One Step Behind

Kurt Wallander #7

by Henning Mankell

It is Midsummer's Eve, three young friends gather in a wood. In the still-sunlit, Scandanavian dusk, they don costumes joyfully to enact - or so it appears to an unseen observer - a kind of masque. The hidden watcher soon brings their performance to an end. His approach is careful; his aim is perfect - three bullets, three corpses. The murderer, then, carefully photographs the grisly tableau. The Ystad police station, meanwhile, is experiencing a summer lull, indeed Inspector Wallander is at last at liberty to attend to - albeit reluctantly - his deteriorating health, but his peace of mind is shattered when one of his colleagues is murdered. An unknown killer, seen by no-one, is on the loose, and the police's only lead is a photograph of three dead young people in costume. Forced to dig more deeply than he would have wanted into the personal life of one of his colleagues, Wallander's investigation reveals something none of his team could ever have imagined. However, they remain tantalisingly, terrifyingly one step behind the lethal progress of a killer Wallander would have to suppose was deranged if his methods were not so meticulous and his victims so clinically targeted.

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Thriller, Sweden, Scandinavian Literature, Detective

450 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Henning 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.

Reviews

[Trude KN]

Lydbok. Wallander sliter med helsa, han er overvektig og i ferd med å utvikle diabetes og tre tenåringer er forsvunnet. De sender postkort fra ulike steder i Europa, men den ene moren er sikker på at det er noe galt. Når ungdommene blir funnet drept iført kostymer og arrangert i en slags scene i et naturreservat viser det seg at hun har rett. Kort etter blir Wallanders kollega Svedberg også funnet drept, og når et brudepar og deres fotograf skytes i hjel er det ikke lenger noen tvil om at det er en seriemorder på ferde. Bokas største svakhet er at vi aldri får noen god forklaring på morderens motiv eller beveggrunner. Det brukes mye tid på å spekulere på nettopp dette og så er det som Mankell får det travelt med å avslutte boka og farer over slutten med harelabb.