to self delusion: convinces himself that he is in love with the wife of the murdered detective, the crime he is there to solve at the bequest of the Latvian police. But, is love really love when its origins lie in a another person's need for him? Kurt prefers not to dwell on that, prefers his momentary delusions.
He could think only of Baipa Liepa.
When thinking about the character of Kurt Wallander I could say he seems indeterminate, a bit clueless, often allowing events to shape the course of his actions, as opposed to shaping events himself. And just as I'm thinking this, I sense I'm wrong about that. He is a policeman married to his job (even as he continues his self delusion by threatening to quit and apply for a private security position). What at first seems like instinct, is actually years of experience coming to the forefront in short, brilliant bursts of revelation. Wallander knows this about himself and trusts it. Unfortunately, I think in this novel Mankell does Wallander a disservice as I don't think the resolution has much to do with any sort of brilliant insight on Kurt's part (ergo the 3 star rating). Still, he is like a blood hound that once having sniffed its prey, will follow the trail until it ends, one way or another.
When your whole personal life is shit: it is often the job that carries you through the worst parts of it. And Wallander understands that.
-----------------------------------------------------
Series Review
Henning Mankell is an internationally known Swedish crime writer known mostly for this fictional character Kurt Wallander. He is married to Eva Bergman.
Henning Mankell - Author
It might be said that the fall of communism and the consequent increase in Swedish immigration and asylum seekers has been the engine that drives much of Swedish crime fiction. Mankell's social conscience, his cool attitude towards nationalism and intolerance is largely a result of the writer's commitment to helping the disadvantaged (see his theater work in Africa). In this vein, readers might be interested in his stand-alone novel Kennedy's Brain a thriller set in Africa and inspired by the AIDS epidemic (Mankell often traveled to Africa to help third world populations); or read his The Eye of the Leopard, a haunting novel juxtaposing a man's coming of age in Sweden and his life in Zambia.
Mankell's love of Africa, his theater work on that continent, and his exploits in helping the disadvantaged is not generally known by his American readers. In fact, an international news story that has largely gone unnoticed is that while the world watched as Israeli soldiers captured ships attempting to break the Gaza blockade, few people are aware that among the prisoners of the Israelis was one of the world's most successful and acclaimed writers: Henning Mankell.
It is no exaggeration when I say that Henning Mankell is by far one of the most successful writers in Scandinavia, especially in his own country of Sweden. The Nordic weather, cold to the bones, drives its populace indoors for much of the year where cuddling up to read the latest in crime fiction is a national pastime.
For many GR readers who have been introduced to Kurt Wallander it is interesting to note that ultimately the success of bringing Mankell to English speaking audiences only came after bringing in the same production company responsible for Steig Larsson's Millennium trilogy for the wildly popular BBC version starring Kenneth Branagh. Viewers had no problem with an anglicized version of Mankell's work, an English speaking cast set down in a genuine Swedish countryside. Of course, to those fans thoroughly familiar with Mankell's work, it is the Swedish televised version that is found to be a more accurately portrayal of Mankell's novels...not the British, sensationalized version. And there's a reason for that.
Henning's prose is straightforward, organized, written mostly in linear fashion, a straightforward contract with the reader. It is largely quantified as police procedural work. The work of men who are dogged and patient to a fault. Kurt Wallander, the hero in Mankell's novels, is the alter ego of his creator: a lonely man, a dogged policeman, a flawed hero, out of shape, suffering from headaches and diabetes, and possessing a scarred soul. Understandably so and if some of the GR reviews are an indication; like his famous father-in-law Ingmar Bergman, Mankell is from a country noted for its Nordic gloom. But before you make the assumption that this is yet another addition to the somberness and darkness that characterizes Nordic writing Mankell often confounds this cliche with guarded optimism and passages crammed with humanity (for Mankell, this is true both personally and professionally as a writer).
As Americans we often think of Sweden as possessing an very open attitude towards sex and that this is in marked contrast (or perhaps reprieve) to the somber attitudes of its populace. But this is a view that often confounds Swedish people. The idea of Nordic carnality is notably absent in Mankell's work, as much a statement of its erroneous perception (Swedes do not see themselves as part of any sexual revolution at all) and in the case of Mankell ironic because the film director most responsible for advancing these explicit sexual parameters (for his time) was his own father-in-law the great Ingmar Bergman. In a world where Bergman moves in a universe where characters are dark, violent, extreme and aggressive - take note that the ultimate root of this bloody death and ennui lies in the Norse and Icelandic Viking sagas of Scandinavian history - that dark, somber view ascribed to both Mankell and Bergman's work was often a topic of intense jovial interest between these two artists.
For any reader of Nordic crime fiction, Henning Mankell is an immensely popular and staple read.
Enjoy!
Dogs of Riga, the second in the Kurt Wallander series places Wallander outside of his comfort zone: in Riga, capital of Latvia and without the presence of his familiar Swedish colleagues to whom we were introduced in the first of the series.
Riga, Latvia
An oft rendered opinion of Americans by Europeans is that the average European appears to know more about American politics than does the average American. And so it is with slight amusement that I find Wallander cast adrift in the same boat: he knows nothing about Latvia. Kurt is in fact ignorant of the eastern bloc nations and chides himself as to that fact as the novel finds him comparing Sweden, which he considers relatively droll, grey, cold, and saturated with a certain ennui, looks suddenly like the jovial Caribbean islands when compared to post Cold War Latvia.
Spy stuff. Hyper-inflation; crime as always politically motivated; KGB-like watchdogs everywhere; bugs as standard in hotel rooms; buildings and structures made of grey concrete left to whither in the country side; violent and secret interrogations; crime syndicates in cohort with corrupt government officials as they vie for post Cold War spoils; an anti-communist underground movement that meets regularly to oppose the betrayal of communism (yeah, I had to read that twice too); police officials where allegiances fall based on shifting power. For Wallander, it is like trying to hold onto a greased ball. Unnerving and gastronomically ominous.
Struggling with the death of Rydberg to the big C, Wallander takes comfort in having dialogues with Rydberg's ghost instead. Alone and miserable in Riga he is drawn to self delusion: convinces himself that he is in love with the wife of the murdered detective, the crime he is there to solve at the bequest of the Latvian police. But, is love really love when its origins lie in a another person's need for him? Kurt prefers not to dwell on that, prefers his momentary delusions.
He could think only of Baipa Liepa.
When thinking about the character of Kurt Wallander I could say he seems indeterminate, a bit clueless, often allowing events to shape the course of his actions, as opposed to shaping events himself. And just as I'm thinking this, I sense I'm wrong about that. He is a policeman married to his job (even as he continues his self delusion by threatening to quit and apply for a private security position). What at first seems like instinct, is actually years of experience coming to the forefront in short, brilliant bursts of revelation. Wallander knows this about himself and trusts it. Unfortunately, I think in this novel Mankell does Wallander a disservice as I don't think the resolution has much to do with any sort of brilliant insight on Kurt's part (ergo the 3 star rating). Still, he is like a blood hound that once having sniffed its prey, will follow the trail until it ends, one way or another.
When your whole personal life is shit: it is often the job that carries you through the worst parts of it. And Wallander understands that.
-----------------------------------------------------
Series Review
Henning Mankell is an internationally known Swedish crime writer known mostly for this fictional character Kurt Wallander. He is married to Eva Bergman.
Henning Mankell - Author
It might be said that the fall of communism and the consequent increase in Swedish immigration and asylum seekers has been the engine that drives much of Swedish crime fiction. Mankell's social conscience, his cool attitude towards nationalism and intolerance is largely a result of the writer's commitment to helping the disadvantaged (see his theater work in Africa). In this vein, readers might be interested in his stand-alone novel Kennedy's Brain a thriller set in Africa and inspired by the AIDS epidemic (Mankell often traveled to Africa to help third world populations); or read his The Eye of the Leopard, a haunting novel juxtaposing a man's coming of age in Sweden and his life in Zambia.
Mankell's love of Africa, his theater work on that continent, and his exploits in helping the disadvantaged is not generally known by his American readers. In fact, an international news story that has largely gone unnoticed is that while the world watched as Israeli soldiers captured ships attempting to break the Gaza blockade, few people are aware that among the prisoners of the Israelis was one of the world's most successful and acclaimed writers: Henning Mankell.
It is no exaggeration when I say that Henning Mankell is by far one of the most successful writers in Scandinavia, especially in his own country of Sweden. The Nordic weather, cold to the bones, drives its populace indoors for much of the year where cuddling up to read the latest in crime fiction is a national pastime.
For many GR readers who have been introduced to Kurt Wallander it is interesting to note that ultimately the success of bringing Mankell to English speaking audiences only came after bringing in the same production company responsible for Steig Larsson's Millennium trilogy for the wildly popular BBC version starring Kenneth Branagh. Viewers had no problem with an anglicized version of Mankell's work, an English speaking cast set down in a genuine Swedish countryside. Of course, to those fans thoroughly familiar with Mankell's work, it is the Swedish televised version that is found to be a more accurately portrayal of Mankell's novels...not the British, sensationalized version. And there's a reason for that.
Henning's prose is straightforward, organized, written mostly in linear fashion, a straightforward contract with the reader. It is largely quantified as police procedural work. The work of men who are dogged and patient to a fault. Kurt Wallander, the hero in Mankell's novels, is the alter ego of his creator: a lonely man, a dogged policeman, a flawed hero, out of shape, suffering from headaches and diabetes, and possessing a scarred soul. Understandably so and if some of the GR reviews are an indication; like his famous father-in-law Ingmar Bergman, Mankell is from a country noted for its Nordic gloom. But before you make the assumption that this is yet another addition to the somberness and darkness that characterizes Nordic writing Mankell often confounds this cliche with guarded optimism and passages crammed with humanity (for Mankell, this is true both personally and professionally as a writer).
As Americans we often think of Sweden as possessing an very open attitude towards sex and that this is in marked contrast (or perhaps reprieve) to the somber attitudes of its populace. But this is a view that often confounds Swedish people. The idea of Nordic carnality is notably absent in Mankell's work, as much a statement of its erroneous perception (Swedes do not see themselves as part of any sexual revolution at all) and in the case of Mankell ironic because the film director most responsible for advancing these explicit sexual parameters (for his time) was his own father-in-law the great Ingmar Bergman. In a world where Bergman moves in a universe where characters are dark, violent, extreme and aggressive - take note that the ultimate root of this bloody death and ennui lies in the Norse and Icelandic Viking sagas of Scandinavian history - that dark, somber view ascribed to both Mankell and Bergman's work was often a topic of intense jovial interest between these two artists.
For any reader of Nordic crime fiction, Henning Mankell is an immensely popular and staple read.
Enjoy!
May 1, 2018
Das war der Wallander, der mir bislang am wenigsten gefallen hat. Dabei sind viele Elemente im Buch enthalten, die ich an Mankells Krimireihe schätze. So ist die Zerrissenheit des Kommissars bezüglich seines Berufs und sein Hadern mit dem Alter wieder vergleichsweise zu anderen skandinavischen Thrillern hervorragend beschrieben. Doch dieses Buch hat für mein Empfinden zu deutliche Schwächen im Kriminalfall.
Mankell hat das Buch 1992 geschrieben, und man merkt ihm deutlich an, dass er die zu diesem Zeitpunkt herrschenden politischen Veränderungen in seinen Roman unbedingt integrieren wollte. Insofern verlegt er die Handlung größtenteils nach Lettland, welches 1991 gerade wieder unabhängig wurde. Die Stimmung im grauen Riga wird sehr gut eingefangen und wenn Mankell nicht versucht hätte, einen wahnsinnig großen Komplott in sein Werk einzubauen und den kleinen Wallander als quasi Kleinstadtkomissar zum schwedischen Geheimagenten umfunktionierte, dann wäre es ein richtig gutes Buch geworden. Wallander als Mischung von Jason Bourne und Ethan Hunt, der in das Allerheiligste der lettischen Polizei im Geheimen eindringt, um dann im Archiv in den Mülleimer zu kacken und eine kleine blaue Akte zu stehlen, die dann alles auflöst, ist einfach zu viel des Guten für mich. Wallander, bleib in Schonen in Zukunft. Think global, act local.
Mankell hat das Buch 1992 geschrieben, und man merkt ihm deutlich an, dass er die zu diesem Zeitpunkt herrschenden politischen Veränderungen in seinen Roman unbedingt integrieren wollte. Insofern verlegt er die Handlung größtenteils nach Lettland, welches 1991 gerade wieder unabhängig wurde. Die Stimmung im grauen Riga wird sehr gut eingefangen und wenn Mankell nicht versucht hätte, einen wahnsinnig großen Komplott in sein Werk einzubauen und den kleinen Wallander als quasi Kleinstadtkomissar zum schwedischen Geheimagenten umfunktionierte, dann wäre es ein richtig gutes Buch geworden. Wallander als Mischung von Jason Bourne und Ethan Hunt, der in das Allerheiligste der lettischen Polizei im Geheimen eindringt, um dann im Archiv in den Mülleimer zu kacken und eine kleine blaue Akte zu stehlen, die dann alles auflöst, ist einfach zu viel des Guten für mich. Wallander, bleib in Schonen in Zukunft. Think global, act local.
February 10, 2012
This second Kurt Wallander book was surpsingly different from the first. My dissapointment after what I thought was the start of a very promising police procedural series makes me rate this lower than the book probably deserves.
I was expecting another gloomy, realistic rendering of a murder case, and the first chapters offered me just that : a mysterious boat is found in the Baltic with two unidentified corpses in it. Wallander tries to unravel the mystery, but he has a hard time because there are very few clues. Unfortunately, soon the novel completely abandons this investigation and goes to Riga where it devolves into a badly written pastiche of the 1950's Behind the Iron Curtain thrillers. Everything, from the description of places, people and situations is shoehorned into a pre-established narrative of venal Russian KGB officers against the spunky local Resistance. From the first minute Wallander steps out of the plane he starts to criticize and to pass judgment on everything he sees. And everything around him is ugly, dirty, dangerous.
Maybe I could have accepted the heavily political premise of the book, if there was something of a police investigation in it. But there's nothing here : Wallander solves the case based on his "intuition" and a series of lucky coincidences, that are not based on any facts or discovery of clues. It just occurs to him, out of the blue.
I might try for a third book in this Henning Mankell series, hoping The Dogs of Riga was a fluke, and hoping Wallander will snap out a little out of his manic depressive obsessions.
I was expecting another gloomy, realistic rendering of a murder case, and the first chapters offered me just that : a mysterious boat is found in the Baltic with two unidentified corpses in it. Wallander tries to unravel the mystery, but he has a hard time because there are very few clues. Unfortunately, soon the novel completely abandons this investigation and goes to Riga where it devolves into a badly written pastiche of the 1950's Behind the Iron Curtain thrillers. Everything, from the description of places, people and situations is shoehorned into a pre-established narrative of venal Russian KGB officers against the spunky local Resistance. From the first minute Wallander steps out of the plane he starts to criticize and to pass judgment on everything he sees. And everything around him is ugly, dirty, dangerous.
Maybe I could have accepted the heavily political premise of the book, if there was something of a police investigation in it. But there's nothing here : Wallander solves the case based on his "intuition" and a series of lucky coincidences, that are not based on any facts or discovery of clues. It just occurs to him, out of the blue.
I might try for a third book in this Henning Mankell series, hoping The Dogs of Riga was a fluke, and hoping Wallander will snap out a little out of his manic depressive obsessions.
February 28, 2021
3 stars
هنینگ مانکل، نویسنده سوئدی در این داستان جنایی ضمن تعریف یک داستان جنایی تقریبا سرراست و بدون پیچیدگی های مرسوم ( و شاید هم قابل پیش بینی) به بررسی وضعیت کشورهای کمونیستی شرق اروپا ( لتونی) که به تازگی و بعد از فروپاشی شوروی از آن استقلال یافته اند می پردازد... در این داستان نویسنده ضمن انتقاد جدی نسبت به کمونیسم و سوسیالیسم معرفی شده توسط شوروی، که کشورها رو به ویرانه ای تبدیل کرده بود، داستان جنایی خود که سررشته در فساد سیستمی در یک کشور اروپای شرقی دارد را به شکلی روان، روایت می کند
هنینگ مانکل، نویسنده سوئدی در این داستان جنایی ضمن تعریف یک داستان جنایی تقریبا سرراست و بدون پیچیدگی های مرسوم ( و شاید هم قابل پیش بینی) به بررسی وضعیت کشورهای کمونیستی شرق اروپا ( لتونی) که به تازگی و بعد از فروپاشی شوروی از آن استقلال یافته اند می پردازد... در این داستان نویسنده ضمن انتقاد جدی نسبت به کمونیسم و سوسیالیسم معرفی شده توسط شوروی، که کشورها رو به ویرانه ای تبدیل کرده بود، داستان جنایی خود که سررشته در فساد سیستمی در یک کشور اروپای شرقی دارد را به شکلی روان، روایت می کند
August 9, 2014
You may have gathered from my other reviews (such as here and here) that the Scandinoir tsunami has broken on either side of me and left me largely unmoved. I'm tired of protagonists who are incompetent at the business of being human beings and stories full of characters who are all broken doves. So it could be that my reaction to The Dogs of Riga -- author Mankell's second Wallander novel -- is one of relief in finding an entry in this genre that didn't make me want to open a vein.
Inspector Kurt Wallander, Our Hero, is a detective in a provincial town in southern Sweden. When two murdered Latvians wash up on his shores in a life raft, he ends up falling down a rabbit hole trying to solve the crime and the associated murder of his Latvian counterpart, whom he befriended earlier in the story.
As seems to be the case among the Scandinavian authors I've read, Mankell is more concerned with characterization than he is with setting. We spend extensive time inside Wallander's head, and the other characters are well-realized and feel authentic. The dialog is likewise realistic and serves to both move the plot and further the characterizations. However, if you don't know what Ystad (Our Hero's hometown) looks like before reading this, you won't be any better informed afterwards. To be fair, Mankell spends more time describing Riga than he does any other location, possibly because Wallander is seeing it for the first time, and possibly because it was still considered exotic in 1992 when this book first appeared in Sweden.
It's impossible to overlook the fact that when Mankell wrote this book, the dust from the fallen Berlin Wall was still blowing through central Europe and the post-Soviet era was both new and fragile. Much of the plot hinges on the political upheaval in the Baltic states and the possible threat posed by ex-Soviet hardliners wanting their empire back. That we know how this all worked out doesn't detract from the story, though, in the same way that knowing the interwar years in Europe wrecked on the twin shoals of fascism and war doesn't take away from the experience of reading an Alan Furst novel.
I use that comparison advisedly, because The Dogs of Riga is as much a novel of intrigue as it is a police procedural -- perhaps even more so. Without giving too much away: Wallander finds himself involved with Latvian dissidents who are trying to resist the old-regime apparatchiks who are working to throttle Latvian democracy in its crib. There are midnight meetings, shadows to be evaded, secret messages to be passed, and a fair amount of skulking around that wouldn't be out of place in a spy novel. As a result, Wallander isn't nearly as much a human wreck as he was in Faceless Killers, and most of the non-Swedish characters are likewise acting rather than wallowing in their various dysfunctions.
It's this atypical excursion into political intrigue that salvaged this book for me. Wallander is still too dithery and diffident to really engage me as a protagonist, and the general bleakness wears after a while. It could simply be that after my various other excursions with Larsson, Nesbo and Mankell, this genre is lost to me. If you're a fan, you'll probably enjoy it more than I did. I may read the next Wallander tale sometime in the future, but not soon. Three and a half stars, rounded down.
Inspector Kurt Wallander, Our Hero, is a detective in a provincial town in southern Sweden. When two murdered Latvians wash up on his shores in a life raft, he ends up falling down a rabbit hole trying to solve the crime and the associated murder of his Latvian counterpart, whom he befriended earlier in the story.
As seems to be the case among the Scandinavian authors I've read, Mankell is more concerned with characterization than he is with setting. We spend extensive time inside Wallander's head, and the other characters are well-realized and feel authentic. The dialog is likewise realistic and serves to both move the plot and further the characterizations. However, if you don't know what Ystad (Our Hero's hometown) looks like before reading this, you won't be any better informed afterwards. To be fair, Mankell spends more time describing Riga than he does any other location, possibly because Wallander is seeing it for the first time, and possibly because it was still considered exotic in 1992 when this book first appeared in Sweden.
It's impossible to overlook the fact that when Mankell wrote this book, the dust from the fallen Berlin Wall was still blowing through central Europe and the post-Soviet era was both new and fragile. Much of the plot hinges on the political upheaval in the Baltic states and the possible threat posed by ex-Soviet hardliners wanting their empire back. That we know how this all worked out doesn't detract from the story, though, in the same way that knowing the interwar years in Europe wrecked on the twin shoals of fascism and war doesn't take away from the experience of reading an Alan Furst novel.
I use that comparison advisedly, because The Dogs of Riga is as much a novel of intrigue as it is a police procedural -- perhaps even more so. Without giving too much away: Wallander finds himself involved with Latvian dissidents who are trying to resist the old-regime apparatchiks who are working to throttle Latvian democracy in its crib. There are midnight meetings, shadows to be evaded, secret messages to be passed, and a fair amount of skulking around that wouldn't be out of place in a spy novel. As a result, Wallander isn't nearly as much a human wreck as he was in Faceless Killers, and most of the non-Swedish characters are likewise acting rather than wallowing in their various dysfunctions.
It's this atypical excursion into political intrigue that salvaged this book for me. Wallander is still too dithery and diffident to really engage me as a protagonist, and the general bleakness wears after a while. It could simply be that after my various other excursions with Larsson, Nesbo and Mankell, this genre is lost to me. If you're a fan, you'll probably enjoy it more than I did. I may read the next Wallander tale sometime in the future, but not soon. Three and a half stars, rounded down.
November 3, 2015
Detective Kurt Wallander of the Ystad police in Sweden has an unusual case...a life raft washes ashore with 2 executed men in it....from where? Who are they? Why were they killed. The investigation involves a detective from the Latvian police being sent over to liaise when its discovered the boat must've originated in the Baltic region.
The case is seemingly transferred to the Latvian authorities, and Wallander bids adieu to the detective and the case.
A few days later, he's informed that the Latvian detective has been murdered, and their authorities want Wallander to come assist with the case, as he was the last person who spent time with the murdered detective.
Many twists and turns follow as Wallander finds himself in a drowning sea of intrigue, lies, agents, and the collapsing Soviet Union, communists, Latvian nationalists, and strong feelings developing for his murdered colleague's widow...
This is only the second Wallander novel, but it ratchets up the character development, and the thriller like atmosphere from the first novel which was mainly detective story. These added elements make for an even more exciting read, and a great way to fully hook me on the series that I already wanted to read anyhow.
Great sophomore effort and appealing to fans of thriller, detective, crime, etc.
Highly recommended.
The case is seemingly transferred to the Latvian authorities, and Wallander bids adieu to the detective and the case.
A few days later, he's informed that the Latvian detective has been murdered, and their authorities want Wallander to come assist with the case, as he was the last person who spent time with the murdered detective.
Many twists and turns follow as Wallander finds himself in a drowning sea of intrigue, lies, agents, and the collapsing Soviet Union, communists, Latvian nationalists, and strong feelings developing for his murdered colleague's widow...
This is only the second Wallander novel, but it ratchets up the character development, and the thriller like atmosphere from the first novel which was mainly detective story. These added elements make for an even more exciting read, and a great way to fully hook me on the series that I already wanted to read anyhow.
Great sophomore effort and appealing to fans of thriller, detective, crime, etc.
Highly recommended.
January 4, 2010
This was an engaging mystery, with two dead bodies found drifting in an inflatable raft in the ocean and Wallander his usual charming glum self, until the setting moved from Sweden to Latvia. I just couldn't get interested in the shadowy, dangerous, corrupt, gray, Soviet-controlled landscape the way Mankell had written it. And my image of a woman who would have the name Baiba Liepa is a fat housewife wearing a babushka, simmering pigs feet in a big cauldron in her yard next to her Lada up on cinder blocks, so it was a stretch for me to picture Wallander falling in love with her. Many things in the last 70 pages of the book are beyond a stretch, as Wallander hatches one farfetched plot after another and they all pan out, and Mankell prods us clumsily as Wallander thinks repeatedly to himself, "This is so crazy, it just might work." The only believable moment - the Wallander we know and love resurfacing - is when his bowels begin to churn uncontrollably and he stops to take a dump in a trashcan in the Riga state police archives.
October 31, 2017
Não gostei tanto como do primeiro livro desta série, mas ainda assim a história prende e não há vontade de interromper a leitura. Gosto da personagem de Kurt Wallander e apreciei o entretenimento que o livro me proporcionou. Uma série que pretendo continuar a conhecer.
August 16, 2021
2,5 / 5
Ilk kitabı cok sevmedigim icin seriye daha sonra devam ederim demistim. Sonra Netflixte Young Wallander dizisini seyredip, begenince o gazla bu kitaba başladim ama cok sıkıldım açıkcası. Wallander ne yaptı ki bu kitapta da habire çok iyi polissin diye yere göğe koyamadılar anlamadım 🤔
Ilk kitabı cok sevmedigim icin seriye daha sonra devam ederim demistim. Sonra Netflixte Young Wallander dizisini seyredip, begenince o gazla bu kitaba başladim ama cok sıkıldım açıkcası. Wallander ne yaptı ki bu kitapta da habire çok iyi polissin diye yere göğe koyamadılar anlamadım 🤔
August 8, 2023
It is the winter of 1991 and a life raft containing the bodies of two men, dressed in expensive suits, wash up on a beach in Sweden. Kurt Wallander and his team are tasked with solving the crime. During the investigation it soon becomes clear that the victims are Latvian criminals who have been murdered in a gangland hit. When a Latvian police officer who was assisting on the case is murdered Wallander travels across the Baltic Sea to Riga where he is plunged into a frozen, alien world of police surveillance, corruption, barely veiled threats and lies.
This is the second book in the series and is almost in a different genre from the first. Whereas 'Faceless Killers' saw Wallander trying to solve a crime and revolves around police procedure, 'The Dogs of Riga reads more like an espionage novel in the style of John Le Carrė. Whilst there are still leads to be chased down and things to be discovered, much of this book is about clandestine meetings and giving an insight in to the lives of the people who must live in a police state.
Whilst I didn't find this novel as enjoyable as 'Faceless Killers, Mankell’s gritty, minimalist, noir writing style is still interesting. Mankell also manages to capture and convey varying feelings and sentiments about the fall of communism, the end of the Cold War, and the collapse of the Soviet Union without indulging in long ideological debates.
Overall I found this is a decent read and a solid espionage thriller and makes this a book not to be missed as we see the continued development of Wallander’s character although I don't understand his tendency to fall in love in every book, given his general disillusionment.
This is the second book in the series and is almost in a different genre from the first. Whereas 'Faceless Killers' saw Wallander trying to solve a crime and revolves around police procedure, 'The Dogs of Riga reads more like an espionage novel in the style of John Le Carrė. Whilst there are still leads to be chased down and things to be discovered, much of this book is about clandestine meetings and giving an insight in to the lives of the people who must live in a police state.
Whilst I didn't find this novel as enjoyable as 'Faceless Killers, Mankell’s gritty, minimalist, noir writing style is still interesting. Mankell also manages to capture and convey varying feelings and sentiments about the fall of communism, the end of the Cold War, and the collapse of the Soviet Union without indulging in long ideological debates.
Overall I found this is a decent read and a solid espionage thriller and makes this a book not to be missed as we see the continued development of Wallander’s character although I don't understand his tendency to fall in love in every book, given his general disillusionment.
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