Author:  Henning Mankell
Title:  The Man from Beijing
Publisher:  Knopf

The Man from Beijing begins its story in the small, Swedish village of Hesjövallen. Nearly the entire community has been brutally murdered without any solid leads for the police to pursue. A judge, Birgritta Roslin, with family ties to the village, begins to unravel the mystery surrounding the crime. However, the motive goes back over a century and covers so much territory, including a similar murder in Nevada, that there is no way she can settle jurisdiction and bring about justice, let alone figure out the crime.

From Sweden the book leaps back in time to the 1860s in Asia where two Chinese brothers are kidnapped and put on a slave ship to America. They work off their indentured status for their freedom, connect with some Christian missionaries, and travel with them on a slow boat back to China. This five-year, round-trip voyage sets events in motion and plants seeds of revenge that result in their murderous climax in 2006.

From there the novel jumps back to several months after the Swedish massacre where Birgritta travels to China with a photograph of a possible suspect. A woman she meets, Honq Qiu, takes a thread of Birgritta's mystery with her to Zimbabwe and Mozambique where further tragedies occur. Finally, the story comes round home to Europe where the various strings are sewn together in a ribbon that ties up the novel, while leaving many of the surrounding questions lingering.

The story, though positioned as a mystery, is just as much a travel novel and a complex commentary about the treatment of the poor and the oppression by the rich and powerful. Though there are strong characters which carry the story along, there are no real heroes. Each person is flawed in his or her thinking or actions. There are no simple answers— from the brokenness of Birgritta's marriage, to the flaws of current-day political systems and the emptiness of both power and revenge. The same problems are pervasive through each of the featured cultures. At some points the story breached believability to fit in economic, political, and religious observations.

The Swedish author, Henning Mankell, is one of the world's best-selling authors, having over 30 million copies of his books in print in over 40 languages. While he is best known for his crime thrillers, I wouldn't put this book in that category. There is very little action in this story, with most of the progression coming from conversations, not from conflict. He is much more John Le Carré (The Constant Gardener) than he is Robert Ludlum (The Bourne Identity). This mystery will connect with readers looking for a contemplative, bedside novel, not those looking for a summer, beside-the-pool page-turner.  

The Man from Beijing is an intriguing read and even though it could have been distracting as it flashed between continents, centuries, and characters, I let myself be carried along with each deckled-edged page. Though this story was heavier than most American crime novels, it was still with satisfaction that I pushed the book away like a dinner plate at the end of a Sunday meal.


**This review first published on March 12, 2010.