"He thinks that he tended to remember what he wanted to forget and forget what he wanted to remember." This time, it's over. With The worried man, Henning Mankell gives leave to the Commissioner Wallander. We will see him again, that surly companion of our readings for almost 20 years. And sad, like losing an old friend who regularly gave news of him, and that we liked, despite his pig's character and his misanthropy that was increasing over the years. Farewell, dear Commissioner. This is a bad way Wallander and often pathetic, he just turned 60, we Mankell portrays in The worried man. Who is aware of having arrived at a point of no return for good by entering into a world of darkness, that of old age. Loneliness, self-pity, disenchantment, acute melancholy, episodic alcoholism, the hero of lead in the wing. And physically, alerts are multiplying: diabetes, hypertension, heart problems, memory loss ... It is not the point of death, no, but it's as if his life passing before his haggard eyes the reappearance of those pitiful, especially those who have counted in his existence including his ex-wife and her great love of Latvia. One bright spot: it is grandfather of a little Klara. For the ultimate appearance of Wallander, Mankell has created a kind of requiem for man at the end of the roll. Terrible. And appearance thriller in that? Secondary. The Commissioner's investigation is racing, stops for a moment, resurfaces and ends more or less fishtail. It is not uninteresting yet slightly sloppy, but whatever. It refers to the years of the Cold War, the controversial character of Olof Palme, the period during which the pseudo-neutrality of Sweden was a decoy then Soviet and American spies swarmed in the cafes of Old Stockholm. Even this survey is painful for Wallander who realizes, too late, that he was unable to understand the politics of his country and has lived for years with blinders. Poor him! It was understood, the writer does not gift to his recurring hero, at the time of surrender. No more than his own country, moreover, which he denounces it's not the first time the hypocrisy and safe and xenophobic tendencies. Pure thriller fans will not find their account in the latter Wallander. Those who consider Mankell is much more than a writer of thrillers have, them, the pleasure of discovering one of his best novels. Black and desperate, deep scanienne a cold night.
