The Fifth Woman – Henning Mankell – 499
I have been progressively working my way through the entire Inspector Wallander series and the more I read, the more I like them. I have to admit I wasn’t as thrilled with the first one as I thought I would be, but I am really glad I persevered. The second was fabulous, the third even better and the fourth was gripping. This one is the sixth book (I have the fifth – Sidetracked – on order from the library so although I am trying to read them in order, it doesn’t always happen that way) and it is as good as the rest.
Particularly as I read this immediately after the previous James Patterson novel, it was an interesting contrast. Mankell writes a classic police procedural. The thrilling car chases, near misses, constant threats to the life of the protagonist or his or her immediate family, endless ‘personal connections’ with the case and the detective, are all used sparingly. That makes these books far, far more realistic. Wallander and his team are police officers in a small Swedish town. Not every murder is going to have some personal connection with Wallander. His life isn’t going to be threatened every time. He has a job to do, and that is to find out who committed the crimes and his team work methodically with him to do just that.
Nevertheless, they are page turners. I love Wallander’s instinct and hunches, and I absolutely love his need to think things through, catch a subtle clue in someone’s demeanour or words, and his ability to make connections. His team are fantastic as well. In this book, the original police commissioner, Bjork, has left to be replaced by another female (to join Ann-Britt who became a member of the team two books ago) and the balance is really good. And most importantly, you watch Wallander himself grow, change and develop as the years go on which makes you feel like you are there with him.
This book introduces a murderer who seems to be preying on men who, at first, have no apparent connection to one another. The only similar thing is the method of murder which is cruel, painful and very methodical. One is taken along several investigative lines – Africa and mercenaries, soldiers – but when some connections seem to arise in the form of a number of mysterious deaths of women, the case starts to break and the suspense builds.
Wallander is a real, flawed, emotional and very sharp man who is married to his job, but deserves his role. I know there are only a finite number of the Wallander series and I can now see how disappointed people were when the ‘last one’ was released. I have become so attached to the Inspector and his team already and I am not even halfway through them all. I suspect I know how I am going to feel when I close the cover on the final book as well.
Rating: 9/10
Date finished: 10 September 2011
Copyright: 2000
Pages: 583
Verdict: Bring on the next one.
