Rating: 
Summary: So far ahead of the pack
Review: Every one of the Wallander series is so much better written than almost anything else in the genre, and this despite some awkward translating. Forgetting particulars of which is somewhat better than another, simply bear in mind that they are intelligent, credible, literate and complex. There are no "babe" detectives tearing off their badges to sleep with partners; no sex addicts, no gratuitous titillating crap of any sort--just detectives doing their work.My heart leaps for joy when I see a new one, and I've pre-ordered the upcoming Lina Wallander story. The Patricia Cornwall stories are an embarrasssment by comparison. It makes you wish you were a Swede.
Rating: 
Summary: Way too long!
Review: I got this book as a present, and boy was I delighted; I always wanted to read something by this mysterious Mankell, I had been hearing so much about.
As I got started the book seemed fine; the plot sounded intriguing, and the characters were interesting. After day three I lost courage; suddenly this book seemed to have an endless amount of pages, and the story was just dragging on. Normally I enjoy reading about the privatlives of our heroes, in fact that's normally my favourite things about these books, but now I was practically begging for the mystery to be solved and the book to end. It just went on and on and on.
And wouldn't been a problem if the writing wasn't so standard and emotionless. Mankell barely bothers to give us some characters to relate to. The entire thing reeks of run-of-the-mill detective fiction; not bad, but ask yourself this question: what then makes you as a reader read this book? At the end of the book your left with a decent ending, but the book should have been so much shorter! So many pages of dreary babble!
I'm sure the other Mankell books are better, try one of them!
Rating:
Summary: My first Wallander, indeed my first Mankell
Review: I have just finished reading Firewall. Although I live in Sweden, this is my first Mankell. Firewall has introduced me to this wonderful author. I have just ordered The Dogs of Riga.
Rating: 
Summary: Another great Wallander -- at last, in English!
Review: I read the German translation ("Die Brandmauer") as soon as it became available. In fact, since reading my first Wallander, I've never been able to wait for the English translations. (Why do they take so long?) Whatever you like about Kurt Wallander novels -- the shocking, unexpected turns of plot, the continuing development of Wallander as a person, his relationship with his daughter, his colleagues -- you'll find it in this novel. The character of one of those colleagues -- Martinson, whom we first met as a young, new policeman in Faceless Killers -- exhibits a surprising new side.At last, it's about to appear in English, so that I can share it with friends who don't read German (or Swedish or Norwegian or ...)
Rating: 
Summary: Unsophisticated
Review: I'm going to go against the flow with this review. I was able to finish the book, but that's about the only positive note. In short, this book is about a 2 week police investigation starting with the murder of a taxi driver but quickly unfolding into a series of events that may or may not be related. The book focuses on the very detailed actions of the main character - Kurt Wallander, the police investigator. The book cover quotes mention words like "suspensful - thriller". I disagree with these. The only word that is correct is "procedural". The book reads like a police report. But one where you also get information on the bad guys before the police finds out. There is absolutely no suspense in this book, and the little intrigue there may be is quickly put off by revealing key information so you can completely guess the final outcome about halfway through the book. Also, the expectation on the level of sophistication of this story is set high because of the many events decribed in very detail. At the end I was disappointed to discover that many of those details were actually unimportant to the story. Also, as the title suggest, there is quite some computer technology involved in the story. It appears to me that the author has made little research on the matter. Everything around the computer technology described doesn't make a lot of sense. The author very much sounds like the computer-illiterate main character. In summary: this book is a police report of an unsophiticated, and therefore uninteresting crime.
Rating:
Summary: Fun but Significantly Flawed
Review: Inspector Wallnder is feeling especially low these days in the aftermath of the funeral of Stefan Fredman, the child serial killer from `Sidetracked'. Meanwhile Tynnes Falk, an unimportant computer consultant drops suddenly dead while withdrawing money from an ATM in the southern Swedish town of Ystad. Natural causes look likely so the police are not too concerned. But meanwhile a couple of young girls are brought in for the fatal and apparently almost pointless stabbing of a taxi driver. One escapes custody and is found dead of electrocution soon afterwards in an electricity substation. The plot thickens when it starts to look as if the young girl's murder may be somehow linked to the late Mr Falk, linked in particular to the extremely heavily protected material on his pc.
This is the last of Mankell's eight Kurt Wallander novels and if you liked the other 7, you're sure to like this. Like the others, it is intriguing, intricate, broodingly atmospheric and generally in a class above much other contemporary work in the genre. The plotting it must be said is a bit flawed. In particular the criminals at its centre are enormously ruthless and painstaking when it comes to covering their tracks. But Wallander is only alerted to Falk's death being anything to do with anything of any interest to him when the same criminals steal and mutilate his body, replacing it, on its stretcher in the morgue, with a broken relay from the very substation where the murdered girl was found. A central aspect of the mystery is why on earth they should do this except as a plot device to help Mankell give Wallander a reason to link the substation murder to Falk and start taking an interest in the latter. I hope I give nothing of any consequence away by pointing out that the explanation of this crucial detail, when it comes in the final chapter, is feeble in the extreme and the whole business is left looking like a rather weak ad hoc plotting contrivance. That sort of carelessness rather spoils an otherwise highly satisfying police procedural.
Rating:
Summary: Cold weather computer conundrum
Review: Kurt Wallander, Swedish police investigator is again searching for answers in Henning Mankell's methodical "Firewall". Two seemingly unrelated incidents are serving as the impetus for a series of crimes that have the authorities baffled. Tynnes Falk, a talented computer software expert is found dead in front of a cash machine in Wallandar's native town of Ystaad. It is inconclusive as to whether the bruise on his skull was caused by an assault or as he fell to the pavement. At the same time, two remorseless teenaged girls are apprehended for the stabbing and bludgeoning of a cabbie who eventually succumbed to his wounds.
These events lead to a series of crimes that commence when one of the teens, nineteen year old Sonja Hokberg escapes from custody owing to some sloppy police work. She is later found incinerated, as a result of being tossed into power lines in an electrical substation causing a regional black out. Wallandar's investigation takes a new tangent and he discovers that this and subsequent events point to an attack of global computer systems.
With the help of his investigative team and a teenaged computer hacker Robert Modin, Wallandar decides to break into Tynnes Falk's computer to see what he was up to. He is stonewalled by a series of firewalls which retard his progress as crimes and killings related to the case continue to mount.
Mankell's hero Wallandar, is the Swedish version of Columbo, unassuming on the outside but attentive and perceptive on the inside. Mankell's work is as systematic as Wallandar's demeanor. While "Firewall" wasn't the best of his work, it was a worthy novel for those with an appetite for crime drama.
Rating:
Summary: As good as Sjoewall & Wahloo, and that's saying something!
Review: Maybe it's not a coincidence that the best police procedural series since the Martin Beck series also comes from a Swedish author. These deliberate, dark novels are not to everyone's taste, but if you liked Martin Beck, you'll probably like Kurt Wallander. Firewall starts with two seemingly random events-- a reclusive computer expert drops dead in front of an ATM machine, and two teenage girls bludgeon and stab an elderly taxi driver to death. At first it seems that there couldn't possibly be any connection between the two, but the police investigation into the murder of the taxi driver is like kicking over an anthill. It seems as if a dozen incomprehensible things happen in rapid succession, including the killing of the prime suspect in the murder case. Inspector Kurt Wallander leads a dogged team of detectives in a search for the key to the baffling series of events, even though he has been accused of brutality toward a juvenile suspect and seems to be harboring a traitor among the cops on his team. These cops work long hours, drink endless cups of coffee, and stop for numberless hamburgers and pizzas. But they also have home lives, do their laundry, take care of their sick kids, and struggle with car repairs and getting their errands done. Wallander, a divorced man in his mid-50's with diabetes and an advanced case of loneliness, balances action with thought, not all of it pleasant or useful. His resemblance is Martin Beck is strong, but this cop and his colleagues operate without the black humor that made Sjoewall and Wahloo's novels so fascinating. If society looked hopeless in the 1970's, it looks much worse in the late 1990's, and Wallander and his fellow cops see enough brutality and senseless violence to make anyone a pessimist. The best thing is, however, that the story really works. After pages of relentless police work, including much attention to the efforts of a young hacker coopted to help the police break into a seemingly impregnable computer, the pieces start falling into place. The pace quickens, and the police keep getting closer, but
Wallander continues to make mistakes, not knowing how complicated the plot he is investigating really is. One realistic touch is that the book doesn't end with the climax, when the puzzle finally finds it solution. Instead, it meanders on for a bit to let the reader see the let-down at the end and the chance for Wallander to re-focus on his own life and priorities. The traitor on his team is still there. The mistrust of his superiors has not abated. But Wallander decides to continue to do his job because he hasn't any other option. It doesn't get much more real than that.
Rating:
Summary: Gloom and depression
Review: Slow paced, confused plot even at the end, but most of all too depressing. Inspector Wallander sobs and whimpers from beginning to end on his divorce (caused by his egocentric focus on career), friends who abandon him (one can understand why), colleagues who hide from him... And as an excuse he moans "o tempora, o mores", pretending that modern society is at the root of his own squallor.
Rating:
Summary: great suspense and a wonderfully human character
Review: The Italian traslation is always late and so I'd like to thank the english translator.
As to this new case, I think that perhaps it's the best. The level of suspense is very high and Wallander is wonderfully human. Like a real person that you have known for years.
Now I'm waiting for the 9th case, Pyramid.
Let's hope to read it this very year, 2003.
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