Before The Frost: A Linda Wallander Mystery

By Henning Mankell and Ebba Segerberg

Linda Wallander is bored. Just graduated from the police academy, she is waiting to start work at the Ystad police station and move into her own apartment. Meanwhile, she’s living with her father and, like fathers and daughters everywhere, they are driving each other crazy. Nor will they be able to escape each other when she moves out. Her father is Inspector Kurt Wallander, a veteran of the Ystad police force, whom she will have to work alongside.

Linda’s boredom doesn’t last long. Soon she is embroiled in the case of her childhood friend, Anna, who has inexplicably disappeared. As the investigation proceeds, she makes a few rookie mistakes. They are understandable, but they are also life-threatening. And as the case her father is working on dovetails with her own, something far more calculated and dangerous than either could have imagined begins to emerge.

Already an international bestseller, Before the Frost inaugurates Henning Mankell's new mystery series about Linda Wallander, and features Stefan Lindman of The Return of the Dancing Master.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The New Press
• Release date: Feb 8, 2005
• ISBN: 9781595585578

Reviews for Before The Frost

[ellenh_28 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was a dark, moody book. As were the Wallander shows on PBS, but it grabbed me and I spent a rainy day reading to the end.

[jbd1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'm glad I decided not to bother trying to read this series in order, so that I can just dip in and out as I like. As with the past couple, this one's pretty dark, but they're great mysteries. The addition of Linda as a main character works well; it will be interesting to see where Mankell takes it.

[pnorman4345 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Our detective hero's daughter joins the police force. Fun watching the relationship develop and her role works well. The plot violates many rules: religious fanatics for one.

[rsummer_7 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Other reviewers have covered many of my perceptions about this book. It is my least favourite of all his books and only finished it because I generally like Henning Mankell's work. The religous people gone mad has been over worked by too many authors. The character of Linda Wallender is a bit thin plus the idea that she would be stationed to work in the police station where her father works is highly unlikely. The next hurdle is that she becomes involved in an investigation before she officially starts work as a police officer is just too much to accept.

[annelim_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Linda Wallander, Kurt Wallander's daughter, is waiting to start work as a policeman with her father. She gets involved in a murder case.

[annbury_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This one brings Inspector Wallander's daughter Linda into the center of the action, but the new central character doesn't weaken the novel. Linda is just out of the police academy, and gets involved in a case through the dissapearance of a friend of hers. This maintains the high standard of police procedurals in the earlier novels, and adds a new factor -- the evolving relationship between Wallander and his daughter.

[thorold_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Disappointing: you have to admire Mankell for having the courage to take on a plot about religious fanaticism that brings in references to both Jim Jones and 9/11, but ultimately he doesn't seem to get very much out of it. His villain comes over as over-done and improbable rather than dangerously mesmeric, and there is too much imbalance between the seriousness of the conspiracy and the trivial father-daughter-rivalry plot in the foreground. In the TV version of this story, both aspects were toned down quite a bit, and the balance felt much better. It's also all too easy to become irritated by crime stories that rely on police officers constantly going into dangerous places on their own and without telling their colleagues where they are. Contrary to what Mankell seems to think, it doesn't really help if you tell the reader that they know they shouldn't do this sort of thing...

[annikabirgitta · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

My least favorite Henning Mankell book and I've read most of them.. Just did not capture my attention. Might have been in the translation. Maybe I should have read it in my native Swedish.. But usually I prefer the English versions.

[bookczuk · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

For some reason, I like mysteries set in Scandinavia. There are several authors that provide me with glimpses of the land I've longed to see since first really studying about it in fourth grade. Mankell is a familiar author for me, because of his series with Kurt Wallander. This one introduces daughter Linda, who is a cadet just finishing up at the police academy. There is a good bit of character interplay both within the Wallander family, and within the families of other characters -- the central core of the story revolving around the disappearance of one of Linda's friends, the supposed reappearance of that friend's father, who has been missing for 24 years, and a number of seemingly unrelated, but disturbing events, including the killing of some animals, and a murder. Mankell works the threads of the tale in his usual skillful manner, letting Kurt be a side character to daughter Linda. A good mystery and a nice branching out of a familiar series.

[shelleyraec · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I was not expecting the Jonestown introduction nor the September 11 ending in a book translated to English from Swedish. I actually struggled a bit with this book - it took a long time (around quarter of the way through the book) for the events described on the back to finally happen. The pace was slow - nothing hapened til it did and then it went back to meandering everywhere. There were a lot of story threads waving around, but it was difficult to see how they were relevant, even though they tied up reasonably neatly at the end . I struggled with the characters also, Wallender was on the wrong side of gruff and Linda was not very well developed and so not very likeable. Her naivite in regards to Anna's behaviour also stretched my credulity. It was Ok but I probably won't be reading him again.

[joycepa_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

One of the latest entries in the Kurt Wallender series, Before the Frost features his 30 year old daughter Linda as the 3rd person narrator of the story.The Prologue, however, takes place at the mass suicide/massacre of the followers of the Revered Jim Jones at Jamestown in 1976, and recounts the escape of the single survivor. The first chapter of the book, which takes place in August, 2001, is a graphic account of the murder by burning of a flock of swans on the shores of a lake near Ystad. The murderer is not identified. The call to the police is not taken seriously. The book switches abruptly to Linda, who has recently completed Police Academy training, and who is staying with her father while waiting impatiently for the start of her posting with Wallender's station in Ystad at the beginning of September, 2001. The living arrangement does not proceed smoothly, although both make an effort to co-exist more or less peacefully.Bored, Linda looks up two old friends, Zeba, a single mother and Anna, a rather odd young woman with whom Linda has had a difficult history. During one visit, Anna confides to Linda that she believes that she has just seen her father, who disappeared 24 years ago without a trace.The very next day, Anna misses an arrranged meeting with Linda, who becomes convinced that Anna has disappeared. But she has no luck in convincing her father, who suddenly has on his hands the brutal murder and mutilation of an older woman. Frustrated with the response and worried that something may have happened to Anna, Linda begins her own investigation. This will lead her to a terrifying confrontation with the leaders of a bizarre Christian sect in which her own life and those ofher friends are in danger.With the exception of the Prologue and the first chapter, the book moves very slowly until about the half way point. Linda's obsession with the safety of Anna somehow does not ring true. As the action picks up, so does the pace, until the last quarter of the books is a true page-turning thriller.If you are one of many readers who wish to avoid descriptions of animal cruelty and torture, then do not read this book. There are 3 separate and brutal instances, fairly graphically described, especially the scene with the swans. While the incidents are integrated into the plot, one has to ask whether or not the story could have evolved without such violence towards animals. I suppose it is a measure of our times that we tend to look on the most barbarous acts of humans towards each other with a fair amount of indiffference, yet flinch when such acts are carried out against helpless animals. I personally lean towards the view, for this book, that the animal violence is gratuitous, and more in keeping with selling books to jaded audiences than as a necessary part of the plot. For me, the plot could have been contrived differently. As evidence for this view, I noted that while Wallender's reaction to the brutal murder of the woman is one of horror, no one seems very disturbed about the three animal cruelty/murder scenes. I really don't think that's indicative of Swedish culture. I think it's just the result of Mankell needing some species of cruelty to jack up the horror in the book.The writing is good, once the book picks up the pace. The characters are believable enough, and the plot is as well. Mankell's evocation of the Swedish landscape and culture is as always very good. But the slow pace of the first half and what I view as gratuitous animal cruelty bring the book down in my opinion.

[bcquinnsmom · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'm a huge Henning Mankell fan, and I love Kurt Wallander. All through the series, his daughter Linda has always been there, but here she plays a major role. The book is touted as "a Kurt and Linda Wallander novel," and from that I gather that he's planning to write more with the father-daughter duo as a unit. After Wallander solo, it's going to be tough, because that particular series is so good that it's really difficult to top. And thus, we come to this particular novel, Before the Frost.The novel opens with, of all things, an escapee from the horrible Jonestown Massacre that happened in Guyana in November of 1978. Fast forward a few years to an unknown figure setting swans on fire in Sweden. What the two have in common will be made obvious as the story progresses.Linda Wallander has finished up at the police academy and is waiting for her first assignment in Ystad. For the time being she's staying with her dad, Inspector Wallander, and decides to go catch up with some old friends. One of these friends, Anna, tells Linda that she's just seen her long-lost father, then Anna disappears. Linda tries to get her father interested in finding Anna, but Kurt Wallander and his team are looking into the disappearance and death of another woman, whose name mysteriously appears in Anna's journal, later found by Linda. The coincidence leads Wallander to believe that maybe Linda's got something here. From here, the story takes several strange twists and turns, and the investigation leads them to a rather bizarre group who have set a deadline for something terrible to happen.To be honest, this isn't my favorite book featuring Kurt Wallander. It tends to drag in places, is a bit melodramatic, and the core mystery is a bit over the top, as in the prior book featuring Wallander, Firewall. Considering that this is "Kurt and Linda" Wallander novel, Kurt tends to play less of a role than his daughter. My guess is that Mankell wants the readers to become more familiar with Linda in her new role, especially if there will be more novels featuring this pair. Many of the other characters, especially the really bad guys, just didn't ring true to me, and it seemed like the addition of Linda in her new role toned down the edginess and suspense of Mankell's other Wallander novels.Mankell is great at police procedurals as well as intense social criticism, and that's what keeps me reading his books. It will definitely be interesting (if he chooses to continue the series featuring father and daughter) to see if Linda Wallander and younger members of the police turn out to be as cynical about their society as is Kurt Wallander and his group, or if the generational aspect leads them to view things in a different light. I would still recommend it for Mankell and Wallander fans, and for fans of Swedish crime novels in general. I wouldn't make this one my first Wallander novel, but would definitely start with Faceless Killers and move through the series in order.Overall...not my favorite, but it wasn't bad, either.

[wyvernfriend · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Linda Wallander is just about to join her father in the Ystad police force. While on leave between training and taking up the job her friend Anna goes missing. Meanwhile her father is investigating the mysterious slaugher and burning of some animals, hoping that this isn't going to lead to human murder.The interaction between the two is interesting and theres also other generational interactions in the story. Although you do know who does it the journey for the detectives to find that out as well is interesting.

[ttaisi5editor · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If you like dark, brooding, well-written mysteries, then: go Scandinavian, and explore Henning Mankell. This book carries the Kurt Wallander series forward to a new level of intensity by including the detective's daughter, Linda, now a police cadet.

[mporterf_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I didn't realize until after I was done with this that Mankell is the author of the stories behind the Wallander series starring Kenneth Branagh. Very interesting reading a mystery set in Sweden.

[donaldgallinger_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Henning Mankell's Before the Frost combines the sleuthing skills of its main protagonist, Kurt Wallender and his daughter, Linda, who has now joined the force. Mankell takes us on his usual gripping journey as Kurt and Linda try to discover the identity of a murderer before he can kill again. This time, however, the murderer is fueled by religious mania, thus making Wallender's job more frustrating and dangerous as he attempts to decode a series of strange clues. Along the way, we are entertained by Kurt's evolving relationship with his grown up daughter as well as his insightful commentary on the demise of Sweden's social democratic society.Over and over, Mankell proves himself as one of the best crime novelists in the world. As always, he has written another gem.

[squeakychu · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was my first novel by Henning Mankell. Although I found it entertaining, there were things about it that drove me crazy.The story itself was about a man named Eric, a survivor of the mass suicide in Jonestone, Guyana, who makes his way to Sweden, where he plans to reunite with his daughter Anna whom he abandoned long ago. Eric leads a Christian cult which believes in animal and human sacrifice as well as church burning. This becomes a problem for police detective Kurt Wallender and his daughter Linda, who was soon to become a full fledged police officer.This Wallender guy...I certainly would not want him for a father. He is as nasty as he can be. I felt sorry for Linda throughout the whole book as she tried to work on the same case on which her dad was working, but all the time being scolded by him for one thing or another.Why in the world would a soon-to-be police officer enter a possible crime scene (where a woman had just disappeared) and move things around, look through her apartment without a warrant, and start reading her private diary? Oh. Okay. They were friends. That doesn't fly with me.Taking a pulse? Don't do it with your thumb...as instructed in this book. Your thumb has its own pulse.The end of this book? What did the suicide of an unrelated person have to do with Erich's story? Oh. It had to do with Linda's story? I was more interested in finding out to where Erich had suddenly disappeared.Why was the 9-11 disaster in the United States brought into this novel? It didn't have any connection to the main story at all. Will I read more Mankell books? Probably. This one was fun to listen to. I hope others will be better (read: have more cohesive story lines) and that Kurt Wallender will lighten up a bit on his daughter. Just sayin'.

[Sh Kh · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

By far the best of Henning Mankell. The Kurt Wallander series have been engaging and absorbing, but this one, introducing Linda Wallander as a rookie detective, has been simply superb.

[jbreedlove_6 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sneaky dense read with the point of view being from daughter Linda instead of Kurt Wallander. Smooth character intros that were deep enough and a Linda Wallander is described in a fuller if more eccentric and intense character. The story was smooth and everything fit. Though it worked, like numerous writers, Mankell needed an uber villain. Kurt the father seemed more of a caricature at times and Linda just kept making stupid moves in the field. A hard to put down sort of read.

[buffalogr · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Kurt Wallander's daughter Linda has plays a major role...we see him through her eyes...a different perspective. Some call her "annoying"--like him. Plot-wise, there are a couple of threads running through and they all come together at the end. As always, I'm struck by the American Idioms translated from Sweedish...weird.

[floratina · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

READ IN DUTCH

Mankell's Wallander series is the prototype of brooding kind of mystery and this series focuses on Wallander's daughter Linda. I also liked it, and always wondered why there were no more books in this series. Until I recently found out it was because the actress playing Linda committed suicide.

[mrtall_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This Henning Mankell/Kurt & Linda Wallander crime novel is about Muslim terrorists, even though they’re never mentioned in its pages. But by setting the book’s events in September 2001, Mankell couldn’t make his intentions clearer.Yet instead of facing up to the truth, Mankell chooses to construct a proxy for Muslim terrorists, i.e. a group of ‘Christian’ fanatics led by the sole survivor of the Jonestown Massacre. They’re a preposterous mishmash of false messianism, anti-abortionism, fire-and-brim-stone-end-of-the-world preaching, and, most tellingly, the desire to be martyrs. Now where do we hear that word these days?Mankell simplistically suggests that one believer is much the same as the next one, no matter what it is they actually believe, and that by implication it's plausible that a mob of Lutherans is lurking around the cathedral corner strapped up with bomb belts. Whether Mankell chooses this approach out of fear of offending Muslims, or simply from an I-don’t-want-to-think-about-it insistence that all believers are really fanatics, it undercuts his other many strengths as a writer of police procedurals.

[ecw0647 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I like Mankell, but this book seems to have fallen into the "Silence-of-the-Lambs-Syndrome" that seems to have become endemic. It's not enough to have someone get killed in the heat of passion or for greed. Now killers have to have killed hundreds, kill animals, butcher little children, bring about the end of the world, etc., etc. I hate to break it to these authors, but evil is much more prosaic and often very subtle. You don't have to create monsters to write intelligently. Adolf Eichmann was the guy next door who was just really good at paperwork. OK, enough ranting.

Just how much do we know about our close friends; even our family. That might be one theme of this Wallender novel.

Linda Wallender takes center stage. Two threads start the book: a man is setting swans alight and Anna, Linda’s friend has disappeared shortly after insisting she has just seen her father who hasn’t been heard from in 25 years. A third strand is added when a woman whose life's work has been to explore and catalog old pilgrim trails disappears, only to be found dismembered in a small cabin in the woods.

It's not too hard to predict that those threads will all wind together soon. Kurt and Linda are equally irascible but have worked out a precarious truce. Linda, recent graduate of the police academy, hasn't been yet assigned to begin work at a station so she spends her time trying to track down Anna. Wallender is a harsh father who has trouble relating to his daughter and she has little patience with her father although both try to find an accommodation as Linda, with the curiosity of a seasoned detective, inserts herself into her father's formal investigation, much to his dismay and irritation.

[SPOILER: well,hardly a spoiler since it's revealed way early, and if you read the book's description there are spoilers out the wazoo, but...] The best parts of the book are investigative; the worst the insertion of Jim Jones and his relationship to one of the characters. That was unnecessary and dumb. Not worthy of Mankell. It almost seemed as if Mankell had to say something about Jones and this was his vehicle.