When Robert Akerblom contacted the police to report his wife missing, Inspector Kurt Wallander followed all the normal procedures for a missing person. But enquires produced nothing. Estate agent Louise Akerblom, had left her office in a small town in southern Sweden on Friday afternoon April 24th, to inspect a property on her way home. She never reached the property and just disappeared.
Her disappearance coupled with the complete destruction by fire of a remote farmhouse sparks off an investigation that brings Kurt Wallander into contact with renegade members of South Africa’s secret service and a former Russian KGB agent.
This is a complex tale, which has several narrators and although set primarily in Sweden, the story does switch between Sweden and South Africa. Apart from being a good mystery thriller, there is a great deal of background in the book about South Africa, which is portrayed as a country in crisis. I have never visited South Africa, but found the background fascinating. The pivot is a conspiracy originating in South Africa triggered by the release from prison of Nelson Mandela.
It is an absorbing book, and read brilliantly by Sean Barrett. His Afrikaans
accent was most effective. I have to my knowledge not met many Swedes, and cannot
recall what sort of accent they have, but it appears they all have a sort of
Somerset accent. I bow here to Sean Barrett’s superior knowledge, but listening
to the book, I found it hard to picture the Swedish characters in Sweden, they
kept appearing in my mind in the West Country!
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Lizzie Hayes
Other books in the series are Faceless Killers, The Fifth Woman, Sidetracked,
One Step Behind, Firewall, The Dogs of Riga, Return of the Dancing Master