Dancing With Death (Return of the Dancing Master - Henning Mankell)

Member Name: salem_witch

Product:	Return of the Dancing Master - Henning Mankell
Date:	08/01/07 (276 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A good story which is easy to read

Disadvantages: No Wallander. I didn't feel sympathetic towards the main character

Having discovered Mankell a few years ago I've been working my way through his novels. Anyone who is familiar with his books will know that they are normally set in Sweden and feature Inspector Wallander who I must admit I do enjoy reading. I grabbed this book off the shelf without checking what it was about, as I knew it wasn't one I'd already read. A quick scan when I got back home I noticed that Wallander wasn't mentioned but I didn't let this bother me. I wondered if it would be as good as the Wallander series and was interested to see how it would compare. The Return Of The Dancing Master is a rather boring title I thought and it never intrigued me to what it was about. I couldn’t think what it would be about and figured it would be one of those titles you don’t fully understand till near the end.

The book opens with a prologue, which is set in Germany in 1945. The war is over and a plane is being flown from England to Germany with a mysterious passenger on board. He has a suitcase and this piques the interest of the pilot. He wonders who the man is and why he is needed in Germany. It is revealed to us that he is an executioner who is dealing with war criminals. This prologue isn’t hugely important and doesn’t really make sense until the end. Throughout the time I was reading the book I kept wondering about the details I’d read from the prologue and how they were relevant to see if I could work it all out. Either Mankell is really clever or I’m slow at getting things. I’d like to think Mankell is clever!

The story then switches to Sweden in the present time and to an old man called Herbert Molin. He is having trouble sleeping and he is clearly bothered by shadows in the night. He is so scared that he stays awake in the night and then as soon as it’s dawn he settles down for some sleep. His fear started when he was 22 and as a result he’s been scared all his life. It isn’t clear what exactly he is afraid of but the extent of his fear and paranoia are very apparent. He’s hidden himself away in the forest and has no real friends. He fills his time with jigsaw puzzles and his passion in life, dancing the tango. As he is a loner he has no partner to dance with so he’s made a life sized doll, which he’s named 'Esmerelda'.

One particular morning he is filled with dread as usual. Outside his guard dog Shaka is barking frantically as he is drifting off to sleep. He ignores him and falls asleep. When he wakes up he can’t hear him which makes him feel really uncomfortable. He wonders why he is so quiet and decides to go and have a look. He discovers that he has been killed. Shocked he runs back into his house terrified and before long he hears and explosion and then tear gas is thrown in through his windows. He runs from the house and runs as fast as he can towards the forest. This isn’t enough and he is caught and tortured. He was whipped so many times he couldn’t take it and died.

The attack appears to be well planned and from this point I was hooked. Straight away I was wondering why someone would want a man in his seventies dead. As with the other Mankell novels I’ve read something shocking happens and it’s this that has got me hooked. Those who don’t like anything too graphic I’d suggest not read this as Molin’s death is horrific and may well put people off.

We are then introduced to a policeman called Stefan Lindman. He is in hospital about a strange lump he’s found on his tongue. He is really anxious about it and fears the worse. It is then confirmed that he does have cancer of the tongue and he is given a further month off work. It is in the hospital where he picks up a newspaper and reads about Molin’s death. He is so shocked as Molin was a colleague of his and he worked with him until he retired. After a while he decides that he’ll go up north to Harjedalen to see if he can help.

Giuseppe Larrson is the officer leading the murder investigation. He is exasperated that he has no clues or leads at all. When Lindman comes to see what is happening he is grateful for his help and actually likes him helping out as he uses him as a sounding board for ideas and trying to fathom out what is happening. He is a contrast to Lindman and has an upbeat character and often laughs at things. As they get into the investigation Naziism in Sweden becomes apparent. Lindman assumed that there were no Nazis in Sweden and finds out a few things, which shock him. Things take a turn for the worse when Abraham Anderson, a neighbour of Molin’s is also murdered. It doesn’t fit with what they’ve already found and it really throws them both. Who murdered Molin? Is Anderson’s murder connected?

As with most Mankell novels, maps are included at the beginning of the book. This is very handy as it means you can get an understanding of the geography of Sweden. When Lindman goes from Boras to Harjedalen it was useful to see exactly where they both were on the map. Even though Lindman thought it would take him 12-15 hours that gives you an idea how far apart they are. However, this distance isn’t as big as I first thought so I came to my own conclusion that the roads must be slower than here. Plus the weather is very different and throughout the novel fog and snow were mentioned.

Lindman dwells on the cancer and thinks that it’s a death sentence even though he’s been told that this isn’t the case. Throughout the book he goes into his own little world and thinks about the cancer. He asks himself why him and will he die soon. Personally I found this self-pity really annoying. I do realise that being told you have a tumour would be devastating. Yet I found the constant reminder of the lump wasn’t at all endearing and it made me less sympathetic to him. Also I found him hard to work out. At the beginning we’re told how he fell in love with his girlfriend Elena despite her being 10 years older. Yet when he leaves Boras to help with the investigation he doesn’t think about her much or even miss her. He seems too wrapped up in his own thoughts and at times trying to solve Molin’s murder. He knows that she is missing and worrying about him and he hardly bothers to call her and let her know that he is okay. Maybe it was this, which put me off him more, but it was these personality traits which meant I just didn’t warm to him.

I really did enjoy this and it wasn’t predictable, as I never realised everything until the last few pages. I didn’t find myself engrossed in the book as I would normally as I just didn’t feel a connection with Lindman. Anyone who is worried about it being translated from Swedish needn’t worry as it felt like it had been written in English first. There were even slang words worked in and it felt natural and flowed. The only thing was the fact that the places were foreign to me but this didn’t stop me from enjoying it. Anyone who enjoys crime fiction should give this a go and if you’ve not read any Mankell before then this doesn’t matter, as it isn’t connected to any of the Wallander books so it could be read first.

Summary: A Mankell which doesn't feature Inspector Wallander