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Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 813 EAN: 9780099445210 Edition: New edition ISBN: 0099445212 Label: Vintage Manufacturer: Vintage Number Of Pages: 592 Publication Date: September 05, 2002 Publisher: Vintage Studio: Vintage Related Items:
Editorial Review: Amazon.co.uk Review: A series of men who seem to have nothing in common are brutally killed--one is impaled, another starved and then strangled. We know more than the police--we know that the killer is a woman and we gradually understand some of her motivation; her much wronged mother was murdered almost by chance in a North African country--but we don't know who she is, or, for a while at least, her motives and principles of selection of her victims. Inspector Wallender finds himself investigating the case--two missing person enquiries that turn into a murder hunt--and finds himself endlessly confused by red herrings and side issues; a set of leads concerning mercenaries in the Congo of the 1960s turn out to have little to do with the case and Wallender has to waste considerable time suppressing an attempt by the far Right to turn the murders into a reason to set up vigilante justice.The Fifth Woman is a stylish police procedural which lets us see not only the leg work of investigation but also the diligence which makes effective murder possible--the killer Wallender is trying to catch is at least as good at her job of murder as he is at his of prevention. --Roz Kaveney Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Swedish crime at its bestYou get so much out of the Kurt Wallander series. Henning Mankells writing is tip top, his characterisations are superb, in Kurt you see a man whose life has been ruled and in a way destroyed by his successful career as a detective. You see the what ifs of the man and you also see why he does what he does. This is dark, scandanavian crime writing at it's best, and i love it. I think if you like ian rankin then you'll love henning mankell Rating:  - Don'tThere may be a story in there, but -- in translation at least -- this is atrociously written, trite, full of cliches and dead language. It's in the bin. Rating: - These books are now like an old friendFirstly I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Its the 6th Kurt Wallender book and all of them have been very enjoyable. This one especially so. It is best to read the books in sequence (see the previous review). That way you get to understand the mind of Wallender, why things get him down, weary, his thoughts on colleagues and friends. It also helps you realise why in this story Wallender at times becomes angry, stubborn and annoyed at vigilante groups springing up around the Ystad area. I now consider these books like an old friend. You look forwad to seeing them, miss them when you are not reading them, like them even though the characters have their own flaws. If you like an extremely well written police mystery then these books are for you. Rating: - "Though this be madnessyet there is method in 't." Hamlet: Act II, Scene 2. Four nuns have been found brutally murdered in a convent in an unnamed North African country. A fifth woman has also been murdered. Although news of the murders is suppressed and the fifth woman is never publicly identified a policewoman with a conscience forwards letters found in her possession to her daughter in Sweden. Soon thereafter a series of seemingly unconnected and brutal murders grip the small, Southern-Swedish city of Ystad. The murders are well planned and executed. They seem designed to inflict as much pain as possible. Detective Inspect Kurt Wallander is tasked with identifying the killer or killers and the motive behind the killing. If Wallander cannot discover a motive he must at least learn enough about the killer's method to stop him or her before more people lay dead in strange surrounding. That is the plot of Henning Mankell's "The Fifth Woman". "The Fifth Woman" is the sixth book in Mankell's Kurt Wallander series. This series is often compared to the Martin Beck detective mysteries authored by the husband and wife team of Per Wahloo and Maj Sjowall. Wallander, like Beck, is a police detective in Sweden. Unlike Beck, whose beat was Stockholm, Wallander works in the small southern-Swedish city of Ystad. The Wallander series takes place in the 1990s while the Beck series took place in the 1960s and 1970s. Although I tend to prefer the Beck series, the Wallander books are entertaining page-turners. Mankell stays well within the `police procedural' formula and has not tried to reinvent the genre. However, he has done a good job, through the first books in the series, of developing the character of Mankell and his supporting cast of characters. Wallander is no Sherlock Holmes and gets results more by perspiration than inspiration. He is also a fully drawn character. We see him dealing with the break-up of a marriage, an estranged daughter, and a father who is developing senile dementia. The supporting characters, particularly his fellow detectives, are also well drawn. As the plot in "The Fifth Woman" plays itself out Mankell does a good job of showing the grunt work that goes into a murder investigation. Mankell also does a good job portraying the relationship of Wallander with his fellow police officers and with his family, especially his aged and failing father. Wallander is shown as a flawed man, a man with a temper and someone who can be more than a bit stubborn. However, I found myself drawn to the character as much for his flaws as for his detective skills. The Fifth Woman is, in my opinion, one of the better books in the Wallander series and I have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone interested in a good police story, especially one set in a location outside the United States. Recommended. L. Fleisig For those who prefer to read a detective series in chronological order this is the order of the Kurt Wallander series written by Henning Mankell. The dates listed are the dates of publication in Sweden. Faceless Killers (1991) The Dogs of Riga (1992) The White Lioness (1993) The Man Who Smiled (1994) Sidetracked (1995) The Fifth Woman (1996) One Step Behind (1997) Firewall (1998) Before the Frost (Linda Wallander) - 2002 Rating: - Great book full of doubtsKurt Wallander and his team have to solve a series of extremely cruel murders: an old man is found killed on a pole in the canal behind his house, another man first goes missing for several weeks before he is found famished and strangled in the woods and a third man is tied up and thrown into the water alive where he drowns. There does not seem to be any logical connection between the men. And they all have some shady sides to their lives. And meanwhile Wallander's old father dies and the weather is rainy and bleak. In short, a very grim background for a great book full of doubts. On page 250 the investigation is still no further than it was in the beginning, but that did not disturb me in the least. A great book to read while wearing your slippers and sitting in front of the fire with the cat on your lap.  Try searching the Internet for "The Fifth Woman (Kurt Wallender Mystery)" or Ebay for "The Fifth Woman (Kurt Wallender Mystery)". You might also be interested in the following great products:
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