My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Like another recent book, I came to Henning Mankell’s Firewall after having seen a film version of it. I can’t recall this BBC production on Masterpiece Mystery too clearly, so the book still felt fresh to me. And, I’m sure it was adapted for filming, so the two versions would be somewhat divergent.

Overall, I liked the book. It was a fast read after the first few chapters, which felt a little too heavy on exposition. I was entertained and it was worth my time to read it. I’m glad to add another culture’s police procedural to my reading list, having read American, British and Japanese ones in the past. While the genre must have things in common, each example brings something unique to the reader. So, I look forward to more books like this from Sweden and beyond.

On the negative side, I didn’t care for some of the storytelling techniques that Mankell used. For example, he would be telling the story, moving forward in time, but then start a chapter as if its being told way in the future, looking back. He tells the reader that the upcoming scene is pivotal and has racked his main character Wallander’s psyche for years to come. Then he switches back to the present and tells the story. I think it’s a weak attempt at building suspense or grabbing the reader’s attention. Then again, perhaps Mankell is trying to stop those readers who skip to the end to find things out and then reads from the beginning or middle. I’m not sure but I didn’t like it. As for story, it’s not too deep and it gets wrapped up rather quickly and too nicely at the end.

I also wasn’t big on the weak development of the characters, especially the “Bad Guys.” He paints them in broad stereotypes, e.g. the crafty Asian who has trouble speaking English and can’t speak Swedish and techies who have poor to no social skills and interactions. He doesn’t really develop his female characters, from Wallander’s fellow officer Ann-Britt Höglund, to murderer/victim Sonja Hökberg, and to the various female characters scattered throughout the story.

I should probably read more of Mankell’s works to see if this one book was an aberration or his normal style. I’d still recommend it to someone wanting a mystery/police procedural, but it’s not in my favorites list.