Thoughts on “Sidetracked” by Henning Mankell

About an hour ago I just finished reading Sidetracked by Henning Mankell, and wow! What a page turner! I couldn’t put the book down, definitely a great read. You can read my full review here.

I really liked that this novel was based in Southern Sweden. Such a different world from the North! I know they have funny accents, but that is about it. In this novel I noticed a few things I found very cool about the South.

Sea all around. This book was based in Ystad, a coastal town, and most of the larger towns are on the coast. So lots of sea views in this book. I live on the coast in Skelleftea, but it doesn’t feel like a sea town. The town itself is not on the ocean. Maybe it is too cold. From this book I got the impression that Southern Sweden, down by Malmo, would be very coastal, cute, and great seafood. Am I wrong?

Second, if you live near Malmo you can hop on a ferry and have dinner in Denmark. How freakin cool is that?

And something universally Swedish (i.e. we have it in the north). The 1 month vacation break in the middle of summer. I’m glad to hear if there is a big investigation that the police don’t drop everything and go on vacation! So some people do stay and work!

And lastly, in the end Wallander is breaking into boats and houses without a warrantee. To my Swedish followers out there, how legal is that?? You don’t need a warrantee if you are looking for me as a suspect, to break into my home? That is a tad worrisome…

And what wasn’t Swedish that was in this book? A serial killer and no moose!