Sidetracked - (Kurt Wallander) by Henning Mankell (Paperback)

About the Book

A teenage girl self-immolates, the former Minister of Justice is murdered and scalped, and suddenly Inspector Kurt Wallander finds himself searching for Sweden's first serial killer.

Book Synopsis

The mystery thriller series that inspired the Netflix crime drama Young Wallander - From the dean of Scandinavian noir, the fifth riveting installment in the internationally bestselling and universally acclaimed Kurt Wallander series.

In the award-winning Sidetracked, Kurt Wallander is called to a nearby rapeseed field where a teenage girl has been loitering all day long. He arrives just in time to watch her douse herself in gasoline and set herself aflame. The next day he is called to a beach where Sweden's former Minister of Justice has been axed to death and scalped. The murder has the obvious markings of a demented serial killer, and Wallander is frantic to find him before he strikes again. But his investigation is beset with a handful of obstacles--a department distracted by the threat of impending cutbacks and the frivolity of World Cup soccer, a tenuous long-distance relationship with a murdered policeman's widow, and the unshakably haunting preoccupation with the young girl who set herself on fire. Fascinating and astute, Sidetracked is a compelling mystery enhanced by keen social awareness.

Review Quotes

"Presents Mankell at his best...if you haven't bought Sidetracked, do so ASAP" --Los Angeles Times Book Review

"[I]t is Wallander's voice . . . that captures us." --New York Times Book Review

"Mankell joins the worthy ranks of such past masters as Georges Simenon [and] Nicholas Freeling." --The Wall Street Journal

"Full of emotion yet cleanly written, apparently straightforward yet fraught with intriguing revelations, Mankell's latest mystery is strongly recommended." --Library Journal

About the Author

Henning Mankell is the internatinally acclaimed, bestselling author of the Kurt Wallander novels. Mankell's novels have been translated into forty-five languages and have sold more than forty million copies worldwide. He was the first winner of the Ripper Award and also received the Glass Key and the Crime Writers' Association Golden Dagger, among other awards. His Kurt Wallander mysteries have been adapted into a PBS television series starring Kenneth Branagh. During his life, Mankell divided his time between Sweden and Mozambique, where he was artistic director of the Teatro Avenida in Maputo. He died in 2015.