Herbert Molin, a retired police officer, is living alone in a remote cottage in the vast forests of northern Sweden. He has two obsessions: one is the tango and the other is a conviction that he is being hunted, constantly pursued by ‘demons’. He has no close friends, no close neighbours, and by the time his body is eventually found, Molin is almost unrecognisable.
Lindman, a police officer on extended sick leave, hears of the death of his former colleague and, to take his mind off his own problems, decides to involve himself in the case. What he discovers, to his horror and disbelief, is a network of evil almost unimaginable in this remote district, and one which seems impossible to link to Molin’s death.
If you’ve read Mankell you’ll know that you are not in for an easy read…the gloom of the forest region builds and builds and builds until we are wrapped up in its embrace. This matches the mood of the plot however which is unremittingly bleak. Mankell is not a great fan of Swedish society or Swedish government, and this is brought out in spades. One begins to question with him the morality of the rules to which the intermeshed hierarchy play – the government, secret service, police and all.
I wouldn’t say that this is a classic page-turner, in fact some of the twists and turns can be quite obtuse, not to say unbelievable, but nevertheless that is crime fiction for you and it is gripping in a malevolent way. As you see it’s made my mood downbeat and pessimistic…a jolly good thing!
