Journal Entry 1 by DubaiReader from Dubai, Dubai United Arab Emirates on Sunday, June 26, 2011

Not my favourite book by this author.

Although I prefer Mankell's Africa books, I have also read and enjoyed several of his Wallander mysteries. Unfortunately The Man From Beijing was a great disappointment and I struggled to finish it. Not only was the translation very simplistic and clunky, but the plot and characterisations were weak too.

It starts out well, with an atmospheric scene in the frozen North of Sweden, where a scene of carnage greets Karsten Hoglin, a photographer who is studying isolated villages. Alarm bells should have rung when the photographer gets little further than the outskirts of the village before having a heart attack and dying. His car swerves into a truck driven by a Polish worker who speaks no Swedish but manages to pass on the name of the village.
So, almost the whole village is dead, as is our first witness, and the pattern is set; anyone who might be of any use gets killed off and characters who might have an answer for the crime are ignored. It's a hugely frustrating read, overly long by at least 150 pages and full of needless detail. Finally, at the end, having travelled to China, America, Africa and back again to Sweden, a letter is supposed to convince the police that they have been barking up the wrong tree all this time, even though they have resolutely ignored all the facts to this effect all along. No ends are tied up, no satisfaction.

Henning Mankell is an author of world repute, what happened to him in this book I have no idea, but I shan't be buying his next mystery book. Two points because I finished it (and one star is reserved for books I cannot finish) but I'm being generous. 

Journal Entry 2 by DubaiReader at Dubai, Dubai United Arab Emirates on Sunday, June 26, 2011

Awaiting Schwester's address to send this as a prize for my birthday draw.

I hope you enjoy it Schwester :)

Edit: Posted 28th June 2011. 

Journal Entry 3 by schwester at Wien Bezirk 03 - Landstraße, Wien Austria on Friday, July 08, 2011

Thank you! Must have arrived yesterday, but I was on duty, so when I came home tired today, it waited for me. The first book I ever met from Sweden via Dubai...

The book went with me by airplane via Frankfurt to Trondheim, then by car to Stugudal and on horseback through the mountains at the Norwegian-Swedish border.

I agree with DubaiReader! 200 pages less, especially on strange political strategies in China and Africa would have been fine. And why the police acts so totally strange nobody can understand. 

Journal Entry 4 by schwester at Storlien in Åre, Jämtland Sweden on Monday, August 08, 2011

Released 10 mos ago (8/4/2011 UTC) at Storlien in Åre, Jämtland Sweden

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

in Veronika´s exclusive hotel 

Journal Entry 5 by AnonymousFinder at Stjørdal, Nord-Trøndelag fylke Norway on Friday, December 09, 2011

OK