The Troubled Man is the last book by this author featuring Kurt Wallander. Mankell decided enough was enough and there would be no more. I was very saddened to hear of this as I have become very fond of the melancholic, diffident Swedish detective with his angst and worries. I have had the book for some time but saved it up as I knew once read that would be that and I finally gave in and read on Sunday.
Wallander's daughter Linda tells him she is pregnant by her live in lover, financier Hans von Enke and, after the birth of his granddaughter, Kurt accepts an invitation to dinner to meet Hans von Enke's parents, Hakan and his wife Louise. Haken was a former commander in the Swedish navy and had been in command of both submarines and surface vessels that specialised in hunting down submarines. Later he attends Hakan von Enke's 75th birthday party and it is at this celebration that he tells Kurt of an incident that happened some 25 years earlier when he was in charge of hunting down a Russian submarine that was spying in Swedish waters. All was ready to force the submarine to the surface when orders on high called it off and the vessel was allowed to escape. No explanation was ever given and Hakan has spent years trying to solve this mystery until he was warned off and his career came to a halt. Wallander realises during this conversation that Haken is afraid of something or someone and remembers this when a few weeks later, Haken vanishes after taking his daily walk. No trace of him is found and then when his wife Louise also disappears a few days later and is found dead with secret Russian papers on her, the question is asked if they were spies or had been killed because they knew too much.
All very intriguing and fascinating and as Wallander investigates, at the instigation of Linda, he feels he is being drawn down a labyrinth of confusion and obfuscation. At the back of his mind is the feeling that something is wrong, something is eluding him but he cannot pin it down. This feeling of puzzlement and bafflement is linked to the fact that Kurt is finding he is getting more and more forgetful and is experiencing periods when he does not know where he is or what he is doing.
"Wallander stared at his revolver. A shudder ran down his spine...he recalled having cleaned his gun the previous evening, but then what happened? He groped around in his memory. the gun had migrated from his kitchen table to Martinnsson's desk. But how it had got there, what had happened in between, he had no idea. He had no explanations, no excuses"
On first starting this book and knowing that Haken von Enke was worried and fearful about something that happened in his past, the reader assumes The Troubled Man is he, but I think it is Wallander who becomes increasingly frightened of his health and what is going to happen to him now that he is near retirement. This is a thread that runs through the entire book and when he unearths the truth and finds how he has been deceived and manipulated he knows that nothing will happen. He can submit his report but is aware that a higher authority needs to investiate further and he thinks that this is unlikely. "Nothing, he thought is certain. Nor the way in which these events are interpreted, nor what the rest of my life will be like".
I find when reading Mankell's books that the narrative style and flow is very even and balanced, no sharp, short sentences or any breaks. The reader is gently taken along and after a while it is almost a soothing experience to read this author and this ebb and flow reflects the character of Kurt Wallander himself, it is almost hypnotic. I have so enjoyed reading these books and sad that there will be no more. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was so tired of Sherlock Holmes he tipped him and Moriarty over the Reichenback Falls thinking that was the end of him, but was forced to give him a miraculous escape so angry were the public at his demise. Though Mankell does not kill his detective off or have a dramatic ending, he makes it impossible for there to be any more about Wallander and I will admit to having a lump in my throat when I read the last page.
"Linda stayed for several hours. they talked until Klara woke up and with a broad smile on her face she ran over to Wallander. Wallander suddenly felt terrified. His memory had deserted him again. He didn't know who the girl running towards him was. He knew he'd seen her before, but what her name was or what she was doing in his house he had no idea.
It was af if everything had fallen silent. As if all colours had faded away, and he all he was left with was black and white"
I think the word elegiac is the only way to describe this book. A thoughtful quiet read and well worth it.
