Book Review: Faceless Killers

Cover via Amazon

Title: Faceless Killers
Author: Henning Mankell
ISBN13: 9781400031573
Source: Library Copy
Rating: 1 out of 5

Synopsis from Goodreads: It was a senselessly violent crime: on a cold night in a remote Swedish farmhouse an elderly farmer is bludgeoned to death, and his wife is left to die with a noose around her neck. And as if this didn’t present enough problems for the Ystad police Inspector Kurt Wallander, the dying woman’s last word is foreign, leaving the police the one tangible clue they have–and in the process, the match that could inflame Sweden’s already smoldering anti-immigrant sentiments.

Unlike the situation with his ex-wife, his estranged daughter, or the beautiful but married young prosecutor who has piqued his interest, in this case, Wallander finds a problem he can handle. He quickly becomes obsessed with solving the crime before the already tense situation explodes, but soon comes to realize that it will require all his reserves of energy and dedication to solve.

My Review:

I already wrote about how uninteresting  I found this book to be. Now that I have finished reading it, I feel it was a total waste of time.

Maybe it was the translation? I don’t know. It lacked suspense and urgency, the characters were dull and the plot was boring and poorly written. I don’t know why it was put in the thriller genre. It is neither psychological nor political.

When I read a mystery book, I expect the murderer to be a complex character with enough motive to execute a cold-blooded murder. The murderer’s character should at least be discussed, outlined, debated and focused on to solve the crime. It was surprisingly missing in this book.

The police officers were predictable. Kurt Wallander himself is a bit of a complex character but is not developed enough. I think with more description and emotion the book could have been better. I mean why is he so popular? His colleagues detective Rydberg and Boman were more interesting comparatively. They were at least doing things and were on the right track.

I also expected to read about Ystad’s landscape, scenery, surrounding, which makes the setting of this novel. Unfortunately, there is none, except the repetitive “the wind was blowing”.

Do the next books in the series get better? I don’t know. I might give Wallander another chance but not anytime soon.

I had no motivation to go on reading this book but I thought it might grown on me and there would eventually be something startling or maybe there was something I am missing but really the book was quite forgettable.