Inspector-Wallander.org News Archive

Inspector-Wallander.org
The Site for English-Speaking Fans of Henning Mankell's Detective Series
Featuring Kurt Wallander of Ystad, Sweden,
A small town outside of Malmö in the southern province of Skåne.

News Archive

Before the Frost on The Toronto Star's summer reading list

Posted 11 August 2005

Jack Batten of the Toronto Star had Henning Mankell's Before the Frost on his summer reading list. Here are a few brief excerpts from his July 24th review:

	It's a shock to be told at this late date that Inspector Kurt Wallander has a violent temper. Devoted Wallander fans have long understood that he works to exhaustion and grows grumpy when he's faced with a perplexing murder case. But Before the Frost is the first Wallander book to depict a man who gives in to explosive tantrums that stun and offend those closest to him. This revisionist version of Wallander is hard to accept for those of us to whom he is nothing other than a passionate but disciplined master of sleuthing.

	The unwelcome new view of Wallander as an angry bully that emerges from Before the Frost is supplied by a not entirely surprising figure. In all the previous Wallander books, the story is told from Kurt's point of view. In this novel, the point of view belongs to Linda, Wallander's wayward daughter. Readers have suspected for some time that Linda has never liked much of what she sees in her father.

All in all, this is a very interesting review and well worth reading.

Thanks to Greg for sending it in.