Helpful Score: 3
I'm new to Henning Mankell, and I have to say that I *loved* this book! The story is very original. The action is tense. I really attached to the main character - I felt her confusion, mistrust, and paranoia. I'm definitely starting his Wallander series next.
Helpful Score: 3
I just finished reading this book. Mankell is one of my favorite authors, so I was thrilled when I won this book on GLUE. As a thriller, it is not a mystery to the end, rather you know the who pretty early on in the book. It is more the why, based in history and political context that is the basis for the mystery. I loved reading the very interesting fictional view of today's China and what they might be up to. Reminding me of the history of China and American relations in the context of a good mystery was much more interesting than my history teacher ever was. Was it my favorite Mankell mystery? No it wasn't. But it was still an enjoyable read for anyone that likes historically based fiction with political intrigue.
Helpful Score: 1
One of his very best - as good or better than any of the Wallender books. Mass Murder in rural Sweden complicated by Chinese clues and the investigators haven't a clue! Action in Sweden, China and London...and motive...found in 1850s USA transcontinental railroad construction crews treated almost as slaves. Complex, clever, subtle at times and Most Excellent!
Outstanding book. Very well put together. My only (small) reservation is that, as in many of the Scandinavian books, the translation is at times a little awkward.
Once again Mankell draws you in right away. There is a lot of interesting information about China and capitalism and how the evolution affects the characters in the story. The tale starts with a viscious mass-murder in Sweden, travels to the past, and to present day China. Well worth a read.
This is the first Henning Mankel book I've read. I've rated it just OK. It started out very fast paced and had me hooked. However after that things got really bogged down. The story skipped around,first to China and the American west of 100yrs ago then to modern day China. It was more historical fiction than mystery and very slow going. The ending picked up the pace again but it wasn't really satisfying.
I think this is the best book Henning Mankell has written. It has an excellent opening, that is shocking enough to keep you reading, and the story becomes a very interesting historical novel coinciding with the mystery he is so good at spinning. I was completely fascinated in this story and I sent copies of this book to friends who are mystery enthusiasts like me.
I highly recommend this book.
I highly recommend this book.
*contains spoiler*
I went into this expecting an entertaining story along the same lines of Stieg Larsson. This is not that book. The novel opens with horrific descriptions of a mass murder in a small Swedish town (beheadings, missing limbs, animals slaughtered, etc.). Nineteen people, total, were slaughtered, eighteen of them elderly. As you can see, it starts off interesting.
Enter the amateur sleuth, who happens to possess relevant information. After much political talk and journeys to Mozambique, China, and London, we realize this massacre spans over a hundred years and is racist in origin. If everyone sought to avenge everyone else over a wrong in their lives, we'd have no one left on earth. The political message at the end was pretty inspiring: work to make the world a better place for people, move forward, progress. Three and a half stars.
I went into this expecting an entertaining story along the same lines of Stieg Larsson. This is not that book. The novel opens with horrific descriptions of a mass murder in a small Swedish town (beheadings, missing limbs, animals slaughtered, etc.). Nineteen people, total, were slaughtered, eighteen of them elderly. As you can see, it starts off interesting.
Enter the amateur sleuth, who happens to possess relevant information. After much political talk and journeys to Mozambique, China, and London, we realize this massacre spans over a hundred years and is racist in origin. If everyone sought to avenge everyone else over a wrong in their lives, we'd have no one left on earth. The political message at the end was pretty inspiring: work to make the world a better place for people, move forward, progress. Three and a half stars.
NB: contains minor spoilers
I picked up The Man from Beijing because I was intrigued by the Swedish-Chinese angle. This stand-alone story starts out as a mystery/thriller—19 people in a remote northern Swedish village are gruesomely murdered—but soon evolves into a geopolitical treatise whose pieces do not fit well together. Birgitta Roslin, a middle-aged judge, discovers that among the dead are her foster grandparents, and follows up on some clues that lead to a Chinese man being in the vicinity during the crimes. However, the narrative then jumps to the 19th century, and then on to the upper echelons of political Beijing, with sidetrips to Africa and England. Suspense is released because early on one gets a good sense of who is behind the bloodbath, although the motive seem far-fetched. I am also not sure that Mankell has an insider's grasp of China. Does Mao really figure so prominently into how its leaders think about future developments? Unfortunately, this story fell short as a mystery/thriller with many untidy loose ends and comes across as an example of vilifying the Chinese because they are now becoming more prominent players on the world stage.
I picked up The Man from Beijing because I was intrigued by the Swedish-Chinese angle. This stand-alone story starts out as a mystery/thriller—19 people in a remote northern Swedish village are gruesomely murdered—but soon evolves into a geopolitical treatise whose pieces do not fit well together. Birgitta Roslin, a middle-aged judge, discovers that among the dead are her foster grandparents, and follows up on some clues that lead to a Chinese man being in the vicinity during the crimes. However, the narrative then jumps to the 19th century, and then on to the upper echelons of political Beijing, with sidetrips to Africa and England. Suspense is released because early on one gets a good sense of who is behind the bloodbath, although the motive seem far-fetched. I am also not sure that Mankell has an insider's grasp of China. Does Mao really figure so prominently into how its leaders think about future developments? Unfortunately, this story fell short as a mystery/thriller with many untidy loose ends and comes across as an example of vilifying the Chinese because they are now becoming more prominent players on the world stage.
