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The Fifth Woman  By  cover art

The Fifth Woman

By: Henning Mankell, Steven T. Murray - translator
Narrated by: Dick Hill
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Publisher's summary

In an African convent, four nuns and an unidentified fifth woman are brutally murdered, and the death of the unknown woman is covered up by the local police. A year later in Sweden, Inspector Kurt Wallander is baffled and appalled by two strange murders. Holger Eriksson, a retired car dealer and bird watcher, is impaled on sharpened bamboo poles in a ditch behind his secluded home, while the body of a missing florist is discovered strangled and tied to a tree. The only clues Wallander has to go on are a skull, a diary, and a photo of three men.

What ensues is a case that will test Wallander's strength and patience, for in order to solve these murders he will need to uncover their elusive connection to the earlier unsolved murder in Africa of the fifth woman.

©1996 Henning Mankell (P)2007 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The darkest of Swedish noir." ( Publishers Weekly)
"Intricate plotting, chilling psychological divination, and thrilling police procedural." ( Library Journal)

What listeners say about The Fifth Woman

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  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A new Henning Mankell fan is born

I often expect to be entertained with a good mystery, but my expectations save for a handful of writers usually end right there. This is my first Mankell novel, and I'm savoring the prospect of now reading more.

The book is atmospheric and touching, the plotting deft and this is no mean task since lesser writers would have held the reader captive with the gruesome and grisly torture and carnage that send the book's protagonist on his detecting mission.

The character development is superb, this book transcends the genre classification of "mystery" and is, rather, a novel and a fine one in the best sense of the word.

The narration was also strong, and in the end the book made me reflect, gave me pleasure in describing landscape, a father-son relationship, and police team relationships, and finally entertained, I could not stop listening. An excellent read, I look forward to making up for last Mankell time now!

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24 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Yet another Murder by Narrator

The reader on this one is so bad I couldn't even hang in, and that's new for me despite the plethora of bad readers. He overacts horribly and most of the time he not only puts huge, portentous pauses between each word, he puts them between the SYLLABLES of each word!

Normally, I can extrapolate the quality of a story from underneath a bad reader but, in this case, it was too much of a mess. I'd have given the author the benefit of the doubt enough for a 3, but the premise wasn't remotely believable, and had nearly a complete absence of background.

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17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting plot

This was my first outing into European NOIR. I am very attached to Michael Connelly so the bar was rather high. I really liked the way the author set up the various aspects of the story to then bring them together. I like the ending and reflections of the villian. I also liked to picture the various towns and characters via the swedish accent. Good story telling.

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Kurt Wallenger does it again

The story is well paced and our hero is real and as usual shows his weaknesses with all his strenghts. Loved the voices of the charactors and the dialog was real

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Really, really good story and narration! Gripping

Well, I guess I've become quite the Mankell fan now. After listening to this great tale, I realize I must now go back to the beginning of the series and start with Book 1 and read through each one up to the time of this novel. Kurt Wallander is such an intriguing character. Actually, all of Mankell's characters are fascinating. Be aware, that if you're the type who has to have high-pitched action, bang-bang-shoot-'em-up, and endings where everything is blown to smithereens - then Mankell is not for you. I saw these described as "cerebral" detective stories ... they're so much better than that, but the stories are intricate and well-plotted. The best thing I can say about Mankell, and Hill's terrific narration, is that you find yourself immersed in the stories from the start.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Reflective murder mystery

I truly enjoyed this novel. It reminds me of life before we were so technologically advanced (neither good or bad opinion is implied here). This is not a quick-action book,but rather one that shows the rather plodding, methodical approach that is required to solve a murder. It presents the whole life of the protagonist rather than just the part that revolves around the mystery being solved. I found the reader fine. My problem was more with the foreignness of the Scandinavian names. I am looking forward to reading more books by Mankell.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • LA
  • 01-15-08

better to read than listen

Usually I prefer books by ear than by eye, but this one is one of the exceptions. The narration is banal, the story slow to develop. I like Mankell, and the book, but the audio format does not work on this one.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Tit for Tat

This book recalls the Old Testament dictum of "An eye for an eye". Or the concept of Karma, where what you give out is what you get back.

Its different. In the end we almost feel sympathy for the murderer, and antipathy towards the victims.

I enjoyed this different-ness. The reason I didn't give it four stars is simply because this is not my favourite genre.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Asleep in Sweden

This mystery is paced so slowly and has so little action or character development, that it is the opposite of suspense or intrigue. I had no interest in finishing the story. Mystery writer who give away the identity of the murder in the beginning, run a high risk of loosing their readers/listeners. The inspector spends most of his time going over and over what he doesn't know while the "in the know" reader is wondering when he and his dull witted staff will put the 2+2 together. Definitely not recommended. A mystery needs much better use of language and local color - his lack luster depiction of both Africa and locations of Sweden were drab, boring, and without any specificity or flair.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Good story/audio

This book was well read. The story is set in Sweden and the reader has a Scandanavian accent. The story is quite good and seems fairly original.

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6 people found this helpful