The publisher's blurb runs thusly:
"One frozen January morning at 5am, Inspector Wallander responds to what he believes is a routine call out. When he reaches the isolated farmhouse he discovers a bloodbath. An old man has been tortured and beaten to death, his wife lies barely alive beside his shattered body, both victims of a violence beyond reason."
Beyond this, the book goes downhill.
I read to the end, but I found that I was less and less interested as the plot plodded along. It was more an account of a very long investigation that did little toward solving the crime. I find it hard to believe that the police could have devoted that many man-hours... they must have had better things to do.
Several times in the book, as the investigation "progresses", Mankell wrote, "nothing happened that day" and then proceeds to tell us what happened.
(SPOILER ALERT)
One of the "clues" found at the scene of the crime was a noose tied with a very unusual knot that was looped around the neck of the wife. Much time was spent tracing the type of knot and in the final pages it was dismissed by saying that they never did discover the significance of the noose.
I expect a murder mystery to be solved through thorough police work with occasional flashes of brilliance from the investigators.
This one was solved by chance...
Summary: Save your time for a better book...
Reviewed by David Nale
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