One Step Behind Paperback – January 14, 2003

I can’t put these books down. Each mystery is intriguing & well written. The main character, Wallander, has his flaws but he is at the same time likable and admirable. There is an underlying theme of the breakdown of Swedish society in the 1990’s…very similar to the current situation today in the entire world.

I have always enjoyed Henning Mankell’s mysteries. I liked this one a lot. The plot really held my attention consistently. I never did quite understand the killer’s motives but the search for him was interesting. I really like the character of Kurt Wallander. He’s the same age as my oldest son, but seems a lot older for some reason. However, I find him to be a very likable person.I also think that Mankell is an excellent writer. He describes life in Sweden very well. I have ,earned a lot about the Swedish from reading his books. I highly recommend his novels to anyone who likes a good police procedural with a nice touch of the Swedish culture.

I've read almost all of Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander series and this is my very favorite so far. In "One Step Behind" that is exactly what Kurt Wallander and the Ystad police department seem to be on their latest case. Kurt is having a lot of health problems and does eventually get himself to a doctor, but this latest case is so time consuming that he hardly has time to eat or sleep.It is Midsummer's Eve when people in Sweden have parties to celebrate the summer solstice. One particular group of young people have made plans ahead of time to celebrate in a meadow within a park that is virtually hidden from view unless one goes directly there. It is an isolated area where not many people go. These three young people each year dress up in costume and this particular time they are dressed as eighteenth-century people and even take along music from that time period to play. They take refreshments to enjoy, also. As they are eating and listening to their music and generally enjoying their time together, they are each shot to death. They told no one where they went and when they don't return home one of the parents is sure they have gone missing, but since the police have nothing yet to base it on, they can't file a missing persons report since they feel that the young people will soon return home.Wallander keeps getting bombarded by complaints and even one assault from the one mother so he decides to take a closer look and wants another policeman from Ystad to help him. When the other policeman is found dead, Wallander knows that there is a connection between these missing kids and the death of the policeman. The Ystad Police Department is shocked at losing one of its own, but the hunt for the killer is so difficult because there is almost nothing to go on except a picture of an unidentified woman who no one seems to know or to have seen.This is fast-paced and suspenseful as Wallander deals with his health, aging and a case that seems to be going nowhere as well as his continuing thoughts about Baiba Liepa in Riga. He must leave Ystad for a few days in his search for the truth, but he is still one step behind on that pursuit, too.I really love this book and want to read it again. This is number 7 in the Kurt Wallander Mystery series.

Read this book in two days. Couldn't put it down. The suspense at the end was maddening. Great characters in every book, but all of them well defined.

"One Step Behind" goes back a few years, but remains an enthralling study of the banality of evil and problems in confronting and stopping it. This struck me as one of the best of the books in the Wallander series (I haven't read them all, truth to tell), especially in its ability to portray the every waking moment of the protagonist and in persuading the reader to hang on to every word, every action in those moments.This is above all a story about Wallander and his guilt-driven drive to solve the murder of a colleague and at the same time deal with his own increasingly serious medical problems. The latter are so dire at times that you find yourself literally willing him to slow down, sleep, take his medication, eat better, etc. He, of course, isn't listening and does none of the above. As the conclusion rolls arounds, Wallander is in terrible shape physically and vulnerable on that score to the killer(s) at work, but nevertheless at the height of his mental powers.The well-spun story is ultimately a meticulously spun out procedural that makes clear how difficult the investigatory process is in reality and how tenuous the ultimate result. Some eight murders will occur in this novel before it reaches its ending. Most of them are outrageously diabolical and wrenching to the reader. This is a book that will leave all kinds of impact--transcending the mystery genre into literature. Highly recommended.

If you love a good Nordic mystery you won't go wrong with anything by Henning Mankell. He continues to deliver the goods!

I really enjoyed this book. It has an interesting plot and well developed characters. If you like to read books with a setting outside the US and you like murder mysteries, then I think you’ll enjoy this book, too.

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Liked the construct of the story..the way characters are developed and most importantly how we get a detailed peek into the innermost thoughts of Wallander.Anyone interested in crime thrillers should read Wallander.However I would have liked it more if the psychology of the villain was also explored in depth...you know, what makes. Them do what they do, what are their thoughts, peeling it layer by layer..etc...

Mit geschliffenem Stil durchleuchtet Mankell die psychischen Prozesse in seinen Charakteren, und legt - eingebettet in einem chronologisch übersichtlich strukturiertem Plot - einen sich stetig aufbauenden Spannungsbogen an.

Loved the book, so much better then the BBC tv series. Shame they cannot get the tv writers to simply copy the book.

英文が簡潔、平易。数日間の捜査が500頁超で描かれるが、飽きさせない。ワランダー警部の抱える病気と不遇な家庭生活もよい味付けになっている。猟奇殺人で始まり、日本では理想視されがちなスエーデン社会が刑事達によって悲観的に語られるのことも興味深かった。欠点は、人物の名が覚えにくいことか。