The Man from Beijing

By: Henning Mankell, Laurie Thompson - translator

Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor

The acclaimed author of the Kurt Wallander mysteries, writing at the height of his powers, now gives us an electrifying stand-alone global thriller.

January 2006. In the Swedish hamlet of Hesjövallen, nineteen people have been massacred. The only clue is a red ribbon found at the scene.

Judge Birgitta Roslin has particular reason to be shocked: Her grandparents, the Andréns, are among the victims, and Birgitta soon learns that an Andrén family in Nevada has also been murdered. She then discovers the nineteenth-century diary of an Andrén ancestor—a gang master on the American transcontinental railway—that describes brutal treatment of Chinese slave workers. The police insist that only a lunatic could have committed the Hesjövallen murders, but Birgitta is determined to uncover what she now suspects is a more complicated truth.

The investigation leads to the highest echelons of power in present-day Beijing, and to Zimbabwe and Mozambique. But the narrative also takes us back 150 years into the depths of the slave trade between China and the United States—a history that will ensnare Birgitta as she draws ever closer to solving the Hesjövallen murders.©2010 Henning Mankell; (P)2010 Random House

a different spin

Different from the Kurt Wallander series but still a good listen. It's good to know the author is still writing, he must have had some experience with the Chinese to come up with this one. Like the Wallander books, this one seems to plod along at time but in the end a good story is woven. I did enjoy the Chinese perspective.

really bad narration ruins this book

I have read the print CV opt of this book and it is a good story, but this audible version absolutely ruins it. the accents are so phony they are painful to the ear. the narrator would have fared much better if she had used her natural accent, instead of the crash accent she put on to narrate the conversations

Excellent female characters

I love how the female character is always the most predominant, in each couple described the companion was left as an unaccomplished, unfulfilled being, whilst the women were (for lack of a better phrase) kicking ass, that was a refreshing read when you’re accustomed to always have a predominant male ruling the storyline.

Very Good Listening

I couldn't stop listening to this book. It was very good. Once again, it was adventurous, some historical content, and just all around enjoyable. I learned about a people who were not treated the best upon entering this country. In fact they were not treated to well in there country. It was interesting to learn their perspective about our customs and culture. I really enjoyed the book and have listened to it two times already.

Mankell's pawns

The book never quite makes up its mind whether it wants to be a mystery or an historical novel or a lesson in latter day socialism. As a result the mystery, gripping and involving at first, is never actually "solved," at least not by the main character. In fact, since the central motivation and players in the crime are revealed to the reader by the midpoint of the book, there really IS no mystery for the last half. The historical novel, probably the most interesting part of the work, is nested in the middle of the story, beginning and ending abruptly and without satisfying integration. And the analysis of Chinese socialism, sometimes insightful, finally reduces to a kind of unconvincing rehabilitation of Mao as the wise old man.

Mankell is a wonderful observer of detail and he does a fine job of revealing the inner turmoil in lives which seem humdrum on the surface. Unfortunately that is not enough to produce a satisfying book (of any of the three possible genres).

As a resident in Beijing for several years now, I appreciated the author's evocation of the city and it's often Byzantine mixtures of courtesy, political deviousness, and concealed influence. I would, however, hate for anyone to read this book and trust the impression of China which they carry away from it.

Finally, Mankell seems often to write characters which are inept, making obviously poor choices. In this case, I found it vexing that neither of the central, female character's was ever allowed to do anything effectual in her own defense. They were pawns moved around the board to achieve the author's ends.