I am a big Henning Mankell/Kurt Wallender fan, but this book was a huge dissappointment. Not only is the plot far-fetched, but Mankell spends half the book (slight exaggeration) extolling the virtues of chairman Mao, to whom Mankell credits the rise of modern China (conveniently forgetting that the elected leaders of Taiwan and Hong Kong accomplished much more in a much shorter time, without the need to murder millions of their citizens, and that China's rise came only after Mao's death, after Ding turned their economy from socialism to capitalism). Mankell's villian is a modern Chinese capitalist, the heroine, his sister, is loyal to the old, Maoist, ways. He even paints Robert Mugabe as a hero in the fight against colonialism!

Please, Henning Mankell, go back to what you are good at and quit trying to turn your novels into boring, preachy, left-wing propaganda works.