The Man from Beijing Hardback - 2010

Excerpt

PART 1
The Silence (2006)
 
I, Birgitta Roslin, do solemnly declare that I shall endeavor to the best of my knowledge and in accordance with my conscience to pass judgment without fear or favor, be the accused rich or poor, and according to the laws and statutes of Sweden; never to pervert the law nor to promote wrongdoing on grounds of family connections, friendship, jealousy, malevolence, or fear, nor in response to bribes or gifts or for any other reason of no matter what nature; never to impute guilt where there is innocence, nor innocence where there is guilt. I shall never reveal to those who appear in court, neither before nor after judgment is passed, deliberations that have taken place behind closed doors. As an honest and sincere judge I shall endeavor always to adhere to this solemn oath.
 
Code of Judicial Procedure, Ch. 4, §11,
Judicial Oath
 
 
The Epitaph
 
1

Frozen snow, severe frost. Midwinter.
 
Early in January 2006 a lone wolf crosses the unmarked border and enters Sweden from Vauldalen in Norway. A man on a snowmobile thinks he might have glimpsed it just outside Fjällnäs, but the wolf vanishes into the trees heading east before he is able to pinpoint it. In the remote Norwegian Österdalarna Mountains it had discovered a lump of frozen moose carcass, with remnants of meat still clinging to the bones. But that was more than two days ago. It is beginning to feel the pain of hunger and is desperately searching for food.
 
The wolf is a young male that has set out to find a territory of his own. He continues his way eastward. At Nävjarna, north of Linsell, he finds another moose carcass. For a whole day he stays and eats his fill before resuming his trek east. When he comes to Kårböle he trots over the frozen Ljusnan and then follows the river along its winding route toward the sea. One moonless night he lopes silently over the bridge at Järvsö, then heads into the vast forests that stretch to the coast.
 
In the early morning of January 13 the wolf reaches Hesjövallen, a tiny village south of Hansesjön Lake in Hälsingland. He pauses and sniffs the air. He detects the smell of blood. He looks around. There are people living in the houses but no smoke rising from the chimneys. His sharp ears can’t detect the slightest sound.
 
But the wolf is in no doubt about the blood. He skulks at the edge of the forest, nose in the air. Then he moves forward, silently, through the snow. The smell comes from one of the houses at the far end of the hamlet. He is vigilant now— with humans around it’s essential to be both careful and patient. He pauses again. The smell originates from the back of the house. He waits. Then eventually starts moving once more. When he gets there he finds another carcass. He drags his large meal back to the trees. He has not been discovered, not even the village dogs have stirred. The silence is total this freezing-cold morning.
 
The wolf starts eating when he comes to the edge of the trees. It is easy, as the flesh has not yet frozen. He is very hungry now. Having pulled off a leather shoe, he starts gnawing away at an ankle.
 
It snowed during the night but stopped before dawn. As the wolf eats his fill, snowflakes once again start dancing down toward the frozen ground.

Media reviews

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
An Indie Next List Pick

“Engaging. . . .  great read.”
—The Globe and Mail

"Mankell's best thriller in fifteen years."
— Svenska Dagbladet (Sweden)

"The book of the year. Whether you read it as a suspense novel, a thriller, or as a comment on the world today, it is fascinating."
— Kulturspeilet (Norway)

"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) 
 
“Henning Mankell’s most absorbing crime novel since he retired Inspector Kurt Wallander a decade ago. . . . Mankell remains patient, confident and thorough. When the story comes to the crunch in suspense, the tension in the crucial scenes suggests the brilliance of Graham Greene. . . . Mankell seems capable of just about anything in The Man from Beijing.”
— Toronto Star
 
“The Man from Beijing has the sweep of a John le Carré mystery, exploring questions of morality and responsibility of succeeding generations. Reaching back through history and around the globe, it shows how the consequences of the colonial system reverberate still in today’s political and economic decisions.”
— Winnipeg Free Press
 
“With this overwhelming thriller, Mankell has perhaps presented us with his best book ever.”
— Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (Germany)
 
“An exceptionally good read that is hard to put down. . . . Mankell is a very skilled author who can use the thriller frame in a higher cause without letting go of the suspense or narrative drive.”
— Politiken (Denmark)
 
“Mankell shows us once again that he is the absolute master.”
— Kultur-base (Germany)