The Troubled Man by Henning Mankell

A little over a year ago I received, read and reviewed The Man From Beijing by Henning Mankell for the Vine program. I gave it five stars and was so impressed with Mr. Mankell's abilities that I immediately purchased one of his Kurt Walllander novels. The Troubled Man might well be described as the story of Kurt Wallander's last case, for in it the detctive is coping with the onset of his own old age, dementia, and losses as well as attempting to solve a case at hand.

Characters from earlier novels who were significant in Wallander's life make return appearances either as real people, such as Wallander's ex wife, or in memory such as his deceased father and in each case some sort of resolution of the relationship is accomplished. It speaks much of Mankell's skills that if it is a character that was in that earlier novel he or she was so well drawn that they quickly return to memory as old acquaintances, and if they were in a book yet unread I was drawn to read that book. As in all excellent novels, The Troubled Man, drew me in quickly and kept me enthralled to the end, an end that I was sorry to reach as I missed being with the characters.

The Troubled Man is also the story of a mystery. As such it is well plotted held my attention to the end and, if in the end, it does not supply all answers, it supplies enough answers to satisfy.

I recommend this book wholeheartedly to one and all. I purposely have omitted a summary of its plot and suggest you avoid all such summaries letting Henning Mankeell tell his story in his own way.