Before the Frost

“Mankell is a master of the traditional arts of the crime novel, narrative pacing and suspense.” —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
 
“An arresting story by an arresting writer . . . [Mankell] understands and probes the underside of everyday living—in an elegant and artful way. . . . He is able to look loneliness square in the eye. The result is writing that walks a line between ephemeral and everlasting.” —The Washington Post
 
“Amazingly human characters . . . It’s a testament to Mankell’s skill with plot that the story gets more and more urgent as he transforms a series of small mysteries into a much larger thriller.” —San Francisco Chronicle
 
“I salivate with anticipation at the prospect of more from the pen of Mankell, for he is one of the finest of his genre—a Scandinavian Ian Rankin with a passion for exploring the dark side of human nature. . . . Mankell builds the tension with care and, as ever, his characters are cleverly rounded . . . A masterpiece of atmospheric creation.” —The Herald
 
“Few of this genre’s writers—few of any genre’s writers—have been able to balance the ordinary and the grotesque with such literary dash and page-turning brio. . . . Mankell’s atmospherics . . . give you metaphysical goose bumps.” —Boston Herald
 
“A master of atmosphere and suspense.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review
 
“For me, Henning Mankell is by far the best writer of police mysteries today. He is in the great tradition of those whose works transcend their chosen genre to become thrilling and moral literature.” —Michael Ondaatje