The Fifth Woman (a Kurt Wallender thriller) by Henning Mankell (2011 fiction)
A complicated thriller, with very little at first to engage the reader, does just that. It helps to have an image of BBC TV actor Kenneth Branagh, who plays Kurt Wallander, the persistent Swedish detective. As with Branagh, there is nothing attractive or sexy here, but an extraordinary pursuit of an elusive monster. A criminal commits horrifying crimes. True. But there is a pervading suspicion that victims get desserts, that totally disparate events are linked somewhere, that excessive evil is actually measured and tailored to prior events. The crimes are dissected, the victims slowly revealed in their true colors. The case quickens. Mankell has a way of slowing things down annoyingly, inarguably. The reader shares the mundane challenges of overworked and sickly and exhausted police, driven by civic conscience, distracted by family crises, alarmed by an uprising of civic militia. Progress is infinitesimal, but beguiling. These awful crimes are somehow connected. There is a linkage somewhere. There may even be a timetable, a schedule of retribution. Fortunately, Mankell slowly introduces the murdering monster, exploring her (!) motivation. The plot inches forward, two forces moving toward each other. As always with Mankell/Wallander, there are familial and domestic demands and developments to hinder clear forward thinking. This is a paean to retributive justice. The fifth woman is killed in Africa. Who cares? Find out. This is a wonderful read, not to be rushed, not to be forgotten.
Reviewed by Martin Waldron
a