The White Lioness

I have read every Wallander book and had avoided buying this one for reasons I cannot remember. My judgement was good as this is by far the worst of the Wallander books. Entirely too tied up with South African apartheid and politics. I recommend all the rest of the Wallander books, but suggest skipping this one.

I discovered Kurt Wallander through the PBS series starring Kenneth Branagh, which I really enjoy. Then I saw that Netflix made a “Young Wallander” series, so I though I better give the books a try. I can happily say I was engrossed in this mystery. It was perfect for a poor sleeper like me to wake up at 3am and start reading “The White Lioness,” although I’d be caught up in the book for an hour or more. The mystery begins with the apparently motiveless murder of a local Swedish woman, but the investigation takes Wallander down a rabbit hole involving sinister Russians and a plot to assassinate a prominent South African. I was trying to think what I liked so much about Wallander. He’s a bit disheveled, kind of like Columbo. He can seem unassuming, and that was the fatal flaw of the Russian antagonist in “The White Lioness,” underestimating him. But Wallander can also be direct, sometimes abrupt. He’s not an impressive physical specimen, not intimidating like Jack Reacher but more of an everyman. Wallander thinks of himself and is described as others in “The White Lioness” as chubby. Investigations carry him to the very edge, physically. He doesn’t sleep enough and his nerves become tattered. Like Harry Bosch, Wallander is distanced from those around him, including his family, though both detectives make an effort to connect with their daughters. In a particularly dramatic section of “The White Lioness,” Wallander’s daughter is kidnapped. What I found perhaps most interesting about this book was the way Wallander and his colleagues, described as a “provincial” police force, are forced to confront changes in Sweden such as increasing violence and illegal immigration. The country is changing around them. Mankell writes in a very straightforward manner but is ambitious in his plotting and in the elements he brings to the story. It takes guts for an author to move back and forth between plots in Sweden and South Africa as he does here. I think he does a great job enmeshing the two plots. At first, I found myself irritated when the action moved away from Wallander, who is such a great character, but by the end I had the opposite reaction, wanting to stay with the lawyer in South Africa trying to uncover the assassination plot. I’m afraid that “The White Lioness” may have started me on a mystery fix. This book was a true page-turner while never clumsily written or sensationalist.

Swedens Henning Mankell is a great writer, period. That he is well known for authoring the Kurt Wallander detective novels, given wide world exposure by the BBC television series starring the great Kenneth Branagh, seems to be a coincidence. In a difficult publishing world, Mankell, like the comic writer Kinky Friedman, seems to have chosen the detective genre even though his novels are so much more.

His description, for example, is of the first rank, at the level and sophistication and power of Ernest Hemingway.

The White Lioness, one of his Wallander novels, manages to describe the horrors of South Africas apartheid at the same time as it dissects an increasingly violent Swedish society. And it is equally proficient in describing the languid heat and humidity of South Africa and the cold, arid, lonely, terrain of southern Sweden. Part of the increasing violence in Sweden, as well as countries as far away as Israel and the United States, is the immigration of a more violent Russian tradition that is seen in its mob-like approach to crime. A major villain in this story is a former KGB operative whose goal is to prove his worth to the South African secret police so he can immigrate to a whites only life of the elite in South Africa.

Like Hemingway before him, Mankell, who serves as director of a theater in Mozambique, artfully illustrates the traditions and humanity of African culture not yet tainted by the cold rationalism of northern European authoritarianism. Mankell makes clear that only a cold rationalism can lead to crimes of devious sadism that the former KGB operative can accomplish. For the African assassins who are hired to kill Nelson Mandela in this plot retain a sense of human dignity and are not told of their assignments until the very last moment.

Mankells description of the attempted assassination of Mandela, which the plotters hope will prevent integration and the fall of white apartheid, is a work of high art. Stepping up the a speakers podium, Mandela moves into the sights of the scope of the assassins rifle. Wallander and his side kick have left the stadium in Johannesburg where Mandela is speaking because they know the assignation attempt is coming on this day, but they dont know from where Mandela will be shot. Shots are fired. Where is Wallander? This is where you come in and read this remarkable novel. For that is what it really is.

[Hansen Alexander is an attorney and author most recently of, An Introduction to the United States in the 21rst Century, an Amazon, e-book exclusive.

Suspecting this might be the weakest Wallander novel, I kept ‘The White Lioness’ until last. I was proved right and in fact gave up on the book. As someone else has said here, the secondary plot / location is wholly unnecessary and complicates the overall narrative. Frankly, this just doesn’t work. The novel is as dull as ditch-water. I can’t believe it’s been edited, as rambling as it is.
Read any of the other Wallander novels before this, they’re excellent. Though Mankell’s best couple of novels aren’t actually Wallander ones; ‘Italian Shoes’ and ‘Depths’ are superb.

This is another must for all lovers of well written crime thrillers, from the pen of Henning Mankell and starring Kurt Wallander, one of the best detectives created in recent times.

This is a complex tale. Almost two books in one, it tells the tale of an assassination plot in South Africa, with tendrils reaching as far as Sweden. Mankell alternates sections of the two distinct tales, the story of the plot and investigation in South Africa and the investigation by Wallander of a seemingly motiveless murder, bringing the two together and tying up the whole thing satisfactorily in the last few pages.

As with the predecessor, the excellent `Dogs Of Riga’, this book tackles some weighty political and moral issues head on. Centred around the fall of apartheid and white rule in South Africa it shows the regime for what it was. He describes the lives of ordinary people, showing their preconceptions and ability to not see the truth in almost forensic detail. This section of the book is a fascinating, well researched and well written account of the period, and the moral and ethical issues arising from the situation.

The thriller component of the book is mainly contained in the Swedish strand, with Wallander’s hunt for the murderer and the personal implications as the killer turns his attentions on Wallander and his family. As usual with Mankell, this is a well written and pacey bit of crime fiction, not afraid to show the mundane procedures that form an important part of any real life investigation. Things really hot up when Wallander gets on the trail of the killer, and he must push the boundaries of his abilities and moral code in order to see justice served.

Another tense, atmospheric book from Mankell. All the characters are well written, with distinctive voices. The motivations of all are considered, with some interesting studies of human nature. Don’t be put off by the nearly 600 pg length, the book draws you in and after a few pages you find yourself totally immersed in it and unable to put it down. Mankell is a top notch writer and holds your attention right to the last page. An excellent read, essential to all those who enjoy thoughtful crime thrillers with a moody atmosphere and a moral lesson (but not one which is rammed down the throat). Five stars, no hesitation.