Description

The acclaimed author of the Kurt Wallander mysteries, writing at the height of his powers, now gives us an electrifying stand-alone global thriller.

January 2006. In the Swedish hamlet of Hesjövallen, nineteen people have been massacred. The only clue is a red ribbon found at the scene.

Judge Birgitta Roslin has particular reason to be shocked: Her grandparents, the Andréns, are among the victims, and Birgitta soon learns that an Andrén family in Nevada has also been murdered. She then discovers the nineteenth-century diary of an Andrén ancestor—a gang master on the American transcontinental railway—that describes brutal treatment of Chinese slave workers. The police insist that only a lunatic could have committed the Hesjövallen murders, but Birgitta is determined to uncover what she now suspects is a more complicated truth.

The investigation leads to the highest echelons of power in present-day Beijing, and to Zimbabwe and Mozambique. But the narrative also takes us back 150 years into the depths of the slave trade between China and the United States—a history that will ensnare Birgitta as she draws ever closer to solving the Hesjövallen murders.

About the Author

Henning Mankell is the prizewinning author of the Kurt Wallander mysteries, which were adapted into a PBS television series starring Kenneth Branagh. His novels have been translated into forty languages and have sold thirty million copies worldwide. He is the first winner of the Ripper Award (the new European Crime Fiction Star Award) and has also received the Glass Key and Golden Dagger awards. He divides his time between Sweden and Mozambique.

Praise for The Man from Beijing…

“A sweepingly ambitious tale of corruption, injustice and revenge that ranges over three continents and 140 years . . . Breathtakingly bold in its scope.”
—Kirkus Reviews
 
Reviews from abroad:
 
“With this overwhelming thriller, Mankell has perhaps presented us with his best book ever.” 
 —Westdeutsche Allgemeine (Germany)
 
“Mankell’s best thriller in fifteen years.” 
 —Svenska Dagbladet (Sweden)
 
“A fantastic book . . . The book of the year so far . . . Whether you read it as a suspense novel, a thriller, or as commentary on the world of today with roots more than 150 years back, it is fascinating.” 
 —Kulturspeilet (Norway)
 
“Mankell continues as one of the kings of the noir novel.” 
 —El Mundo (Spain)
 
“[The Man from Beijing] conquers the world.” 
 —Borås Tidning (Sweden)
 
“An exceptionally good read that is hard to put down . . . Mankell is a very skilled author who can use the thriller frame toward a higher cause without letting go of the suspense or narrative drive . . . Probably his most brilliant since The Dogs of Riga.” 
 —Politiken (Denmark)
 
“Mankell shows us once again that he is the absolute master of his class.” 
 —Kulturbase (Germany)
 
“Original and unusual . . . The first novel to take up the present question of globalization.” 
 —El Correo Español (Spain)
 
“There is no doubt that Mankell with this blockbuster of a thriller has written one of his best books . . . Suspense until the last page, audacious storytelling, and two female main characters presented with care and compassion.”
—Dagsavisen (Norway)
 
 “Explosive.”
—Leben & Glauben (Germany)
 
“This is an extremely important book that convincingly deals with the situation in the world today and tomorrow.”
—Ystads Allehanda (Sweden)
 
“Not a typical crime novel . . . Powerful and exciting.”
—Berner Zeitung (Switzerland)