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)

Decent Detective Thriller, OK Narration

Gripping enough that I burned through this book in two days, but wasn't compelled enough to grab the next one in the series. I may sometime. The narrator, Kurt Wallander, is hard to like -- sexist, xenophobic, self-centered, often just gross -- but I appreciate that he's fully realized, flawed and profane and not seemingly superhuman, as so many protagonists in this genre are. Mankell isn't afraid to make him human.

The narration by Dick Hill is tolerable. It's easy to understand why they'd use him -- the voice of Jack Reacher -- but I wish they'd looked for someone Swedish, or at least a reader who could lend a bit of nordic atmosphere to the proceedings. I also don't care for Hill's tendency to read every woman in this clipped, nasally tone that makes them all sound either haughty or impatient or chiding. I wonder if his reading improves over the course of the Wallander series. I'll find out one day, but don't feel in a hurry to dive back into this world at the moment.

The Woes of Wallander

After watching the Wallander TV Series, I thought of giving the audiobooks a try. Faceless Killers is labeled as the first in the Wallander series although the story does not show up until the second season of the tv series. While the overall core of the story is the same in both versions, the TV leaves parts out and rearranges the order of some the sequences. It works, but flows more like a traditional tv show than what you will hear in the book.

The core of the story follows the search for the killer(s) of an elderly couple on a farm outside of the city. Kurt and company go through the paces of tracking the evidence and eventually solving the mystery in both the tv series and the book. The biggest difference is the audio version gets deeper into the personal life and mores of Kurt Wallander. Unlike the show, he and his daughter are not speaking to each other and he is morose over the separation from his wife. He is an imperfect man constantly questioning his life and choices. There is also a bit of how politics play a part in Sweden impacting his ability to get things done.

The best part of the audio is the classic Dick Hill as the narrator. Since Mr. Hill has retired from doing the Jack Reacher audio books, it is a pleasure listening to his great delivery in a different series. His very presence encourages me to continue with the series.

Overall, this was a really good audio book, a little slow in parts, and could use a little humor as the constant woes of Kurt Wallander do get a bit tiresome. If you are a Dick Hill fan, I do believe you will enjoy the listen.

sometimes hard to hear some voices over car

great book, but differences in volume sometimes tricky in car. Otherwise narration is good and book itself is interesting.

Dick Hill makes every book better

IMO Dick Hill was the best narrator of every book I’ve ever listened to. RIP Mr. Hill.

Not the best Wallander

well written as usual but I found story line not as good as other Wallander books. still it was enjoyable

Nothing Special....

This is my first Henning Mankell / Kurt Wallander novel.

I have read/listened to a few Nordic region writers this past year and figured I'd give Mankell a listen as he is a well-noted writer from that region of the world.

The mystery and story in and of itself is good, but nothing spectacular. Likewise, the main character is very unspectacular. Having heard of this character before, mentioned in reviews and word of mouth, I had much higher expectations.

Likewise, I went ahead and purchased one of Audible's package deals which included the first three books in this series all at once.

While the stories do improve, I am underwhelmed with both Mankell and the Wallander series - quite average.

The narrator, Dick Hill was good, but he is so "white-bread", he's not the perfect fit here.

Granted, overall, not bad, but nothing I will seek out in the future - 3 Mankell / Wallander books is enough for me.

Anticlimactic

Only hear from one perspective throughout the entire book which makes it very one dimensional and boring. Struggles to go deep. Lots of time just explaining what’s been going on instead of experiencing it with the author. Mystery doesn’t even feel exciting because of how the story is written. Then he quickly solved it at the end and that’s it? Disappointed but hoping the series gets better as I’m running out of books to read.

Swedish Detective

When Police Detective Kurt Wallander responds to a call in the middle of the night, he finds a farmer has been brutally tortured and murdered. His wife has been beaten and is barely alive. Before the farmer's wife succumbs to her injuries, she whispers the word "foreign". Kurt wants to keep that fact from the public; but there is a leak at the police station and newspapers quickly let everyone know what the woman said. This leads to a rise in hate crimes in the usually peaceful Swedish countryside.

Several years ago, I watched the Kurt Wallander mysteries on public television and enjoyed them. I thought I'd give the first book in the series I try, so I downloaded the audiobook. The character of Wallander was a bit depressing. His wife has left him, his teenage daughter will not talk to him, and his father seems to have the beginnings of Alzheimer disease. Kurt is working long hours and drinking heavily. The whole situation made me question if he should be in charge of this investigation.

Even though the narrator, Dick Hill, does a fine job with the story, I found my mind wandering while listening to this mystery. I had a hard time remembering the names of the characters, including which ones were cops and which ones were suspects. I probably should have switched to reading instead of listening.

Loved the story but the reader was TOO SLOW!!!

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Unfortunately, the reader who has a very nice quality to his voice, was just too old and slow sounding for me. As it happens, I gave up on the audio book, and finished the story with a book from the library.

just a really great listen

I enjoy Wallander, he's so hopelessly human and unable to change who he is. sad.