The Troubled Man

On a winter's day in 2008, Hakån von Enke, a retired high-ranking naval officer, disappears during his daily walk in a forest near Stockholm. The investigation into his disappearance falls under the jurisdiction of the Stockholm Police, but Wallander is personally affected: Enke is his beloved daughter, Linda's, father-in-law. Before long, in his inimitable way, Wallander is interfering in matters that are not his responsibility, making promises he has no intention of keeping, telling lies when it suits him, paying little attention to normal procedure (including the law) -- and, unlike the other detectives on the case, getting results. But the results seem to be pointing to elaborate Cold War espionage activities that confound even this master detective and grow more confounding the more he uncovers. The "troubled man" of the title is not just Enke, but also Wallander himself. The delighted grandfather of Linda's newborn daughter, he is nonetheless obsessed with his physical and mental deterioration, negligent of his health and certain that at age sixty, he's on the threshold of senility. Haunted by his past, desperate to live up to the hope that his granddaughter presents him with, facing the future with profound uncertainty, Wallander will be forced to come face to face with his most intractable adversary: himself. Suspenseful, darkly atmospheric, psychologically gripping, The Troubled Man is Henning Mankell at his mesmerizing best.