Faceless Killers

A Kurt Wallander Mystery

By: Henning Mankell, Steven T. Murray - translator

Narrated by: Dick Hill

Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

First in the Kurt Wallander mystery series.

It was a crime of senseless violence. On a cold night in a remote Swedish farmhouse, an elderly farmer was bludgeoned to death, his wife left to die with a noose around her neck. As if this didn't present enough problems for Ystad police inspector Kurt Wallander, the dying woman's last word, his only tangible clue, were foreign. If publicized, they could be the match that would inflame Sweden's already smoldering anti-immigrant sentiments.

With this case - unlike the situation with his ex-wife, his estranged daughter, or the young prosecutor who has piqued his interest - Wallander feels he has a problem he can handle. He quickly becomes obsessed with solving the crime before the already tense situation explodes, though it will require all of his talent to do so.

©1991 Henning Mankell, English translation 1997 Steven T. Murray (P)2006 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

"An exquisite novel of mesmerizing depth and suspense." (Los Angeles Times)
"Mankell's work mixes compelling procedural details with strong social consciousness....A superior novel and a harbinger of great things to come." (Booklist)
"[A] brilliant U.S. debut....The author goes well beyond the narrow police procedural in creating a full-bodied Wallender and in casting light on the refugee problem in contemporary Swedish society." (Library Journal)

Good Book Ruined

This is a good book, worth a "4" but I don't like Dick Hill's narration.

A social commentary police procedural

It’s that time again: car book club with the hubby as we travel south. We listened to “Faceless Killers” by Henning Mankell with Steven T. Murry as the translator. I was fascinated with the novel, released in 2006. This is a Swedish police procedural with social commentary involving Sweden’s immigration situation.

This is the first installment in the Kurt Wallander mystery series. Wallander is a police inspector in Ystad with domestic problems (wife AND daughter) and an ugly crime on his hands. A farmer is found brutally murdered and his wife was left near death with a noose around her neck. There are little clues, but the ones that are there point to the refugee camps.

Author Mankell weaves Swedish issues with immigration through the mystery. He points out the difficult in determining who are refugees and who are opportunists. Fun fact, if one declares themselves a Gypsy seeking asylum (at least when this book was written), they were fast tracked to refugee camps. I learned a lot about Sweden’s immigration policy issues, which I had never gave much thought to. Who would think someone from Somalia would want to immigrate to Sweden?

Back to the mystery. Wallander diligently pulls at the threads of sporadic clues, most of which lead to dead ends. We learn everything as Wallander does which allows reader involvement. It’s a wonderfully satisfying mystery.

I asked the hubby what his thoughts were, and he liked it. He felt sorry for Wallander, trying to balance it all. This kept us captivated while driving.

Dick Hill narrated. I think if I was wearing ear buds, I would have enjoyed his narration better. His voice was uneven at times, almost whispering, and at times it was difficult to hear in the car.

Murders in the country side.

Story of a Swedish policeman and what it takes to solve a double murder in the county side. Tough work when you have little help in a small town where murders only years apart. Tough work and patience going over the details to find the men who did the crime. Story held my attention and the narration was good. Life in the Swedish country is very different from the farming communities in the USA.

Dragon Tattoo

If you liked "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" particularly the the Scandinavian atmosphere of it, you'll lik this. Although not as exciting, it's still a good read and the narrator does a fine job.

Solid story poorly performed

A good story but a strange presentation. the presenter sounded like he had just arrived from a radio drama of the 1950's. Heavy diction, overdone phrasing

Stolid Story

What is it about northern frame of mind that seems to create a dull and lumpish lifestyle? That's the question which Mankell's story gives rise to, but it's a question that becomes the counterweight to the drama of dreadful murder, some gripping gumshoe work, and nationalist/refugee conflict. The pace of the story is not action-packed, but takes its time to develop, and the human challenges faced by Wallender, the main guy, are familiar to most middle aged adults. I'm not sure if I liked those parts or not, but I suppose they made Wallender a sympathetic if slightly pathetic hero.

The narrator's voice was mildly annoying, especially for the women's voices. I wish someone else had read the story, as it might have given me a different feeling about the book.

Mankell's book was written in the 90's but it seems to presage the world of today with so much nationalist conflich around the world. Although it was written probably a quarter century ago, I found Wallander's interior musings-- on the nature of the new world he & his society is passing into-- quite pertinent to our lives today.

Good book

This was my first audio book and I really enjoyed it!! Narrator made the story very easy to listen to and compelling

Standard crime novel with a novel Swedish scent.

A standard crime thriller with a Swedish hue.
A once marvelous country of Swedes now filled with the dregs of all the dirty african and muslim stinkholes, not unlike many once great European nations now filled with human garbage. The story expectedly has a woke tint with dreams of a negroe slut and an african boyfriend for the Swedish cop’s daughter.

Faceless Killers (Unabridged)

Plot is really good...but the narration is limited at best, especially the main character Kurt Wallander

story pretty good, reader unbearably overdramatic

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

it got me through my drive time for a little while, but I never lost the sense that it could have been much much better narrated.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

enough to make me listen to the whole thing, in spite of the horrible narrator

How did the narrator detract from the book?

overly dramatic expression of text and excruciating renderings of characters in dialog.
way too much vocal embroidery, almost obscuring the story.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

no.