I am a fan of Mankell's Kurt Wallander mystery series, and this is my first non-Wallander book. A very tense and dark book, impeccably written, and unique for providing insight into post-apartheid Zambia, a must read for that reason. The story is always compelling, always real, and really heats up in the last third, when the plot lines are at last resolved.
The neighbouring white farmers, the black farm employees and their families, the local shaman and controller, the black activist reporter from the city, the very helpful white UN worker, and the Indian merchant are tied together with various levels of necessity, fear, blackmail, friendship, and duty.
Mankell switches back and forth to the protagonist's childhood in Sweden, which one tends to read quickly, so as to get back to the riveting characters, living with suspicion, periodic violence, isolation, and the overarching the motive of business and profits, on Hans Olson's egg farm.
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