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I'm still trying to decide if my problem with this book is because the author did such a poor job of developing the plot line and the characters, or whether it is because the translator did a poor job of translating nuances from swedish to english. Still, the book was an endless repetition of "I think we may be on to something", then "I'm depressed because we are getting nowhere" - over and over right up to the end. One reviewer mentioned the possibility that Mankell was trying to show the endless footwork involved in solving a murder - that may be, but I'd rather not be bored by the tedious and endless details that lead nowhere.

Part of the annoyance I felt reading this was because we were introduced to the killer quickly, then spent the rest of the story with descriptions of grouchy police officers, odd descriptions of how unpleasant Swedish culture was becoming, angst over buying or not buying a house and a dog, and trips around Sweden to talk to people who might have known something about the victims, or maybe not. Perhaps that is a somewhat realistic portrayal of police work, but I'd rather not waste my time reading boring descriptions of boring work.

Interestingly the end was as rambling and tedious as the rest of the story. While the story does bring about the solution of the murders, and reveals the murderer (and a sort of motive), the end actually comes with the main character picking out a house he might buy - or might not; a dog he might buy - or might not; and a girlfriend who might become a permanent part of his life - or might not. I'm not kidding. That is the end, and frankly, a description of most of the narrative in the book.

When it comes to whether I'd buy another of Menkell's books - there is no "might" involved. I would not.

In this novel, Mr. Mankell continues his Swedish police procedural series featuring Police Inspector Kurt Wallander, located in the town of Ystad in southern Sweden.

After an introduction to the murderer and a glimpse of some of the motivation behind her crimes, the novel proceeds to the scene of the first murder within the Ystad jurisdiction. A retired car dealer, a bird lover and self-published poet, walks to his bird watching tower and crosses a plank bridge. When a plank gives way, he falls and finds himself impaled on a set of bamboo spikes mounted on the mud beneath the bridge. there the dies an agonizing slow death.

Wallander arrives on the scene and after a second visit discovers the grisly scene. His crew begins thier investigation in earnest.

The author skillfully intersperses scenes of the investigative effort and the murder as she prepares her second victim and then later her third.

As always, Mr. Menkell has successfully demonstrated the investigative process Kurt Wallander and his crew uses to follow clues and Kurt's worry that they are taking turns in the investigation which will lead them away form the predator rather than toward him/her.

He establishes a good pace between action and plodding detective work.

Highly recommended/

The Fifth Woman has both virtues and flaws, so I end up giving it an "average" rating. The major problem, for me, is the dreadful translation. More about that later. First I want to point out that the negative comments posted by a reviewer called "Revue Fan" tend to be misleading or simply inaccurate.

1) Revue Fan says, "There are ...a number of conversations like this: First detective, 'This is critical. We must learn this as soon as possible.' Second Detective, 'I agree. Let's have a meeting to discuss it on Monday after the weekend.' Revue Fan's implication here is that the delay until Monday is inexplicable. In fact, there aren't "many" such conversations like this one; this is a paraphrase of one specific conversation in which the second detective actually disagree with the first detective and doesn't even want to discuss the topic, so his postponing their discussion until Monday is reasonable. Add to that the fact that the second detective is actually the first detective's boss, and you'll realize his "I agree" is actually political. In short, this is a slow novel and the dialogue must often be read carefully.

2) Revue Fan says, "When the second serial killer's victim is discovered, the detective declares that it is obviously the work of the same killer, although the manner, location, and style of the murder are completely different" (note that Revue Fan meant to say the serial killer's second victim, not the second serial killer's victim). In this case, the author actually explains in considerable detail why his detective regards the first and second killings to be the work of a lone killer. The primary reasons are (a) both killings are exceptionally horrific and (b) both occur within the same small town, where such occurrences are presumably rare (even if this book does constitute an entry in a series). For a detective to reach a similar conclusion in, say, London or New York City might be an absurdity, but the population of Ystad is under 20,000, so the detective's first guess is not so unreasonable.

3) Revue Fan complains that "the detective 'knows' when people are lying." In other words, the detective's methods are too intuitive. Actually, there's only one such occurrence in this novel that I can recall, and my inclination is to blame the lackluster translation for failing to convey some subtle nuance in this scene that might have let the reader know, too, that the character being interviewed was acting evasively.

4) Revue Fan complains because a detective is summoned to a discussion in person, rather than being more expediently given information via a cell phone. This is an extremely minor incident in the novel and is, at least in my estimation, excused by the complexity of the subsequent discussion.

5) Revue Fan says, "Do the police take a sample of the blood on the floor? No." Well, this complaint turns out to be valid. Granted, the detectives discuss this oversight as an error they made in this case, so it's not as if it represents their standard operating procedure. Even so, Revue Fan is right; the cops really blew it.

And actually, the detectives in this novel seem routinely obtuse. Statements such as "he knew that it reminded him of something, but he couldn't think of what," or "something about it disturbed him, but he wasn't sure why" occur in every chapter and seem (in almost every case) unnecessary to the reader's comprehension. Again, this may be a translation problem: perhaps in the original these build up a kind of tension. Also, we're frequently reminded there's a telephone message that our hero hasn't yet remembered to deliver. Again, this might add tension in the original Swedish, but in this translation I have to agree with Revue Fan: the detectives too often seem merely bumbling along.

A few more words about this dour translation, since, again,it's what really drags this book down for me to only three stars. I don't know what the translator's goal was, but I'd never describe this English prose as "graceful" or "unadorned"--it has scant grace, no rhythm, no imagination, and no charm. I don't find it moody or evocative, just dull and tedious. In fact I wasn't sure if I'd finish the book, as the first half moves so slowly--but it does pick up considerably, once you pass the Kindle's 50% mark, so you might as well stick with it.

Throughout the book, I found myself wanting to edit the translator's prose, pausing after every other sentence to consider alternate phrasing. This definitely prevented me from becoming more engaged with the novel, and it also guarantees I'll never reread it. Verb tenses seem frequently out of joint--little things like a "were" instead of a "had been" irritate me like sand in my shoes. In one scene, the translator seemed not to remember that "shook his head" means no, and "nodded his head" means yes. The word "macabre" is used eight times by this translator, which, since it's a very uncommon word (and it certainly isn't an "unadorned" word, by the way) it really sticks out when it's repeated and repeated. It's even used once in a casual dialogue--and when's the last time you heard somebody say "macabre" in a non-academic setting? Can't we have a synonym or two? What's wrong with "unsettling" or "chilling" now and then?

Finally, I refuse to buy the psychology of the perpetrator, and therefore I don't buy the plot as a whole. And so it goes.