Faceless Killers cover art

Faceless Killers

An Inspector Wallander Mystery

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Faceless Killers

By: Henning Mankell
Narrated by: Sean Barrett
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About this listen

One frozen January morning at 5am, Inspector Wallander responds to what he believes is a routine call out. When he reaches the isolated farmhouse he discovers a bloodbath. An old man has been tortured and beaten to death; his wife lies barely alive beside his shattered body, both victims of violence beyond reason. Wallander's life is a shambles. His wife has left him, his daughter refuses to speak to him, and even his ageing father barely tolerates him. He works tirelessly, eats badly, and drinks his nights away in a lonely, neglected flat. But now Wallander must forget his troubles and throw himself into a battle against time.

©2000 Henning Mankell (P)2009 Random House Audio Crime Fiction International Mystery & Crime Mystery Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction Crime Exciting

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All stars
Most relevant
The first time I head of Kurt Wallander was when I watched an episode of UK series Wallander starring Kenneth Branagh. It was a truly refreshing experience. The lead character who is human enough to be believable and yet exciting enough to observ and follow. Since then, I've watched all the available episodes and decided to turn to the source.



The biggest disappointment about the book was that the episode based on it follows it almost to the point. I always knew what was going to happen - hardly anything was changed in the adaptation. Which was the right thing to do as the original, this book, is simply fantastic. The main theme of the book is a very present-day problem not only in Sweden, but all over Europe.



The narration is slow. And is rightly so. Kurt is not one of the those detectives that runs around shooting his gun at everything that doesn't look right. He is very down-to-earth, he is smart, but, what's most important, he is persistent. He will try over and over, and over again, until he succeeds. Slow pace of narration helps to get into the mood of the world surrounding Kurt Wallander.

So simple, yet so captivating

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good story well told very enjoyable the plot was very well thought out great

good story well told

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another great Mankel story brought brilliantly alive by the wonderful Sean Barrett I'm sure he could read aloud the dictionary and it would sound wonderful

Sean Barrett

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An enjoyable book, but it suffered from inconsistencies. The main characters were well drawn but the minot characters seemed to be like film extras - there to provide bulk not substance.
I actually enjoyed the book (the first book I've read from this author) and liked Wollberg, with all his faults. I think I'll try ry another one by Mr Mankell one of these days

Good by no Prizewinner i8

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For Sean Barrett fans this is a prime example of why. Sean demonstrates his acrobatic skills of flipping between characters, genders and Swedish pronunciation with no need of a safety net.

The story, however, is at times dire. The main characters unlovable, inept or sometimes just unpleasant. Or maybe it is the skill of the writer making them so.

The problem is that one has to finish a book of this genre wanting more, and I don’t! I got to the end through sheer determination of finding out what and why.

Even then, what promised, at times, to be an intriguing exploration of social tensions born from immigration, family dilemmas over parenthood and the experience of growing old falls a bit short. The problems seem to be well laid out but the solutions and resolutions of the highlighted examples are fanciful and trite.

The whodunnit part appears to prove that there is little requirement of policing skill except for waiting long enough for someone with a remarkably accurate photographic memory to magically turn up.

Again, maybe it is the high skill of the author in showing how intellect and dedication are of no point except in finding wrong answers, thereby demonstrating how frustrating police work can be.

Some of the events and scenes are our tragic hero finds himself are cringingly comical in a facepalm sort of way, beyond a Clouseau farce and more like Tom & Jerry. Humour like this needs to be good enough to make you want more but I find myself wanting ‘no more’.I deserve a badge for getting this far and am happy to stick and move on elsewhere.

Saved by the narrator

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