Every morning retired naval officer Håkan von Enke takes a walk in the forest near his apartment in Stockholm. Then, one day he fails to come home.
Detective Kurt Wallander is not officially involved but Håkan's son is engaged to his daughter Linda. A few months earlier, at Håkan's 75th birthday party, he was eager to talk to Kurt about a controversial incident from his past. Could this be connected to his disappearance? When Håkan's wife Louise also goes missing, Wallander is determined to uncover the truth but the investigation will force him to look back over his own past, as he comes to the unsettling realisation that even those we love the most can remain strangers to us.
And then an even darker cloud appears on the horizon...The return of Kurt Wallander, for his final case, has already caused a sensation around the globe. The Troubled Man confirms Henning Mankell's position as the king of crime writing.
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A magnificent finale, it's to be hoped that Mankell may be persuaded to revive his grumpy Nordic inspector, complete with his stomach cramps, failing eyesight and Ikea furniture. He is far too good to lose - Financial Times
A perfect valedictory novel...this is Mankell at his best - Daily Express
Mankell is undoubtedly a skilled writer with plenty of breadth, but it's clear that his subtleties of character, plot and pace achieve greatest expression in the Wallander series - Independent on Sunday
It's a fine finale for the fretful policeman and it's hard not to feel you'll miss the old bugger - Metro
It's sparse, poignant and a fitting swan song for one of literature's truly great detectives - Shortlist
A novel that works on a number of levels: as a compelling investigation into a Swedish cold-war spy ring, a philosophical assessment of policing and its social function, and a very personal evaluation of a person's worth in the grand scheme of things...Written in Mankell's downbeat style (beautifully translated by Laurie Thompson) it has a fatalistic tone that is entirely fitting for the final testimony of one of crime fiction's great protagonists...a hugely satisfying novel that ranks alongside Mankell's best, a heartbreaking tale of descent into despair and darkness that serves as a totem for what great crime writing can achieve - Irish Times
So The Troubled Man delivers in full as a whodunnit, as all the Wallander books do, beneath their impassive surface...The Troubled Man is a sorrowful - how can it not be? - but fully satisfying conclusion to a great series. No Mankell reader will think of missing it. - Scotsman
Unlike Larsson...Mankell's characters are complex and nuanced...The retirement of the terse, divorced, heavy-drinking Wallander is as significant as the retirement of the terse, divorced, heavy drinking John Rebus. This bleak, moving and gripping finale marks the perfect end to a brilliant career - Scotland on Sunday
To his fans this valediction will be greeted with sadness but it is also deserves applause, if only for the considerable services rendered - Express
A fine finale for Mankell's fretful Swedish policeman, Hurt Wallander, and as the shadows close over him for the last time, it's hard not to feel you'll miss the old bugger. - Metro
Written in Mankell's downbeat style (beautifully translated by Laurie Thompson), it has a fatalistic tone that is entirely fitting for the final testimony of one of crime fiction's great protagonists. The result is a hugely satisfying novel that ranks alongside Mankell's best, a heartbreaking tale of descent into despair and darkness that serves as a totem for what great crime writing can achieve. - Irish Times
Mankell is a category one writer in every respect. - Observer
This fine mystery, a fitting way to bid farewell to the wonderful Kurt Wallander, brings the frisson of old-world spy intrigue satisfyingly together with old-fashioned detective work...The detective work is painstaking, clever and fascinating as always - Time Out
The mystery element is well crafted here, but of secondary importance: Mankell, and we, are more concerned with seeing how Wallander is facing up to the indignities of old age...As this novel closes, Wallander seems more than ever a symbol of Sweden's struggle with its place in the world. - Daily Telegraph
An eloquent, moving and fitting farewell to one of fiction's greatest detectives. - The Times
The final paragraph, which reveals Wallander's eventual fate, is heartbreaking. - Daily Telegraph
This is a fascinating book, beautifully written (and translated) - Literary Review
The Troubled Man is a moving portrait of a man entering old age. - Times Literary Supplement
If he stops now, this is a fitting conclusion. Moving with wonderfully sparse language, it is a magisterial march towards the great unknown - Big Issue Cymru
A tangled story of espionage and betrayal, with its roots in the Cold War - Mail on Sunday
The Ystad detective's many fans won't want to miss finding out how Wallander, now in his 60s, deals with a cold-war mystery involving Soviet submarines in Swedish waters, as well as his new role as a grandparent and the spectre of his own impending dementia. - Irish Times
The last Kurt Wallander novel was a fitting farewell to the fictional detective who sparked the Scandinavian noir fashion - Sunday Express
The first new Wallander book in 10 years is a bittersweet experience, as it also signals the end of our time with the sorrowful sleuth. ... it's portrayal of the inspector's mental and physical frailties that makes this an unexpectedly emotional read - Shortlist.com
But for anyone who has admired previous appearances by one of the greatest fictional detectives so far, this farewell needs to be read - The Times summer books
The Troubled Man is more gritty procedural than spy thriller. It's dominated by Wallander's inner turbulence, the mature if uncomfortable relationship with his daugher, and a powerful preoccupation with death, which gives a mournful cast to this final instalment of the hugely absorbing Wallander case file - Financial Times
Henning Mankell has become a worldwide phenomenon with his crime writing, gripping thrillers and atmospheric novels set in Africa. His prizewinning and critically acclaimed Inspector Wallander Mysteries are currently dominating bestseller lists all over the globe. His books have been translated into over forty languages and made into numerous international film and television adaptations: most recently the BAFTA-award-winning BBC television series Wallander, starring Kenneth Branagh. Mankell devotes much of his free time to working with Aids charities in Africa, where he is also director of the Teatro Avenida in Maputo. In 2008, the University of St Andrews conferred Henning Mankell with an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters in recognition of his major contribution to literature and to the practical exercise of conscience.
