There's something to be said for knowing the answer to a mystery while you're reading a mystery. I watched the first season of Wallander, of which One Step Behind was the last episode, before ever cracking a Wallander book, yet it didn't hurt my experience reading the book. Henning Mankell did that quite well on his own (but more on that later).When the book opened, and Wallander's colleague, Svedberg, was found murdered in his flat, I was thrilled with knowing who the killer was and how the killer was related to his/her past and future victims. The myriad clues that Wallander, Höglund and Martinsson were missing were clear to me in a way they wouldn't have been if I was reading this without prior knowledge (though I am quite observant in a literary-Sherlock way); I had no investigative work to do, so I could just pick up the clues and move along. What this allowed me to do, in turn, was pay more attention to the characters. I was able to settle into the rhythms of their work, their relationships and their problems, which pulled me deep into the story at a rapid rate. It started well. I was enjoying One Step Behind more than any other Wallander I've read, then my enjoyment began to fall apart in the most unexpected ways. I should mention, here, that while I was reading this Wallander I was listening (for the second time) to Sjowall & Wahloo's The Man Who Went Up in Smoke. I've found the Martin Beck books to be superior to the Wallander books, so I shouldn't be surprised that One Step Behind couldn't match its forebear, but the area in which Mankell's creation suffered most in comparison was the attitude towards the killer. Sjowall & Wahloo were not believers in the pure madman, the evil killer for the sake of evil -- nor am I. So Mankell's decision to cast his One Step Behind killer with that mould, to let a dust mote debate float throughout the book about the nature of the killer, then end it with the killer being mad and evil, left me disappointed. Not nearly so disappointed, however, as I was at Wallander's personal turn as Dirty Harry. He was every bad Hollywood cop cliché: he was the unorthodox but effective copper; he was the cop obsessed with catching his (wo)man, all else be damned; he was self-righteous and full of venom for everyone he judged; he took unnecessary risks, put others in danger, fought off meddling bureaucrats, broke laws, all in the name of justice. I had come to expect more from Kurt Wallander in Henning Mankell's books, and the early stages of One Step Behind had promised that I would get what I expected. But no. All I got was disappointment.What started as potentially my most favourite Wallander book turned into my least. I think I will watch the BBC version again soon (I've not seen it in a long time), and see if Wallander is as Hollywood there as he is in Mankell's pages. I sure hope not.
An excellent Kurt Wallander mystery with deep underlying themes questioning the fall of democracy in Sweden due in part to the brutal and senseless crimes. The Ystad police force seems unable to cope with the growing crime rate nor do they have the staff or advance technology to quickly track down the killers. Swedish society is changing but not in a good way. Wallander once again doggedly pursues a killer who carefully selects victims. But how does he pick his victims and what are their connections. A police officer in the Ystad unit is also killed while carrying on a secret investigation. Wallander soon realizes how little he know about the murdered colleague, an officer he had worked with for years. Wallander neglects his health, eats poorly, does not exercise and lives mostly on coffee and does not sleep in order to chase down even the smallest lead in desperate attempts to find the killer who he fears will strike again. The suspense builds slowly until the nail biting end. The ending is very satisfying without the gloomy aftertaste in so many of Mankell's Wallander mysteries. I love the way the writer make you feel the fear, doubts, loneliness and anger that Wallander feels. You know his dreams that are surreal fragments pulled from his troubled real life as all dreams are. You are inside his head feeling his frustration at having clues that lead nowhere. You want to yell at him for not taking better care of himself but once he gets started on a case he does not stop until it is finished and even when he is done there seems to be little satisfaction.You quickly realize that things in Sweden are different than they are here in the U.S. Criminals can profit from writing books on their crimes. The front desk at the police station is manned by a receptionist who does odd jobs. Police in this book series often break into homes to look for evidence or criminals. And police leave their guns at work and do not take them home. Home is suppose to be safe. But many things are similar. The crimes are senseless and violent and increasing in frequency. The only criticism I have of this series is that it is so focused on Wallander, you really find out little about the people who work will him, until they are murdered.
What do You think about One Step Behind (2003)?
It's such a treat to read a new (to me) book by an author I like and have it live up to my anticipation of it. Mankell's One Step Behind was a perfect nighttime read over the course of the week. Three role-playing young people shot on Midsummer's Eve as they picnicked in a nature preserve, but not found for a month - bodies carefully wrapped and hidden, then carefully arranged in their death poses. Inspector Kurt Wallander is at his dogged best, worrying the leads and his intuition, side-stepping the bureaucratic politics.
—Diane
I was thinking about this book last night for some reason -- it's been a little while since I finished it. It struck me that the plot relies on a lot of strange details. I don't read a lot of murder mysteries, so maybe this is common. Of all the characters, Inspector Kurt Wallander is perhaps the most 'normal'. He's overweight, lonely, and intelligent but sometimes unable to connect with others. All the other characters have sordid secrets. The murdered policeman, the circle of unusual teenagers, and of course the murderer. Psychologically these people are ranging on bizarre -- obsessive and highly secretive, unhealthily reserved, privately unhappy.Of course this all adds to the suspense. Secrets must be uncovered. But then I realised that another piece of the puzzle, the prominent role of the postal service in the unravelling of the mystery, seems a little bit odd in this day and age. OK, I see One Step Behind was published in 1997, so it's not too strange that the characters aren't corresponding by email. But it hit me that probably, for any book written in the late 1990s that attempts any degree of realism, this question is always going to come up. How the characters get in touch with each other. I couldn't avoid wondering, would these characters (the teenagers especially) really be writing each other letters?Anyway, I would describe my reading of this book as 'Total Fluff'. I have nothing to say about the writing style, which seems purely functional. About the development of the mystery, it seems to me now that the construction of the plot relied on too many weird details. I'm not being very specific here, since it's a mystery, but I suppose that just comes with the territory? I mean, do murder mysteries get written about perfectly ordinary people getting killed in perfectly ordinary circumstances by totally uninteresting but violent individuals? Probably not. So never mind!I enjoyed this as a bit of 'mental floss' but it doesn't rate nearly as highly as anything I've read by Martin Cruz Smith or Alexander McCall Smith, my two favorite mystery writers.
—Marieke
A couple of years have passed since the events in Book #6, which means it's time for another heinous crime in Ystad and for Wallander to once again bemoan the horrific state of Sweden. It's a good mystery, with all kinds of twists ands turns (although I, and probably most mystery readers, figured out quickly what was up with the picture of Louise way before Kurt did). The darkness of the murders this time contrasted sharply with the beautiful summer weather--a theme that echoes throughout the book: happiness is fleeting and horror does not have a rational explanation.
—Susan
