I’m always a little sad each time I finished reading a book by one of my favourite authors because it means that there is one less title in that particular series waiting for me at some point in the future. A few days ago I finished off another of the Ian Rankin Rebus novels and I’m steadily working my way through the crime series of Arnaldur Indridason and Andrea Camilleri. On the historical fiction side I’m about halfway through George MacDonald Fraser’s Flashman books, well advanced with Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe series and also recently finished the latter author’s most recent Uhtred novel. I’ve read all of Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin novels and the first three of Julian Stockwin’s Kydd series but every single one of Forrester’s Hornblower books are still ahead of me so there’s still plenty of naval fiction to go.
So, I was absolutely delighted when, on completion of the latest Rankin book, I picked up the first Wallander novel by Swedish author Henning Mankel. I’ve watched some of the BBC TV Wallander adaptations and read great things about the original Swedish TV ones but this didn’t necessarily mean that I would enjoy reading the books. I should not have worried; Mankel’s novel had me gripped right from the start and I am cracking on through it at a great pace. It’s a story that I have watched the TV adaptation of but it’s really interesting to observe how different the two treatments are and how certain elements of the story were mucked about with for TV. Best of all, it’s a pleasure to know that I now have another great series of books stretching out before me.
Tim O'Hare 