Changes

Hakan von Enke was a retired naval officer and a man of routine. Each morning he went for a long walk in the forest near his Stockholm home, but one day he failed to return. It's a long way from Ystad, Kurt WallenderWallander's home town and the only reason he became involved in the case was the fact that von Enke's son Hans was the partner of WallenderWallander's daughter Linda. Wallender Wallander became concerned about von Enke some months before when they had a long discussion at his seventy-fifth birthday party. He'd seemed worried and wary of a stranger in the street. Von Enke's disappearance hit the family hard - and then his wife disappeared as well.

Much of the discussion between Wallender Wallander and von Enke had centered on a controversy from some years before. Von Enke had been a submarine commander in an incident which allowed an unidentified submarine deep in the Stockholm Archipelago to escape when von Enke was certain that it could - and should - have been forced to the surface. He'd subsequently made himself unpopular when he pursued the matter - even taking it as far as the Prime Minister, Olaf Palme. Subsequently his naval career had stalled. Did this have any relevance to his disappearance - and how did his wife fit into this?

On the cover it says that the book is ''A Wallender Wallander Thriller''. It's obviously WallenderWallander, but I'm less certain that I'd call it a thriller. Wallender Wallander is aging and hi body is prone to let him down on occasions, but there's a compensation in the shape of his granddaughter whom he adores. Von Enke's disappearance is nothing to do with him officially; his only involvement comes from Linda's relationship with von Enke's son and - as time passes - his own determination to get to the bottom of the mystery.

It's thought-provoking as Wallender Wallander realises that not everything is as it seems. There's a steadier pace to the book than in many of the Wallender Wallander novels, but I found this to be an advantage. There's time to appreciate the sense of place - usually it's the Scanian countryside which features, but this time there's a real feel for the Stockholm Archipelago which brought memories of one of Mankell's non-Wallender Wallander novels [[Depths by Henning Mankell|Depths]. Best of all though was the look at how the Cold War affected Sweden and it's famed neutrality. I found my mind being pushed into corners unvisited for a while!

Another non-Wallender Wallander book from Mankell - and in my view the best he's written - is [[Italian Shoes by Henning Mankell|Italian Shoes]] and it will also give you more of te the Stockholm Archipelago.