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The Man From Beijing
Henning Mankell

Mankell 's latest thriller is different; it combines history with present day events and makes you wonder about the future.

The story begins in the small Swedish village of Hesjovallen in January of 2006. Nineteen people have been murdered which includes everyone in the village, with the exception of Tom and Ninni Hausson, their dog, and a very old woman named Julia Holmgren.

Judge Birgitta Roslin is a judge in Helsingborg, Sweden. When she hears of the monstrous murders she is stunned. She thinks perhaps this is the village where her mother grew up with foster parents. Her mother died 15 years ago, but she looks up the folder containing her mothers important documents and discovers it is the same hamlet - the Andren's were her mother's foster parents. A picture of one of the houses confirms her suspicions and the hunt is on.

Birgitta visits the village and talks with authorities in charge. Something doesn't make sense and when she learns that an Andren  family in Nevada had also been murdered, and discovers an old Andren ancestors diary, who had been a gang master on the American transcontinental railway that describes the horrible treatment of the Chinese slave workers, we are on the way to a mystery that involves four continents - Sweden, the United States, China and eventually Africa.

This thriller is complicated, but also compelling as it leads the reader back 150 years to the building of the American railroad, and  then on to the politics going on in present day Beijing. Beijing's plans for some land they want to acquire in Africa comes into play and Ya Ru, a Chinese high ranking politician takes center stage. Birgitta follows the trail and almost by accident winds up on a trip to Beijing with a friend.

This is a jig saw puzzle of great complexity, and as the pieces fall into place, it leaves the reader wondering what our present day world will become!

Birgitta's quest to solve the Hesjovallen murders, creates a picture of present day  politics in a world possibly filled with historic changes for our future.

Henning Mankell divides his time between Sweden and Mozambique. He is comfortable on the world stage, which gives us an insight into how this novel came to be written.

Published:
Alrred A. Knopf
This is a Borzoi Book
Translation
Copyright:
©  2010  by  Laurie Thompson                                                                                                                                                          
Reviewed:
03/15/10 - 297
Copyright:
©  2010 by Joan  G.  Smith
297