Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell

Although most lovers of Scandinavian crime fiction were turned onto it by the Stieg Larsson Millennum trilogy, I became a fan of the genre after reading The Indian Bride from Karin Fossum's Inspector Sejer series, which takes place in Norway. It was another three years before I finally picked up The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and really became hooked.

Unfortunately there aren't going to be any more Millennium books, so I've been compiling lists of other Scandinavian crime series to try. About a week ago, I finally picked up Faceless Killers, the first book in Henning Mankell's Inspector Kurt Wallander series, and started reading.

Although it wouldn't make my list of all-time favorite books, I wasn't disappointed. An elderly farmer is brutally murdered in his bed, his wife savagely beaten and almost dead when Wallander is called to the scene. Before she dies, the wife whispers one word: "foreign". Sweden is in the midst of an influx of asylum-seekers, causing fear and prejudice among the public. Once word gets out about the second murder victim's last word, all hell breaks loose. On top of the turmoil caused by this case, Wallander is also dealing with a recent divorce and his confusion about why his daughter won't visit or talk to him.

This book had its faults. I get annoyed when the first 90% of a book covers a few weeks and the final 10% covers several months. That seems like poor plotting--I couldn't see a single good reason why it was important to the plot to take so long to find the killers. If it was important, there should have been more going on in the interim months. Also, at the risk of spoiling the end, there were a couple MAJOR red herrings, one of which seemed extremely gratuitous and went entirely unexplained.

However, I do plan to read the rest of the series. For one thing, I love the spare, Raymond-Carver-esque prose that seems to be common in Scandinavian crime fiction. Also, I thought Wallander was an intriguing, fully fleshed character and I look forward to seeing whether his life gets any better and what happens with his relationship with his daughter.

I've got several more Scandinavian crime novels on my list to check out. Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö were the greatest influence on the current crop of writers, so they're obviously on it. I'm also looking forward to trying Jo Nesbø and Peter Høeg at some point. But I might save them for the cold and gloom of late October and November, when I'll be more in the mood for bleak detective novels.