Firewall

Kurt Wallander #8

by Henning Mankell, Dick Hill (Reader)

A body is found at an ATM, the apparent victim of heart attack. Then two teenage girls are arrested for the brutal murder of a cab driver. The girls confess to the crime, showing no remorse whatsoever. Two open-and-shut cases. At first, these incidents seem to have nothing in common. But as Wallander delves deeper into the mystery of why the girls murdered the cab driver, he begins to unravel a plot much more complicated than he initially suspected. The two cases become one and lead to a conspiracy that stretches far beyond the borders of Sweden.

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Thriller, Sweden, Scandinavian Literature, Detective

11 pages, Audio CD

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Henning Mankell was an internationally known Swedish crime writer, children's author and playwright. He was best known for his literary character Kurt Wallander.

Mankell split his time between Sweden and Mozambique. He was married to Eva Bergman, Swedish director and daughter of Ingmar Bergman.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 3 out of 5]

The eighth book in the Swedish detective series, starts with what appears to be the unrelated random vicious slaying of their cab driver, by the two female passengers, and then the apparent heart attack of an IT consultant at a cash machine… which leads to Wallander believing that maybe he has struck on to some sort of global conspiracy. Another great Wallander book, where once again the reader feels like a detective as the detailed procedural process is portrayed so well by Mankell, whilst maintaining the personal theme of Wallander's slide into late middle-age and for him, loneliness. 7 out of 12.

2011 read

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this 8th book in the 'Kurt Wallander' series, the Swedish detective is dealing with personal problems while investigating two suspicious deaths. The book can be read as a standalone.



*****

Inspector Kurt Wallender and his detectives are looking into two incidents: the brutal murder of a cab driver by two teenage girls, Sonya Hokberg and Eva Persson; and the death, seemingly from a heart attack, of computer expert Tynnes Falk near an ATM machine.



Events escalate when Sonya escapes police custody and is found dead in the works of a power station during a power blackout. Coincidentally, the blueprints of the power station are found on Falk's desk. Clearly, these cases are connected somehow.



Further police investigations reveal seriously encrypted files on Falk's computer that require the illicit skills of a young hacker.



As it turns out the police and the hacker have to race against time to try to avert a worldwide catastrophe. There's a lot going on in this story, including spies watching the cops, more deaths, a bullet aimed at Wallender, and an underhanded detective.



During all this Wallender is dealing with personal issues: he's charged with police brutality toward the teen suspect Eva Persson and he's lonesome and longing for female companionship. Unfortunately this clouds Wallender's judgement and he makes some serious mistakes.



I thought the terrorist conspiracy at the center of the story was a little far-fetched but I enjoyed the book and would recommend it.

You can follow my reviews at http://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.com/

[Brad · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book made me feel sick to my stomach. Not because it was too gory or because what was written disagreed with me in a philosophical way, but because I have grown to care about Kurt Wallander over the eight books I've read -- maybe even seeing a bit of myself in him -- and it's in this book that he is most under siege, and that feeling of being under attack was the feeling that made me feel ill.

His protege, Martinsson, the man he trained in the way his mentor Ryberg trained him, the man he kept in the police force when he was about to quit, the man he most trusted, has been quietly out to get him, undermining him with the police chief, the prosecutor's office, and his other colleagues.

His love life is a shambles, and when he finally sees a glimmer of hope it turns out to be an illusion designed to use him.

His personal relationships are all amok. His daugther is distant; his father is dead; his step-mother is playing at guilt; he can't see the one person closest to him for her closeness, so he keeps pushing her away (or, at least, maintaining his distance); he's even losing people he counted on without knowing it and finding it impossible to connect with the new people that are coming in to take their place.

And each of these bits and piece of Wallander's character made me physically ill. I've been where he's at (I may even be where he's at to some extent), and when all of those personal issues were coupled with real physical danger as a result of the case he was solving, I found myself reacting as if I could be a voice in his head, screaming advice, willing him to make positive decisions, begging him to stand up for himself.

It was an uncomfortable mirror for me, really, and it did its job of building and maintaining tension better than any other Wallander book I've read. It's entirely possible that this tension only works if someone connects with Wallander as I did, but it is there to be found if you are lucky enough (or unlucky enough) to make that connection.

[Lobstergirl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mankell's laziest, most hackish work yet, a pastiche of several other books in the series. At this point, I guess he could write them in his sleep. And probably did. Take elements of techno-terrorism or sabotage, Africa, disgruntled teens committing seemingly random crimes, mix, rearrange. He didn't even bother to tie up several loose ends in this one.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 3 out of 5]

For me, this is the least compelling story from Henning Mankell in his Kurt Wallander series, #8, Firewall. Published in 1998, it might have been seen then as cutting edge (though I doubt it) in predicting the ways computers might endanger our lives. Now we know there are no permanent firewalls that can't be breeched, and that more and more cyberwars will dominate the geopolitical landscape. But by now watching a computer hacker trying to find the code by which cyber-criminals are going to simultaneously bring down all world financial systems, beginning at an atm in sleepy Ystad in southern Sweden, seems both improbable and pretty bland reading. The ties with the criminals linking Sweden and Uganda were not really compelling for me, either.

Of course there are the usual linked and brutal murders, and the majority of the longish book's crime story is a very capable police procedural. But the heart of the story is Wallander, over 50, in physical and emotional demise, diabetic, long divorced and still single, seemingly estranged from his daughter Linda. He is caught on film striking a girl who was attacking her mother at the station, but both later charge him with assault. He also assault's a long time colleague who he discovers is reporting some of his questionable tactics to their bosses. He's kind of a mess, but a pretty compelling one. I'd just like to see something nice happen to him, but it appears his career obsession to 24/7 crime investigation may prevent that.

I listened to this book while reading another book, Why We Sleep, and think I could almost completely diagnose his various conditions using that book to link Wallander's insomnia to his terrible health, his sometimes explosive rages, his terrible diet, his depression, his increasing isolation.

If this is the only book you pick up by Mankell you will probably like it, seeing it is the product of a seasoned crime writer, but compared to many others written by him, it was somewhat of a disappointment for me.

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was good, the best so far. Unfortunately it is near the end of the series.

[Alejandra Arévalo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este libro me costó por razones sentimentales hacía Wallander, quiero decir: ya lo quiero. Y me costó porque había cositas que le estaban pasando en el ámbito amoroso, emocional y de amistad que le dolían y pues no sé, sentí feo por él. también siento que de repente se pone muy moralino pero esta historia tiene buenos tintes sobre la sociedad en la que vivimos, como todas las historias de Mankell. Me gustó.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

I usually enjoy the Wallander novels. This one for me is a 2.5. Wallander has become more self pitying about his life, paranoid about his colleagues and blames all his problems on others. The plot also is weak.

Falk a computer consultant checks his bank balance late one night at a ATM. He then apparently suddenly falls down dead. In parallel two teenager girls have brutally murdered a taxi driver and have no remorse. Wallander is investigating the cases and his personal life is a mess. No girlfriend, trying to stay healthy, with his diabetes, bad tempered and increasingly paranoid about how his police colleagues perceive him.

Two people then are brutally murdered. A sub station where the victim is burnt beyond recognition and the other killed by ferry propellor. Both cases appear linked. There is also a mysterious Asian using the alias Fu Cheng who could be the murderer.

The computer plot is full of holes. The biggest is that they find Falk’s computer and using a computer hacker try to discover what is behind the coded programs. There is someone who is killing people and even has a go at Wallander and knows about the computer. They could access the computer and have already trashed Falk’s apartment. Without the computer the police have nothing and yet the murderer does not destroy or remove it.

The procedural side is full of holes to. Wallander is dictatorial with his team and keeps information back from them. He searches Falk’s apartment illegally, uses a computer hacker instead of police experts and loses his temper with a suspect.

The Angola connection and conspiracy to bring down the world financial system via an ATM is for me far fetched. Murdering people spectacularly rather than killing them and making them disappear is a flaw. The drive to save Modin the young hacker from Wallander’s fake girlfriend odd. Why not ring local police to quickly investigate? Just to many holes for me to enjoy.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

With each Kurt Wallander mystery I read, I'm more and more impressed with Mankell's ability to create a Swedish police procedural that pulls you in--no matter how dense the "procedural" aspects of the case are. Like the first book I read (Faceless Killers), this is no thriller with aspirations for movie-dom (you know the ones) though there are suspenseful moments. Instead, this is a layered, complex telling of two seemingly unrelated cases and how Wallander and his team slowly tease out the connections and begin to unravel something much bigger and more sinister. Along the way, Wallander struggles with issues both work-related and existential.

A computer expert drops dead of a heart attack after withdrawing money from an ATM. Two teenage girls are picked up by a taxi and then brutally murder the driver. How are these two incidents connected? Read the book and find out.

[Juan Nalerio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mankell es un gran escritor de policiales.
La presente obra no es la excepción.
Un nuevo caso bien desarrollado y profundo para el inspector de Ystad.
Cada capítulo me lleva a a encariñarme más y más con Wallander. Disfruto cada una de sus entregas y sé que se me van a terminar pronto. Una macana.

[Tannaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

لیندا آرزوی من را برآورده کرد. صرف نظر از اینکه آن روزها شرایطش در کشور ما نبود، پدر، بطور جدی و به زرس قاطع به من گفت: اصلا و ابدا! حرفش را هم نزن. مثل رفتار پدر کورت والندر...

[Samane Lou · Rating 3 out of 5]

نمیدونم از ضعف ترجمه‌ش بود یا خود نویسنده انقدر ملال‌آور و خسته کننده و خواب‌آور نوشته...چون یه کتاب با یه همچین موضوعی که می‌تونست فوق العاده هیجان انگیز و نفس گیر باشه، بی‌اندازه حوصله‌سربر بود و منم که وقتی روزه‌م خود به خود طول روز رو خوابم میگیره، این کتاب بدتر حکم خواب‌آور رو داشت برام...
همین.

[Michael Martz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Henning Mankell's "Firewall", 8th in his Wallander series about the Swedish detective, was a bit of a mess to me. A somewhat interesting plot, numerous odd decisions, subject matter that I don't believe the author knew enough about to write about, boring prose (I realize it's a translation), solid (except for the stupid decisions) procedures, a somewhat satisfying conclusion, untied loose ends, endless introspection on Kurt Wallander's part...... they all combine for a novel that I would have typically quit on but had no problem finishing.

Firewall begins with a couple unexpected deaths- a youngish local computer consultant who drops dead next to an ATM he'd just used, and a taxi driver who'd been hit with a hammer and stabbed by a couple young women. The first is deemed 'natural causes', the second obviously a murder. The girls are quickly arrested, confess to the crime, and seemingly lack remorse. Wallander opines that something is amiss in the entire world, decides to delve into the motive for the young women while also suspecting the computer consultant's death wasn't natural, and the fun, such as it is, begins. One of the young girls being held escapes and is later found gruesomely murdered and the consultant seemed to have a secret life that was privy to no one. Wallander thrashes around, sensing that all the deaths are somehow connected, while dodging both an internal investigation and bad blood on his own team.

I realize Firewall is 22 years old at this point, but the computer-related topics, which end up as the focal points of the plot, aren't handled well. Wallander is getting a bit long in the tooth and is considering retirement, and his lack of knowledge in the technical arena, which maybe wasn't so rare back then, was a serious detriment to his investigation and should have been addressed in a much different way. That spoiled the plot for me. The writing itself was boring, with thousands of declarative sentences strung together as if commas were kryptonite. In the hands of Hemingway, simple sentences were magic. With Mankell, not so much.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Satisfying police procedural featuring detective Kurt Wallander in rural Sweden. This is the 8th in a series of 11 and my first experience with the author. A case of two teen aged girls who brutally murder a cab driver and confess with no remorse that it was simply for money leads Wallender to look closer. Another case of a computer consultant dying of apparent natural causes at a cash machine provides an early hint that he was planning something socially disruptive. From this slow start, Wallender and his team slowly piece together clues that link the cases together and tensions build as more deaths point to some sort of dangerous conspiracy. Wallender�s personality and working style are very engaging. He is empathetic but cantankerous, lonely, and driven to pursue all angles to solve a case. In this particular story, progress sometimes moves at a glacial pace while the reader is frustrated with special but incomplete knowledge about the bad guys behind the scenes. As implied by the title, the plot concerns computer networks, yet Wallender himself is a technophobe and details of the high tech issues are part of the story, as they do in other more current thrillers. Ultimately, the motivation of the bad guys is not portrayed very plausibly.

[Hediyeh🎁 · Rating 2 out of 5]

برای من نکات منفیش بیشتر از نقاط قوتش بود.
۲۰۰ صفحه اول اصلا جذبم نکرد و پایان بندی خوبی هم نداشت .
پیچیدگی معماهای داستانو دوست داشتم ولی کتاب بیش از اندازه به جزئیات پرداخته بود و واقعا یه جاهایی حوصله سر بر میشد و فک کنم اگر این زیاده گویی نبود بهتر میشد.
خیلی از اتفاقایی که در طول داستان میوفتاد،هیچ دلیل و منطقی پشتش نبود و خیلی از سوالاتی که ایجاد شده بود،بدون پاسخ باقی موندن.
شخصیتای داستان از نظر من خیلی سطحی بودن و اصلا بهشون پرداخته نشده بود.(برای من فقط چنتا اسم بودن که همش قاطی میکردم کی کدومه:/)

[Effie Saxioni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Έφηβες κοπέλες στο ρόλο θυτών αλλά και θυμάτων,μυστικά,ψέματα,κομπίνες,λεφτά,μια κοινωνία που δεν είναι τόσο καλά οργανωμένη όσο νομίζει και ένας Βαλάντερ αποκαμωμένος κι αποκαρδιωμένος,που παρόλα αυτά δεν εγκαταλείπει.Ανθρώπινες σχέσεις σε δοκιμασία και ένας ψηφιακός κόσμος πραγματικά φλεγόμενος.
5⭐

[Patrick Sherriff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the Kurt Wallander character, maybe because as I slip deeper into middle age, his world-weariness tinged with idealism that gives him only just enough strength to carry on are familiar aspects of life. With the author's death last month, I thought it was about time I read one of his Wallander mysteries. Firewall was the only one I have on my shelves. I think it's the eighth outing and I might hazard a guess that it's not his best. Written at a time when the Y2K bug was considered a real threat, it's a kind of techno-thriller from the point of view of a technophobe. The plot was OK, but it's Wallander's relationships with his team that kept me reading. The prose was good but the novel felt a little bloated and the climax a little disappointing. But it was good enough that I want to explore Wallander's world more deeply.

[Maddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Firewall: Any of a number of security schemes that prevent unauthorized users from gaining access to a computer network or that monitor transfers of information. What an appropriate title for this book, in more ways than one. First of all, the main area of investigation centers on trying to break through the firewall protection systems on the computer of a dead man. The police have reason to believe that a program in the computer may be set to cause some kind of destruction. The word "firewall" applies equally well to the life of the lead character, Inspector Kurt Wallander. Always a man who kept his own counsel, he has moved even further in this book to construct barriers between himself and the people around him.

It's 1997 in Ystad, Sweden, and two teenage girls brutally murder a taxi driver, seemingly without reason. A man is found dead at an ATM machine. Later, his body is stolen and placed back at the very same spot where he died. There's a massive blackout in the city, which has been caused by a body disrupting the connections in a power substation. Although these initially seem to be random events, Wallander becomes convinced that they are somehow connected. Discovering what the link is between them is a frustrating activity that consumes much investigative time, with a sense that a clock is ticking down to doom.

The procedural aspects of this book were exceptionally well done. The facts are laid out, and there's an overwhelming feeling that they don't make any sense, that they don't connect together in a way that will explain what the threat is and why it is being made. As time goes on, other information flows in to the team. They meet, analyze and continue on, more or less not understanding enough to even know what they should be doing. Mankell continues to feed in new morsels of data along the way, and the same analysis scenario is repeated over and over again. That approach led to a feeling that much of the book was redundant, when what was really happening was that the reader was participating just as if they were a part of the investigative team, trying to make sense with limited information available. It was almost like trying to assemble a model without the instructions—the pieces are all there but it's impossible to put them together without more input.

In its own way, the personal situations that Wallander endured in the book were as interesting as the main narrative was. In this book, he is a man facing the fact that his life is essentially meaningless. The work that he found so engrossing in the past is a source of pain. He cannot understand a world where teenage girls commit murder and show no more remorse than if they stepped on an ant. He cannot live in a system where a trusted colleague betrays him for his own benefit. His boss does not support him and seems willing to believe the worst of him. His malaise comes more and more to the surface. He slaps a girl during an investigation (for a legitimate reason); he hauls off and hits his co-worker. He is subject to bursts of anger. In his personal life, there is no one that cares for him or that he cares about, other than his daughter who has a life of her own to live.

I was caught up by the events in the first three-quarters of the book and found myself swept along by a complex plot and interesting characters. The final segment of the book was a letdown for me, and didn't seem as well written and planned as the earlier portion of the book. As well depicted as the investigation was, the book really lost its impact for me during the final chapters. In my opinion, Mankell made a huge error in judgment by providing the reader with too much information about an essential character who gained Wallander's trust. This served to eliminate the element of suspense about much of the action and indeed made Wallander look stupid. In spite of that, I recommend the book. This is a must-read book for fans of Kurt Wallander, as he is undergoing many changes, and not necessarily for the better. The last few pages open the door for a very interesting future for this series.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Henning Mankell has created one of the most authentic Nordic Noir characters in Kurt Wallander. As a similar aged male, albeit in a very different line of work, i identify with him in so many ways... getting older, times changing, kids growing up, ageing parents, loneliness, workplace changes, and just general grumpiness and disgruntlement at times and low mood that doesn’t really have clear origin. Mankell has written Wallander in such a way that I get a sense of walking alongside him, hearing his thoughts that may or may not be related to the plot of the story and generally getting inside another man’s head. That’s a real skill for a writer I think and one that draws me in. In fact, I get more lost in Wallander than I do in the plot.

Firewall is the 8th in the Wallander series and describes a complex plot that involves cracking a series of computer files that highlight a plan to mess with global finance and set in motion a new world order. A tall order indeed and what makes it even more intriguing is that Mankell wrote this book in 1998, in the early days of the World Wide Web and in a sense was somewhat prophetic in its suggestions.

In true Wallander style he muses about “... the bewildering vulnerability of modern society. Sometimes he thought about it for a long time late into the night. During the past three decades a society had been emerging which he did not fully recognise.... these changes were accompanied by a parallel development in which members of society were being connected ever more tightly by new technological innovations. But this highly efficient electronic network came at the cost of increased vulnerability to sabotage and terror...” p525.

And I love... “It was as if firewalls were not a phenomenon relegated to the world of computers. He had a firewall himself, and he didn’t always know how to get past it.” That’s classic Wallander.....

Firewall has an interesting plot, doesn’t get confusing but wasn’t the most gripping Wallander that I’ve read. As always there’s a few red herrings along the way that Mankell manages to interconnect to the story in an authentic way.

4 stars for this one.

[Daníel Freyr Jónsson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Firewall is a well thought out and well written crime novel. Kurt Wallander is a bit of an anti-hero but it's easy to feel compassion for him. In this book he's investigating a murder committed by two teenage girls that soon become linked to the death of a man that apparently died of natural causes in front of an ATM machine.
The story has its weak points though, e.g. the reason for the perpetrators to go to such great lengths in providing clues for the police to link the two deaths in never adequately explained. Wallander's health is always a concern in these stories and Mankell seems to constantly find new ailments for him to suffer from. Almost everyone in this book seems to have some family-, personality-, adjustment- or social problems. This overwhelming Scandinavian Social Realism gets a bit tiresome after a while. Has no one ever in a Scandinavian crime novel been a well rounded, reasonably happy person without deep rooted psychological problems?
The plot however is exiting and, apart from Mankell's obvious ignorance about how computers and dating sites work, realistic. Perhaps it's even too realistic. I lost count of how many meetings were held during the investigation and what was talked about in them. At times I felt like I was reading minutes and not a novel.
In my view Mankell has written much better books so while this book was not bad it wasn't very good either.

[Nguyên Trang · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lần trước đọc Mankell xong thề không bao giờ đọc ông này nữa nhưng vã quá lại sẵn sách tặng trong nhà nên lại đọc =))) cái mình nản nhất ở Mankell là ông này vụ án đúng kiểu chuyện bé xé ra to, kiểu gì cũng vươn tầm vĩ mô thần thánh chi đó. Rất hấp dẫn nhưng mệt mỏi. Truyện này cũng y chang thế. Nhưng hãy xem ông í xuất bản cuốn này năm 1998, cuối sách phải thề thốt là tôi bịa ra mấy truyện tin học kiểm soát toàn cầu này thôi, và nhìn thế giới bây giờ xem =)))) thật là rét run =))) còn con người, đúng là trong hoàn cảnh sống nào, cũng vẫn có những vấn đề y nhau, xem chừng cũng chỉ là đứng núi nọ trông núi kia

Để tránh mấy vụ rét run này nên lâu nay mình cũng cố gắng loại bỏ tất cả những thứ không liên quan trực tiếp ra khỏi đầu. Trong cuốn này, có một đoạn mình rất thích, tới mức đọc xong rồi còn ngồi tìm lại đoạn đó. Chao, có vẻ Mankell cũng rất tâm đắc khi đó là đoạn hiếm hoi (hoặc có lẽ duy nhất) trong sách được in nghiêng. Trong đoạn này, nhân vật có vụ việc phải ra bán đảo. Ở đó, chủ nhà đưa ông đấy tới một hòn đảo nhỏ ở tận cùng bán đảo "nơi những tảng đá lởm chởm nổi lên từ mặ nước giống như những con thú tiền sử hóa đá". Nhân vật đi dạo trên đảo "với cảm giác thông suốt kì lạ". Sau này, nhân vật thường nghĩ tới giây phút đó và nhiều lần khao khát được sống trở lại buổi sáng hôm đó.
Trong đời mình có vài lần đã trải qua cảm giác "thông suốt kì lạ" đó. Kiểu giữa bao ồn ã mệt mỏi kinh dị, tự nhiên mọi thứ tắt tiếng và hiện ra rất đơn giản nguyên sơ, hoàn toàn không còn muộn phiền nào. Sau này, mình phát hiện ra là có thể tạo được cảm giác thông suốt đó, tất nhiên để 24/24 thì quá khó, nhưng có thể trong thời gian ngắn hoặc có thể đạt tới gần trạng thái đó trong thời gian dài hơn. Kì diệu. Vô cùng hữu ích.

[Hannie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hoewel dit het achtste deel is, is dit het eerste boek dat ik van deze schrijver lees. Ik heb dit boek destijds gekocht bij een bibliotheekverkoop en ik had geen zin om eerst de andere delen te lezen. Dat ga ik nu wel doen, want na dit boek wil ik de andere ook wel lezen. Het verhaal zit goed in elkaar en is geloofwaardig. In het begin was het nog niet heel spannend, maar wel interessant. Later kwam de spanning wel. Het is een dik boek en vaak schrikt me dat wat af, omdat ik het verhaal dan te lang vind duren. Daar had ik nu geen last van. Een aanrader.

[Ezgi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mankell seride toplumun birçok farklı sorunlarına odaklanıyor. 2000’lere yaklaşırken dünya krizlerini eleştiren ve modern toplumun yalnızlaştırdığı insanları ele alan bir roman yazmış. Romanın kurgusunda bir kusur bulamadım yine. Cinayet anları ile soruşturmayı bir arada anlatarak heyecanı çok diri tutuyor yazar. Mutluluk ve toplum üzerine kafa yoran okurları şaşırtacak bir roman. Polisiyeden daha fazlası saklı seride.

[Whit Stiles · Rating 4 out of 5]

In many ways, Firewall is classic Wallander. The crime at the center of the story weaves seemingly disparate narratives together, and draws on African interests and matters of Third World inequality (Henning Mankell, himself, divided his time between Mozambique and Sweden). Wallander is in his typical haggard form, though perhaps the angriest we've seen the often depressed detective. Years of gut-punching, sleep-depriving work is finally boiling over.

For the reader, there is that genuine sense of being in the dark, lost in a sea of conflicting facts, that makes these books so fun and rewarding. There are more action-packed mysteries out there, but few hold their answers this close. The reader knows what the investigative team knows, and in this eighth installment of the series, Mankell still manages to avoid the almost narcissistic tendency some writers possess for essentially spoiling their own plots for the love of them.

And then there's the hero. There is no more a fragile or empathetic detective than Kurt Wallander, and Henning Mankell was simply a master at placing you in the midst of his central character's confusion. It's not the action that turns the pages, it is the need to pull Wallander through to the other side. To do whatever it takes to stop the next tragedy from taking place. I love Kurt Wallander. I've said it in past reviews, and still, there is hardly a character in all of serialized literature I care more about.

And yet, in other ways, Firewall struggles to stand up to the quality of prior novels in the series. Almost all the Wallander books were written in the 1990s, and as an English reader, translations were not available for certain installments until several years later. For instance, it was a 2003 review on NPR of The Dogs of Riga that introduced me to Wallander—11 years after it was published in Sweden. The plots of these books are often rooted in cultural concerns, and the characters routinely reference "Sweden today," and yet the narratives feel timely. Have an almost quantum capacity to exist in two eras: the one in which it was written and the one in which it is read; They function in both. But Firewall is the first, and possibly only, book in the series to be concerned with technology. It does not date well. The various pre-Y2K explanations of the internet, hackers, computer systems, and so on have a strong sense of novelty that makes the plot, and the stakes, feel trite (Wallander's consistent refrain of "I don't understand so don't bother explaining it to me" doesn't help). And yet, the stakes are quite high, and a similar event in the present would still be catastrophic, perhaps even more so than when this was written.

But, this all matters little, as I would rather disappear into Wallander's Ystad for a few weeks than turn on the TV. In fact, I'm feeling a bit melancholy that there is only one book left in the series. But then again, I can always go back to the beginning. And I probably will.

[Kristin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have come to the conclusion that Kurt Wallander is a lousy policeman and detective. He continuously snarls at his team, "I don't care! Do what I say!", he doesn't tell his team OR is supervisor key points in an investigation, he sneaks around behind everyone's back, he has anger management issues, chronic depression, and harasses people at 3am in the morning because he wants the answer NOW but then is irritated when someone calls him in the middle of the night.

Wallander believes he is the most experienced member on the force, the only detective who can solve crimes and no one else knows what he does. Bull. Shit. The more I read these, the more find him an unpleasant person.

No, I amend that - the more I am coming to detest Wallander as a main character. I can't even empathize with his point of view anymore because he is such an ass to everyone around him. His wallowing in self pity, self destructive behavior, lashing out in anger at his team and witnesses does not sit well with me at all. I'm just short of saying to heck with the series.

An example - I repeatedly noticed he would ask a team member, "Did you investigate X?"

Team member would reply, "No, should I?"

Wallander, "No, it doesn't matter. Go investigate Y."

Team member, whining, "But I don't have time to investigate Y, I'm working on Z."

Wallander, shouting, and slapping the table, "I don't care! Do what I say!"

Team member, placating, "All right! All right!"

Wallander, "Well, don't just stand there!"

So why do I keep listening to these (audiobooks)? Because the look at the Swedish police system and societal beliefs as seen though the eyes of the author are actually quite fascinating. An example - Wallander is shocked that two young girls could commit a brutal murder. And is further shocked when Ann-Britt Hoglund explains to him that young girls don't have a place in society anymore and are lashing out because of it.

But even this glimpse of Swedish society as seen through the pen of the author might not be enough to continue with the series. I enjoy the plots, I detest the main character. Not sure I can recommend this one.

[Eva Lorenz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first got exposed to Wallander and Mankell through the PBS mystery series and got immediately hooked because I used to gobble up books by Sjoewall and Wahloo. Let me say upfront, if you like realistic, modern crime drama that does not paint routine policy work as a series of great inspirations and glorified thoughts, these books are definitely for you.
The story is not idealized, it shows the police as human beings, flawed to the core, struggling with everyday problems of their own and drudging through routine police work that involves crimes utterly sordid, exposing some of the darkest sides of human nature.
This book is no different. If the cold and dark Skandinavian landscape is not dreary and depressing enough, here we have multiple crimes and murders committed, seemingly without a link. But leave if to Kurt Wallander to sort things out, while struggling with his own personal problems and keeping a police force together that work long hours, smoke and drink way too much.
This is truly a crime story for the modern age. Realistic to the core, where police work is sometimes just being successful through sheer hours of routine work, rather than a sparkling idea of an individual. Wallander will push through the desperation he feels and eventually solve the crime. But even solving the most puzzling crime will leave neither him nor the reader elated or satisfied, there is a lingering bitter aftertaste.

[E.T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5 Kiego Higashino's crime novels focused on "How" instead of "Who". Often you know the perpetrator and the mystery is to figure out how a crime actually happened. Think Mankell's novels are on the same theme. Unlike Christie's novels, where a glance at the last page was tempting, Mankell's novels are all about the procedure - the journey and not the destination. And at 500+ pages, the journey can be long and sometimes frustrating but well worth it.
This was a typical Mankell novel with all the elements - a baffling mystery, the diligent investigation and to add - a lot of violence and office politics this time. Unlike the other reviewers who felt sorry for Wallander as he is not tech-savvy, I felt he led the investigation quite competently. Maybe he proved the opposite point that good old diligence and intelligence matter more.
With this I am done with the first 8 novels of the Wallander series. The remaining 3 books were written as an afterthought and I think I may return to them someday later just for the sake of notalgia. For me, Mankell is the ultimate author of police-procedurals - lucid, deliberate and intellectually satisfying.

[Viencienta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Otro Wallander, y quedan tan pocos! No es desde luego el mejor caso ni el mejor libro. Una trama internacional con un "problema" informático anterior al efecto 2000. Queda muy lejos y se hace hasta naif. Mucho embrollo para poca chicha, pero es Wallander.

[Marisa Muñoz · Rating 4 out of 5]

[ 8° de la serie ] En su línea. Con su inseguridad y constancia, Wallander resuelve el caso a la vez que se cuestiona las vulnerabilidades de la sociedad actual.

[The.Saved.Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is no doubt that the Scandinavian crime novels I have read thus far fail to disappoint. After reading Stieg Larsson and now my first Henning Mankell, either the Swed's are really creative in creating some really messed up situations or Sweden is a pretty messed up place to live.

This crime is relatively twisted and complex, but I didn't find the ending as exciting as other crime novels, hence the 4 star rating.

The investigator at the forefront of the story is Kurt Wallander, which I found quite amusing with his "poor me" attitude. In this story, Wallander is tied to two seemingly unrelated events that find connection later in the story.

After reading this novel, I found myself researching Sweden's statistics to determine if there is any truth to the craziness that these Swedish writers are churning out. I decided the best way for me to gauge Sweden's situation, would be a direct comparison of US and Swedish statistics. I looked at crime rates vs. population and I also read a little into the gun laws in Sweden. I chose these two topics because in the novels coming out of Sweden people are killed but other cruel and twisted methods like being chainsawed alive and Wallander didn't even carry a gun in this novel. The guns laws were of particular interest to me because if Wallander didn't carry a gun and people are being killed in other cruel and unusual ways I have to assume that guns are difficult to get or outlawed.

First the crime data:
Sweden has 1.23m total reports of crime
The U.S. has 11.87m total reports of crime
That doesn't seem too bad, but when you look at total population, that's another story.
U.S population is 298.44m
Swedish population is 9.01m

Using that data, I calculate that only 3.9% of the total US population is affected by crime, whereas 13.7% of the Swedish population is affected by crime. That sounds pretty scary to me, so that leads me to believe that the rape stats in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo are no joke.

Moving on the gun laws in Sweden. It seems to be a very complex system with many laws and restrictions in place in an attempt to regulate who has guns and how many they can have. I have to assume that it difficult to afford a gun in the first place due to the fact that people of Sweden have a considerably lower GDP per capita, which I assume is in large part to the heavy taxation. People of Sweden only take home 40-50% of their earnings. YIKES! The US has a 36% higher GDP per capita and only looses approximately 30% to taxation.

If you happen to have enough money to acquire a sidearm, you have to be an active member of a club that competes with that particular gun and you have to be tested for competition. That means you have to hit 46 of your 50 possible shots in the center target and receive a letter from the club indicating that you are ready for competition. For the most part, Sweden does not allow people to own a gun for self-protection. There are somewhere between 10 and 100 people who have been granted this privileged. Considering GDP is so low, reducing the number of people who can purchase a firearm and pay for being a active member of a club, I think it is pretty likely that most people do not have guns in Sweden leaving criminals to find other crazy ways to eliminate people.

If you are interested in looking at any of these stats and doing some of your own research into these dynamics of Sweden driving the novels coming out of that country, check out this site:
http://www.nationmaster.com/index.php

There are many promising stats coming out of that country, like low teenage birth rate and on average people are 5 years older when they get married, again, compared to US stats.

Hopefully, I didn't get too out of line with this review, I'm a stats girl and just couldn't help it.