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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 839.7374
EAN num: 9781400031559
ISBN number: 1400031559
Label: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 448
Printing Date: May 13, 2003
Publishing house: Vintage
Release Date: May 13, 2003
Sale Popularity Level: 70542
Studio: Vintage
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Third in the Kurt Wallander series.
The execution-style murder of a Swedish housewife looks like a simple case even though there is no obvious suspect. But then Wallander learns of a determined stalker, and soon enough, the cops catch up with him. But when his alibi turns out to be airtight, they realize that what seemed a simple crime of passion is actually far more complex—and dangerous. The search for the truth behind the killing eventually uncovers an assassination plot, and Wallander soon finds himself in a tangle with both the secret police and a ruthless foreign agent. Combining compelling insights into the sinister side of modern life with a riveting tale of international intrigue, The White Lioness keeps you on the knife-edge of suspense.
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Rated by buyers 
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This is well written but overly long and involved. It's a Swedish police procedural novel that morphs into an International espionage novel about a secret Afrikaner plot to assassinate Nelson Mandela. So, it gets long and involved with lots of characters & subplots. Even after halfway through the book, the author is still introducing new characters and subplots. The series character, Kurt Wallender behaves in an unprofessional, foolish and actually illegal manner in the course of the book & I kept getting annoyed & exasperated with him. Mankell presents the religious views of his Swedish characters with such amazing ignorance that it's difficult to believe that he understands the world-view of his South African characters any better.
This is the very first book I have read in the Kurt Wallender series. And, this is not a good place to start. I'm sure Mankell has written something better than this. He seems to be a skilled writer, generally speaking. Maybe this book is just a mis-step.
Rated by buyers -
Detective Kurt Wallander in "The White Lioness" sets out to find the woman, an estate agent, who disappeared coming home from work. Little does he know that the search for her will get him entangled in the international plot, devised to assassinate Nelson Mandela.
The third volume of Henning Mankell's series of crime novels featuring Wallander is probably weaker than the very first one, but definitely it is better than "the Dogs of Riga". I usually prefer the good police procedural or detective story in the local setting, not a political crime in the "Bourne identity" style, but this novel captivated me as I read on.
Luise Akerblom set off to see a house for sale on a Saturday afternoon. She lost her way and was not seen alive again. Search for her was a puzzle to the whole Ystad police department and Wallander quickly guessed that the investigation would be far from routine. Police discovers a cut of grey finger not far from Louise's body and discover that Louise was shot, execution-style. Almost immediately, a house goes up in flames...
The action switches from Sweden to South Africa, where the group of Boer radicals plots the assassination attempt, hoping to undermine the plans to end apartheid. It is 1992, Wallander gets involved in a massive scheme, where Louise Akerblom is but a pawn, but he does not get lost. He also does not lose his sensitivity and philosophical attitude to life. The novel is written in a mild, reflective tone, there is not too much tension despite the obvious weight of the described events, it is somehow grey and even throughout. I have to warn the fans of mystery novels that here there is no search for the killer and no guessing - everything is known very early, so the reader can only follow the problems of the police and wait if the assassination endeavor happens (well, from sources other than this novel we know what really happened or didn't happen).
I like Mankell's characters, they are always psychologically intriguing - and "The White Lioness" is no exceprion. Aside from Wallander, the characters of dreadful Konovalenko, a former KGB agent, and the South African mercenary killer Mabasha are very well rendered, and some of the secondary characters, although only sketched, are amazingly real. Mankell's knowledge of Africa is visible from the pages of this novel. South Africa, unstable in 1992, and the general political upheaval in Europe at the beginning of that decade provide a good background for this type of novel. As I said, I enjoyed "The White Lioness" only fractionally less than "Faceless Killers", found what I wanted in it, and it did not discourage me from reading more of Mankell's cycle about Wallander's work.
Rated by buyers -
One of the things I look for when reading a translation, is the smoothness in which the characters move through the narrative parts of the novel. Laurie Thompson has done a superb job in this novel, especially because there are two diametrically dissimilar societies involved in the story; Sweden and Aparteid South Africa.
Mr. Mankell should be quite pleased with the way the book came out because the tension and subtlety of the story is there throughout the story. Unlike a lot of European Crime novels, those from the Scandinavian counties are not very procedurally involved. They tend to be more thoughtful and philosophical and will question the sociological aspects of the situation more than the criminal.
This story, which starts with a man reporting his wife missing, then the finding of the finger of a 'blackman' in an area where the woman might have disappeared, continues to grow in small pieces until we are able to see the whole. It is wonderfully written (and translated) and explains a lot about the society of Sweden as well as South Africa. The one weakness in the book is the "villian" who is very much a "stock" character and very one-dimensional.
Rated by buyers 
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Having already read the 4th Wallender book, 'The Man Who Smiled' ('Silkeridderen' or 'The Silk Rider, in Norwegian translation), I now know where Wallender's depression came from. It's developed in the present book. Wallender has character the opposite that of a psychopath, and it's why he rarely carries a pistol.
I though early on that this book is terribly boring. Half the time is spent in aparteid South Africa, where the plot originates and developes. After a while I realized that the description of S. Africa in that era is pretty interesting. In Sweden, unemployed psychopathic former KGB killers for hire play a central role, branching out on a theme began in 'The Dogs of Riga', where the KGB ran the Black Market. A very human, erring Wallender is shown here, he's not always in control of himself and for good reason. After overcoming my initial unpleasant experience with the book, I would now rate it as one of Mankell's best. How much truth is there in the pre-Mandela history presented therein? In any case, the pseudo-history is thought provoking.
This review is based, as usual, on the excellent Norwegian translation 'Den hvite løvinen' by Kari Bolstad. Unfortunately, I have no idea how good or bad the English translations of Mankell are, and will probably never find out because I have but three unread Wallenders in Norwegian left to read, and Mankell is one of my ways to keep up that language. I can say that the three German translations I've read do give the correct sense of Wallender and south Sweden near Ystad.
Rated by buyers 
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I liked this book from the start to somewhere around page 250 or 260. But I thought it faltered pretty badly for a hundred pages or so. Fellow police are shocked that a man just seconds from a gun battle for his life is in a frantic frame of mind. Really? A man he's chasing seems to, inexplicably, feel that it's important to get Wallander. Why? Reasons are purported but they seemed very false. It helped the story along but it was faintly ridiculous. There was a little too much sentimentality in stereotypically expected ways.
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