The Pyramid: And Four Other Kurt Wallander Mysteries (Kurt Wallander, #9) in Nordic Noir

Mar 14, 2011 John rated it it was ok

Pam and I have watched and enjoyed several of the Kenneth Branagh Wallander mysteries, and so I thought it was about time I read some of the Real Thing; as chance would have it, what I picked was not one of the novels but a sort of later adjunct to the series, a fat volume containing two short novels, a novella, and a couple of novelettes.

I was left very much in two minds as to whether I wanted to read any more. Segerberg's translation really plods; there are countless sentences that exhibit a s Pam and I have watched and enjoyed several of the Kenneth Branagh Wallander mysteries, and so I thought it was about time I read some of the Real Thing; as chance would have it, what I picked was not one of the novels but a sort of later adjunct to the series, a fat volume containing two short novels, a novella, and a couple of novelettes.

I was left very much in two minds as to whether I wanted to read any more. Segerberg's translation really plods; there are countless sentences that exhibit a sort of magnetic fridge poetry effect -- you know all the components are present and correct, but no one's taken the trouble to put them in the right order. I assume it's not the translator's fault that the prose style consists largely of lots of single-clause sentences, so that no proper rhythm can ever be built up. It's a fact. Like this. See what I mean? On and on it goes. And obviously it's not the translator's fault that in two consecutive stories the bad guy points a gun at Wallander for a long moment, Wallander waits to die, and the bad guy blows his own brains out. The first time it was moderately suspenseful; the second time, not so much.

One of the novelettes, "The Man with the Mask", is quite extraordinarily slight. The other, "The Man on the Beach", has more of a tale to tell -- where could the murdered man have gone to those days he went to the seaside, walked along the beach, and then seemed to vanish beyond anyone's ken? The first story in the book, the short novel "Wallander's First Case", held my attention perhaps best of all; the young Wallander's neighbor dies in suspicious circumstances and Wallander sets out to solve the crime even though he's not yet a detective, just a humble plod. "The Death of the Photographer" focuses on the disparity between a person's public image and the reality of them; and the same is true of the final, longer short novel "The Pyramid", in which the core mystery concerns the execution-style killings of two supposedly sweet old ladies who run a sewing-accessories shop.

None of these tales is outright bad -- with the arguable exception of "The Man in the Mask" -- but none of them much moved me, either . . . and, as I say, I found the style extremely rebarbative. So maybe I'll try one of the novels. Someday. Maybe. Or perhaps not. It's like that. See?
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Jul 14, 2014 Scout rated it liked it

This collection tells Wallander's story beginning in his 20s and ending in his 40s. It's the prequel to the Wallander novels. Not great, but informative. ...more

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