Two seemingly random events start off the book: The first is the death of a computer expert in front of an ATM machine. The second is two teenage girls hitting and stabbing an elderly taxi driver to death.

The murder of the taxi driver is bizarre. Two young girls, 14 and 19 years old, claim they did it because they needed the more. 600 SKR, less than 100 dollars, was what they robbed him for. Interviewed, the girls are aggressive and unnerving. One of them refuses to talk unless the police fetch her chewing gum. Well, yeah, they killed the driver; but so what? Inspector Kurt Wallander is unable to understand why they did it. “It says right here,” a colleague says, pointing to the report. “They needed the money.”

To Wallander Sweden seems to have changed to the worse. As well, he himself suffers from diabetes and is nagged by his doctor about his drinking and eating habits. And, as usual, he has too much work and is lonely. So lonely, in fact, that with the aid of his daughter he seeks companionship via an online dating service.

Then one of the strange girls escapes from prison, and is found electrocuted at an electricity station. Gradually Wallander, with the assistance of a young computer geek, uncovers a cyber-terrorist plot that has penetrated the Firewalls of the international banking system, and is aimed at destroying the global financial system. And, slowly Wallander becomes convinced that the incidents are all connected. But finding and making sense of the connections is difficult and requires lots of stubborn police work. And, as usual, the police procedural aspect of the investigation is extremely well described and very interesting. The team gathers information, analyzes, and gradually starts to understand.

Firewall is a new great Henning Mankell book. I love the writing and the suspense, even though I felt the plot perhaps was a little too big this time. But the book still works and delivers excitement and thrills. Mankell is, without doubt, among the finest mystery writers in the world.

Links to Henning Mankell’s books at amazon US, amazon UK, and amazon CAN.

Read more review of books by Henning Mankell at Scandinavianbooks.com.

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