A review by kmg365
One Step Behind by Henning Mankell

4.0

It was lovely to revisit Kurt Wallander after several years. My access to the titles in the series was sporadic. I read the first 6, then couldn't get my hands on the next 3, then read the last 2. I finally located the entire series on audio, and snapped it up right quick.

It was like slipping back into a relationship with an old friend that you don't see very often. I caught up on the state of Wallander's health (or lack of it), his workmates, his family, and his perpetual state of existential crisis.

It took a long time for the murder investigation to get into gear. It wasn't until the halfway point or so that I started to believe they'd actually arrest the killer. Still, I never regret the time spent watching Kurt travel around Sweden, putting things together piece by piece.

Everyone seemed to be cranky in this book. All the cops, all the suspects, all the witnesses. The audiobook narrator has perfected the art of the sigh, conveying everyone's eternal frustration with life. Maybe that's why I like the series so much-- I can relate to cranky.

I'm going to try to remember to check back in to read the reviews on this one, since sooner or later the Fiction Police will discover it, label it problematic, and one-star it en masse without even reading it. In the meantime, if you enjoy a well-plotted mystery solved by a clinically depressed cop in what must be the town with the most fatalistic residents in Sweden, you should check out a Wallander novel.