TBR 3# Sidetracked

This is a bit of a cheat because I didn't actually buy this book, in fact technically I nicked it. When I started watching Wallander in the Autumn of 2009 and became instantly obsessed with all things Swedish, starting with Ola Rapace (google him and thank me later), I spoke on Twitter about wanting to read the books and the lovely @LegalBizzle kindly lent me a big bag of them, which I then failed miserably to return. But bless him, he's so lovely (and furry) he donated them to the TSL. So I've been making my way through them and dumping them in the Suitcase once I've read them.

Sidetracked is the fifth in the Wallander series, which I have read hopelessly out of order. I read The Dogs of Riga and The White Lioness first, because they hadn't been made into English TV adaptations, and the I read One Step Behind because I enjoyed the Swedish adaptation so much.

Sidetracked is an incredibly bleak story, including trafficking, rape, scalping, suicide by burning yourself alive, axes through the head, roasting people, incest and police cuts. As with the other Wallander books, Mankell uses the plot to speak about the disintegration of Swedish society and the break-down of the hippy dreams of the 1950s. Political corruption, greed, misogyny and racism haunt the characters who all end up dead in the sleepy seaside town of Ystad.

Wallander himself is probably the most well developed of the detectives I've met so far in the challenge, but having already read and watched him a lot over the last couple of years, he's an old friend rather than a new fun acquaintance.

In Sidetracked, his relationship with her father becomes deeper as he deals with him illness. This touching example of how middle aged men cope is lightly but beautifully done. He also shows himself to be a complete coward when it comes to women; he can handle a treble murder investigation but not ringing his girlfriend. Wallander is one series I really wish I'd read in order as seeing characters now that aren't in later books was weird.

Mostly, this book was gruesome. Amazingly written, though you do spend a long time thinking 'just get on with it, man'. I'm not a massive fan or detective dramas where you know who's done it before the end of the book, and in this one we know from the beginning. Dramatic irony, I've always thought, works better on stage than in print.

If you're never read a Wallander, start with Faceless Killers. The Dogs of Riga and The White Lioness were a bit dull, but only because they were so heavily focused on Swedish politics in the early 90s which I know literally nothing about, and One Step Behind is incredible and still my favourite. Sidetracked is a very very very good book, but isn't the best. And Ola Rapace's face isn't on the cover.

The Devil's Star

The fifth in the Harry Hole series, and the third translated into English, this thick-but-quick Norwegian thriller covers all your basics of a good sexeh thriller; ancient symbols of devil worship, Nazism and fingers up the bum.
Concluding the Oslo Trilogy, beginning with The Redbreast and Nemisis that I read last winter, Jo Nesbo creates a violent disturbing world in a capitol city that sometimes feels as small as my hometown. With seemingly the tiniest police force in the world all on their summer break at the same time, Harry Hole is called back from his forced vacation to work a murder case alongside his nemesis Tom Waaler, who, take it from me, is EVIL.
The first of the series, The Redbreast, had me sitting up in bed until about three in the morning screaming 'HE'S A NAZI!!!!' at a book that has no ears. Although I didn't enjoy Nemesis half as much, mostly because I was spending the entire time waiting for Hole to cotton on to the dramatic irony, The Devil's Star picks up the pace again and was definitely my favourite of the three.
Harry Hole is an alcoholic wise-ass who should have been sacked a long time ago. In The Devil's Star, his life has fallen apart around him. Obsessed with finding the murderer of his colleague, his health is shot to pieces, his girlfriend has given him the final ultimatum; stop with the drinking or loose me forever. He can't sleep and he hasn't eaten in days. When he rolls up to the crime scene, the other offices don't want to leave him alone with the body. It is only when he discovers a small red diamond in the shape of a fine pointed star that the case, and Harry, starts to get a bit more interesting.
There are many, many red herrings, one so good I was utterly convinced I'd out-witted Nesbo a third of the way it. I LOVE psychological murder mysteries and quite a lot of this book reminded me of Waking the Dead and the DILFesque Detetective Boyd, whom I mourn and miss dearly. Harry Hole is a proper hottie, if a smelly, drunken hottie, and this book really came across as a real and identifiable character as opposed to a Smith and Weston toting Crime Stopper. There are also really sensual moments that Harry experiences alone, which made me really think about the male psyche and what have you. Probably all very sexistly but hey ho, it's CRIME.
Anyway, I'm now reading The Redeemer, the next in the Harry Hole series. Jo Nesbo is appearing at the Harrogate Crime Festival in July and I am very very tempted to stave off the HIVES I come out in every time I visit the town to try and lick him.

Happy Reading Paaskekrim!
BookElf xxx

Easter Crime!!!!

Because I don't already have enough reasons to love Norway, here's another one...
Every Easter, they all read CRIME.
The ENTIRE COUNTRY. READS CRIME.
This frankly weird but beautiful tradition apparently stems from a pretty nifty marketing ploy from the 20s. Over the Easter weekend, normal social activities would be closed to a good Christian community. No cinema, no dancing. And you can't be in Church or Eating all the time.... But READING is FREE. Free and allowed. So they started publishing all their crime novels (because everyone loves a good crime novel) and selling it as a 'tradition', and lo, like Santa wearing red and drinking coca cola, soon everyone believed that it was.
According to my friend, who is Actually Norwegian, this is a real legitimate thing. Norway, who have almost had WARS over which variation of their language is politically acceptable to use (how cool can you possibly be...) all go crime-nuts over Easter! The latest Jo Nesbos and Karin Fossums are released the week before, there are readings in bookshops all over Norway and TV stations run entire crime series from Holy Thursday through till Easter Monday.
I LOVE this idea, and plan to celebrate it in my own little way. Every day over Easter I'll be posting a review of a Scandinavian Crime book, and I'll also be reading some serious amounts of Murder Most Cold in homage to this great country...
...and who knows, next year I might actually be able to afford to go! (HA HA HA HA *chokes with laughter*).