Scandinavian Crime Fiction

Most of my reading unfortunately is to do with medical journals and work materials, but I have developed quite an interest in Scandinavian crime fiction after watching the television series "The Eagle" and many episodes of both the Swedish and English adaptations of Swede Henning Mankell's "Wallander" in addition to the trilogy of movies based on Steig Larsson's novels, beginning with "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo".

Prior to travelling to Nepal late last year, I purchased a copy of the final Wallander book, "The Troubled Man", which I am sad to say I found rather disappointing. After ploughing through hundreds of pages, it was all concluded speedily and unsatisfactorily in the equivalent of the last five minutes, and I regret that I cannot recommend it. It almost seemed as if the author had become bored with the Wallander character and was merely 'going through the motions' to bring the series to an end. This speedy resolution of the storyline also tends to happen with the episodes of the television series, with varying dramatic success.

I did however enjoy "The Snowman" by Norwegian Jo Nesbø. This is cleverly crafted, and for the observant (who do not read in memory-challenging opportunistic and halting instalments as I must do) the clues to the resolution of the mystery are given at the beginning of the book. This one I can recommend, but it is rather gory in places and is not for the faint-hearted. I

I have also just seen the Norwegian movie "Headhunters", based on one of Jo Nesbø's other novels. This was entertaining and well done, with many unexpected twists and turns, including an unexpected final denouement. At times it did 'push the envelope' in terms of the willing suspension of disbelief, including several implausible escapes from certain death, and once again there was a significant amount of gore. Also not for the faint- hearted but nonetheless enjoyable! It would be interesting to know whether the gruesomeness is a common theme with Nesbø's works.

Having seen all three of the Swedish film adaptations of Larsson's Millenium novels, I was curious to see the Hollywood version of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". This was surprisingly good. However, both films have variances from the original novel which in my view detract from the storyline. Which one do I prefer? This is hard to say, but perhaps the Swedish version. Why? Well, it is Swedish, and I particularly like the 'ordinariness' of the appearance of the actors, which makes it more believable. It will be interesting to see if Hollywood proceeds with adaptations of the other two novels. The third movie was by far the best, and convincingly pulled together all the threads woven through the three books into a suspenseful and exciting conclusion.