Product Description

A young girl, possibly a foreigner, commits suicide in baffling circumstances. One, and then another, and then another vicious murder - and not one of them with an obvious motive - shatter the tranquility of the Swedish province of Skane. It falls to Inspector Kurt Wallander of the Ystad Police to try and solve the crimes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8281 in Books
• Published on: 2002-09-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
"The Swedish summer-time is too beautiful and too brief for something like this to happen." A young girl commits self-immolation, a former government minister is killed with an axe and scalped; these are the two brutal facts that confront Inspector Kurt Wallander as he prepares for his holiday. As the Swedish midsummer approaches there is no escaping from the darkness of society.

Sidetracked, the fifth of Henning Mankell's acclaimed Kurt Wallander mysteries, and the second to be translated into English, is an engrossing police procedural. The hard-boiled Kurt Wallander has softened slightly since he was first introduced in Faceless Killers, the first title in the series. He drinks less, has more functional relationships and has developed a faith in his investigative team. Despite this, it is his other qualities as a character, his philosophical angst and his intuitive pursuit of hunches, which drive this novel as Wallander struggles to discover the leads that will trap the killer.

Mankell manages to squeeze in serious comments on the state of Swedish society. The over-stretched police force, child prostitution and the corruption of high politics, all come under the scrutiny of Wallander's wearied gaze as he struggles to come to terms with the new violence of his society. This is a dark novel peppered with genuinely nasty violence, but it is Wallander's struggle to uncover the truth and face his own demons that provide the real thrills. --Iain Robinson

About the Author
Henning Mankell was born in Stockholm in 1948. He is the author of many works of fiction, among them the nine novels in the Kurt Wallander series. His books have been translated into 19 languages. He has worked as an actor, theatre director and manager in Sweden and more recently in Mozambique, where he is now head of the Teatro Avenida in Maputo. He won the Swedish Academy of Crime Literature award for Faceless Killers.

Customer Reviews

The best police and crime series you can read
This is the 5th book in the Kurt Wallender series and in my view it is the best so far.

What makes a Mankell book so special is the mix of plot, suspense and characterisation of the main characters but in particular Wallender.

In this story Wallender's private life is on the up. His daughter comes to visit him and their relationship so bad in previous novels is now strong. He plans a trip to Italy with his father and he looks forward to the holiday with his new love Baiba.

This is all in complete contrast to the investigation that he heads up, that of multiple violent murders and a suicide of a young girl.

What makes these books special is that you follow Wallenders thought process as he churns the facts, his suspicions and theories. Can he link the murderers, is his investigation heading in the right direction or is it sidetracked by normal police process.

I never rush a Mankell novell. I read every word as there is something to be revealed in nearly every line.

The best police and crime series you can read. It puts the others in the shade.

Classic Mankell
Until I went to Ystad recently, I had no idea what an idyllic and perect small town it is - all cobbled streets and half-timbered cottages. If there's one thing Mankell misdescribes in the Wallander novels, it is the sleepy atmosphere of Ystad. But I guess the idea is that the shocking murders that Inspector Wallander investigates are all the more shocking against this backdrop where in reality there must be next to no crime.
That aside, this is cracking stuff: gruesome murders, fascinating characters, blind alleys, and that typical rush at the end when everything finally falls into place. All the Wallander novels are excellent - this one is probably one of the better ones.

An Excellent Wallander Outing
I first hear of the Wallander series of novels through watching the BBC adaptations. I began at the start and quickly arrived at Sidetracked, the fifth Wallander novel. Sidetracked happened to be one of the three books adapted for TV so when I began reading I was already familiar with what happens in the book. However, this did not spoil my enjoyment of the book.

Sidetracked goes back to the bread and butter of police procedurals, which is by no means a bad thing. Gone are the days of international mischief that have peppered previous novels. Wallander and his team of well-established characters are involved in two cases, which at first do not appear to be related and are committed in the vicinity of Skane - a series of murders involving scalping and the gruesome suicide of a young lady.

There is also a greater insight into Wallander's personal life. His relationships with members of his family begin to warm and his love interest - Baipa - gets a greater mention in this book, which is welcome.

Overall, an excellent Wallander outing. It's easy to see why this book is award-winning