Sunday, March 18, 2007

The Return by Hakan Nesser

A body is found in the woods with no hands, feet, or head. DCI Van Veeteren and his fellow Swedish policeman are stumped. Soon, they learn that the victim was Leopold Verhaven, a man convicted of two murders almost twenty years apart. The question of who killed Verhaven soon involves another look into the events years ago and the distinct possibility that Verhaven was wrongly convicted for two murders he didn't commit. Hakan Nesser writes a mystery that is a lot like the books of Henning Mankell. Mankell's novels, however, are more complex in terms of plot and character.

1 comment:

Peter Rozovsky said...

I've just read The Return and Borkmann's Point. I thought both were excellent, and I'm eager to talk about them. I'd agree that Kurt Wallander is probably a more complex character than Van Veeteren. But Nesser's writing is far wittier than Mankell's. Alas, he'll probably never get credit for this, because he's Swedish, and people will focus in on the bleak-Swedish-detective stereotype.

I've made several posts about Nesser on my blog at http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/search/label/Hakan%20Nesser. Come visit, and we can have a multi-blog discussion.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/