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.
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 crimeThe U.S. has 11.87m total reports of crimeThat doesn't seem too bad, but when you look at total population, that's another story.U.S population is 298.44mSwedish population is 9.01mUsing 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.phpThere 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.
What do You think about Firewall (2015)?
Brandmauer = Firewall :)Dies ist der Abschluss der Wallanderreihe, wenngleich nicht das letzte Buch, da es noch die Kurzgeschichten in "Wallanders erster Fall" gibt. Zur Geschichte: Zwei Teenie-Girls ermorden einen Taxifahrer und geben als sie gefasst werden an, es wäre wegen des Geldes gewesen. Ein Computerfachmann wird tot vor einem Geldautomaten gefunden und wenngleich es so scheint als wäre es ein natürlicher Tod gewesen verdichten sich die Hinweise, dass irgend etwas ganz und gar nicht stimmt. Bald darauf gibt es schon den dritten Todesfall, eines der Mädchen kann aus der Haft flüchten und wird kurz darauf in einem Umspannwerk gefunden, man hat mit ihrem Körper das Umspannwerk lahmgelegt und halb Schonen in Finsternis getaucht. Irgendwie vermutet die Ystader Polizei, dass diese Fälle alle zusammenhängen, und bei weiteren Nachforschungen stellt sich der tote Computerspezialist als Zentrum heraus. Wallander setzt sich wieder einmal über die Vorschriften hinweg und beauftragt einen erst kürzlich aus der Haft entlassenen Hacker mit der Aufgabe, in den Rechner des Toten einzudringen. Langsam aber sicher verdichten sich die Hinweise, dass hier der ganz große Coup geplant ist. Ein virtueller Anschlag auf die Finanzzentren der Welt, der den Kapitalismus in den Untergang stürzen soll.Noch besser als in den vorhergehenden Romanen wird Wallander in seiner Schwäche und in seiner Stärke dargestellt. Das Bild des alternden Kommissars ist noch facettenreicher geworden, nicht mehr bloß der trübsinnige Polizist, sondern ein Mensch in seiner ganzen (Un)Tiefe.Wieder einmal steigt der schwedische Schriftsteller auf die Barrikaden und zeichnet ein brutales Bild der Gesellschaft. "Keiner für alle und jeder für sich", dahin entwickelt sich die Welt, lautet die Anklage die Mankell seit Jahr und Tag predigt. Die Gesellschaft entfremdet sich, jeder ist damit befasst seine Schäfchen ins Trockene zu bringen. Fast möchte man sagen, "wie üblich" ist dieser Roman viel mehr als "bloß" ein Krimi. Es ist gekonnt verpackte Gesellschaftskritik. Doch so kommt sie besser an - Nestroy musste sich so vor der Zensur des Staates verstecken, Mankell versteckt sich so vor der Zensur des Marktes - und verbreitet derart verpackt seine These millionenfach.Zum Sprachlichen: Im Verlauf der Wallanderreihe ist eine deutliche sprachliche Entwicklung in Mankells Erzählstil zu bemerken, wodurch Mankells wunderbare Erzählstimme zu noch besserer Geltung kommt. Abgesehen vom dämlichen Titel, der den auch im Deutschen so verwendeten Begriff Firewall ins Deutsche übersetzt und damit unverständlich macht, ist auch dem Übersetzer eine gute Leistung gelungen.
—Reinhold
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 book was a little far-fetched but I enjoyed the book and would recommend it.
—Barbara
Lo reconozco: me costó algo meterme en harina. Tenía la sensación de no haberlo cogido en buen momento, que quizá debería haber esperado algo más para volver a embarcarme en otra historia de Wallander con casi 600 páginas. Pronto le cogí el punto y volví a enfrascarme en la historia de este sufrido poli sueco.Como en otras novelas de la serie, Wallander se ve inmerso en una gran conjura internacional que consigue desbaratar en el último minuto con cierta dosis de acción.En esta ocasión investiga unas muertes aparentemente sin conexión que resultan estar relacionadas con un intento de desequilibrar todas las instituciones financieras del mundo a través de las redes informáticas. Son los primeros tiempos de la popularización de Internet y Wallander se ve inmerso en este mundo que le resulta un tanto desconocido. Una historia con ramificaciones en la miseria angoleña, los malos tratos, los hackers, la violencia juvenil en la sociedad sueca, la impunidad de ciertos delitos…Su vida personal sigue siendo un desastre: muerto su padre, terminada su relación con la mujer de Riga, sin amigos y sin tiempo ni siquiera para hacer la colada. Por consejo de su hija, pone un anuncio para buscar pareja, pero hasta esto le sale mal. Mientras leía el libro me daba por pensar, “pero ¿cómo puede Mankell maltratar así a nuestro héroe? ¿Por qué no le da un respiro? Que le deje echar al menos un polvo a gusto”. Incluso uno de los pocos amigos que le quedan en la comisaría resulta ser un trepa cabrón que se está encargando de putearle ante sus superiores.
—Julián
