512 pages
English language
Published Jan. 22, 2012 by Penguin Random House.
Con El hombre inquieto, Mankell retoma las andanzas del inspector Wallander, del que supimos por última vez en el volumen Antes de que hiele, y, según asegura el autor sueco, tal vez nos hallemos ante la última aventura protagonizada por el entrañable inspector. La vida del inspector Kurt Wallander ha cambiado ligeramente: no sólo ha hecho realidad su sueño de tener una casa en el campo, sino que, además, su hija Linda lo ha convertido en abuelo. Sin embargo, su tranquilidad se ve perturbada poco después, un día de invierno de 2008, cuando el suegro de Linda, un oficial de alto rango de la Marina sueca llamado Håkan von Enke, desaparece en un bosque cerca de Estocolmo. Aunque la investigación la dirige la policía de Estocolmo, Wallander no puede evitar implicarse, sobre todo cuando una segunda persona desaparece en misteriosas circunstancias. Algunas pistas apuntan a grupos de extrema derecha en …
Con El hombre inquieto, Mankell retoma las andanzas del inspector Wallander, del que supimos por última vez en el volumen Antes de que hiele, y, según asegura el autor sueco, tal vez nos hallemos ante la última aventura protagonizada por el entrañable inspector. La vida del inspector Kurt Wallander ha cambiado ligeramente: no sólo ha hecho realidad su sueño de tener una casa en el campo, sino que, además, su hija Linda lo ha convertido en abuelo. Sin embargo, su tranquilidad se ve perturbada poco después, un día de invierno de 2008, cuando el suegro de Linda, un oficial de alto rango de la Marina sueca llamado Håkan von Enke, desaparece en un bosque cerca de Estocolmo. Aunque la investigación la dirige la policía de Estocolmo, Wallander no puede evitar implicarse, sobre todo cuando una segunda persona desaparece en misteriosas circunstancias. Algunas pistas apuntan a grupos de extrema derecha en el seno de la Marina sueca y a la época de la Guerra Fría, en particular a la década de los ochenta, cuando varios submarinos soviéticos fueron acusados de violar territorio sueco. Wallander comprende que está a punto de desvelar un gran secreto cuyo alcance abarcaría toda la historia de Suecia tras la segunda guerra mundial. Pero una nube aún más negra asoma por el horizonte.
Prachtig boek. Zoals altijd weer een enorm pakkende Wallander. Wat kon die man schrijven!
Wallender's Exit Music? Have a couple of Linda W's to look forward to yet.
Take a good crime story, add in a spy story, add in the ruminations and explorations of getting old...... tremendous mix and with some superb passages in.
I've recently read two of Henning Mankell's books one after the other (bought on a book sale). The previous one, [b:The man from Beijing|6596542|The Man from Beijing|Henning Mankell|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320494101s/6596542.jpg|2670220] was not one of the Detective Inspector Kurt Wallander series, and I did not enjoy it as much as this one, which does feature Wallander.
It seems to me that Mankell is, in a way, dominated by his own creation. When he tries to write books without Wallander, they seem to be patchy, with the plot not hanging together, and the characters become unconvincing.
In this book Wallander is involved in a case that affects his own family -- his daughter Linda's boyfriend's parents. The boyfriend's father, who lives in Stockholm, is a retired naval officer, who disappears, and, because of the family connection Wallander gets involved in the case.
Quite a large part of the book is devoted to Wallander's own …
I've recently read two of Henning Mankell's books one after the other (bought on a book sale). The previous one, [b:The man from Beijing|6596542|The Man from Beijing|Henning Mankell|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320494101s/6596542.jpg|2670220] was not one of the Detective Inspector Kurt Wallander series, and I did not enjoy it as much as this one, which does feature Wallander.
It seems to me that Mankell is, in a way, dominated by his own creation. When he tries to write books without Wallander, they seem to be patchy, with the plot not hanging together, and the characters become unconvincing.
In this book Wallander is involved in a case that affects his own family -- his daughter Linda's boyfriend's parents. The boyfriend's father, who lives in Stockholm, is a retired naval officer, who disappears, and, because of the family connection Wallander gets involved in the case.
Quite a large part of the book is devoted to Wallander's own reflections on the aging process, as he nears retirement himself. He reviews his life, wonders what happens to people he was at school with, wonders if he is becoming like his father and so on. I can understand that, since I am ten years older than Wallander is in the book, and I too wonder what happened to people I was at school or university with. I tend to use things like Facebook for that, but that doesn't seem to occur to Wallander. He has a computer, but doesn't seem to use it much.
The main story also recalls the past, with its roots in the Cold War. To say much more than that would reveal too much of the plot. If you like your whodunits to get on with the story and not have much introspective reflection, then perhaps you'd better wait for the Readers Digest condensed edition to come out. But I thought this was one of Mankell's better books.
