The Madman

One of the most ingenious crime writers around Observer

The figurehead of Nordic noir Independent

Mankell is in the first division of crime writing The Times

Extraordinary Ian Rankin

One day in 1947, Bertil Kras decides to leave his modest life in Stockholm and begin again—swapping his work at a bicycle courier firm for a job at a sawmill.

He moves to a small market town in the north, where the locals are wary and divided, haunted by the memory of the internment camp that recently stood on the other side of the forest.

Branded as a communist and an outsider, Bertil struggles to integrate. The winters are cruel, and his neighbours more so.

One cold January night, the sawmill burns down. All eyes turn to Bertil: the perfect scapegoat.

And with the weight of the town's judgement upon him, what is there left for him to become, but the man they have always expected him to be?

The Madman is a gripping and timely novel about a small Swedish town in the shadows of war, from multi-million copy bestselling author of the Wallander series, Henning Mankell.

The slow build towards inevitable disaster makes for true emotional depth, and the theme of othering, isolating and penalising people for their opinions remain horribly topical Guardian

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By far the best writer of police mysteries today Michael Ondaatje

A master of atmosphere and suspense Los Angeles Times

The dean of the so-called Scandinavian noir writers New York Times