The glum tone of the book, despite the setting during a warm and luxuriant late summer, reflects a crumbling Swedish society: government corruption is widespread honest cops are disillusioned by abuses in high officialdom rifts among social classes and between Swedes and recent immigrants abound. The dyspeptic Wallander, whose frazzled personal life is further impaired by the diabetes he ignores, works himself to exhaustion, sidestepping official procedure and making intuitive leaps to find the cold-blooded killer. Eventually the reader meets the killer, whose bizarre motive and methods the author gradually reveals. More murders follow, with the exhausted, understaffed detectives just too late each time to prevent the next crime. Soon after their bodies surface, a fourth friend, who was too sick to attend the party, is killed. Wallander's persistent, occasionally brilliant, investigation points to a connection between Svedberg and the disappearance of the three young people.

Six weeks after three college students are murdered during a Midsummer's Eve party, their bodies hidden to prevent discovery, Wallander's secretive colleague Svedberg is found at home with half his head blown off. appearance in this taut, intricately plotted series ( The Fifth Woman, etc.), Swedish detective Kurt Wallander pursues a long, complex case sure to please those who like weighty police procedurals. One Step Behind is the fifth book to appear in English in what the Los Angeles Times Book Review calls the exquisite Kurt Wallander series.In his fifth U.S. An unknown killer is on the loose, but their only lead is a photograph of three dead young people in costume.įorced to dig more deeply than he d like into the personal life of one of his colleagues, Wallander s investigation uncovers something he could never have imagined. The police slowly realize how little they know about what is going on in their seemingly serene town. Inspector Kurt Wallander is focusing on living healthier, but his peace of mind is shattered when a fellow officer is murdered. Meanwhile, the Ystad police station is experiencing a summer lull. The murderer then carefully photographs the grisly tableau. His approach is careful his aim is perfect. But an uninvited guest soon brings their performance to a gruesome conclusion. In the still-sun-lit northern night, they don costumes and begin to role play.

On Midsummer s Eve, three friends gather in a secluded meadow in Sweden.

One Step Behind by Henning Mankell