Sophia C. reviewed on + 289 more book reviews
NB: contains minor spoilers
I picked up The Man from Beijing because I was intrigued by the Swedish-Chinese angle. This stand-alone story starts out as a mystery/thriller—19 people in a remote northern Swedish village are gruesomely murdered—but soon evolves into a geopolitical treatise whose pieces do not fit well together. Birgitta Roslin, a middle-aged judge, discovers that among the dead are her foster grandparents, and follows up on some clues that lead to a Chinese man being in the vicinity during the crimes. However, the narrative then jumps to the 19th century, and then on to the upper echelons of political Beijing, with sidetrips to Africa and England. Suspense is released because early on one gets a good sense of who is behind the bloodbath, although the motive seem far-fetched. I am also not sure that Mankell has an insider's grasp of China. Does Mao really figure so prominently into how its leaders think about future developments? Unfortunately, this story fell short as a mystery/thriller with many untidy loose ends and comes across as an example of vilifying the Chinese because they are now becoming more prominent players on the world stage.
I picked up The Man from Beijing because I was intrigued by the Swedish-Chinese angle. This stand-alone story starts out as a mystery/thriller—19 people in a remote northern Swedish village are gruesomely murdered—but soon evolves into a geopolitical treatise whose pieces do not fit well together. Birgitta Roslin, a middle-aged judge, discovers that among the dead are her foster grandparents, and follows up on some clues that lead to a Chinese man being in the vicinity during the crimes. However, the narrative then jumps to the 19th century, and then on to the upper echelons of political Beijing, with sidetrips to Africa and England. Suspense is released because early on one gets a good sense of who is behind the bloodbath, although the motive seem far-fetched. I am also not sure that Mankell has an insider's grasp of China. Does Mao really figure so prominently into how its leaders think about future developments? Unfortunately, this story fell short as a mystery/thriller with many untidy loose ends and comes across as an example of vilifying the Chinese because they are now becoming more prominent players on the world stage.
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