AFTER THE FIRE

Narrator Sean Barrett's sonorous and elegant delivery is somehow perfect for the somber tones of the last novel by the nordic noir writer Henning Mankell. Barrett breathes life into the collection of Baltic archipelago eccentrics Mankell has assembled for this study of loneliness, old age, and humans with no talent for connection. It is not a thriller, though it has the feel of one, beginning with an arsonist burning Fredrik Welin's house down, and very nearly killing him. Frederik is a retired doctor living alone on a Baltic island; rather improbably, absent other evidence, police suspect Frederik himself. Mankell completists will welcome this follow-on to his novel ITALIAN SHOES; fans of his murder mysteries may wish for either more plot or less anomie. B.G. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2018]