Gripping and dark.

Pretty bad.

C’est l’histoire d’une quête de vérité. Un peu long, parfois invraisemblable qu’un tel courage puisse nous habiter et s’en sortir avec une telle facilité. J’ai aimé la note de l’auteur en fin de livre. Il explique comment il a été inspiré pour son livre.

A well-written and unique mystery novel. Louise Cantor is a well-rounded and real character that we follow around the world after the loss of her son. She discovers so many things she didn't know about her son. We meet a lot of different and very real characters. Overall a pretty good book, but not as thrilling as I would have wanted. But it definitely makes you think and gives perspective!

[a:Henning Mankell|22339|Henning Mankell|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1223191641p2/22339.jpg] is perhaps best known for his detective stories set in the south of Sweden, featuring detective Karl Wallander. This is also a detective novel of sorts, but the protagonist is not a professional detective, but a middle-aged archaeologist, Louise Cantor, whose expertise has hitherto been confined to solving riddles of the distant past.

I found the story very reminiscent of [b:The Constant Gardener|19000|The Constant Gardener|John le Carré|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167175767s/19000.jpg|1442776] by [a:John le Carre|1411964|John le Carré|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1234571122p2/1411964.jpg], in that it deals with murders linked to multinational pharmaceutical companies, and the action moves from Greece, to Sweden, to Spain to Australia to Mocambique and back again. Australia is the only country visited only once.

Mankell does a very good job of building up a sense of mystery, followed by a sense of menace, in the early chapters, but unfortunately the story tends to fall apart towards the end, on the second visit to Mocambique, which is why I give it only three stars, instead of four or five. I won't go into details, because I don't want to give away the plot to anyone who hasn't read it, and I do think it is worth reading, but I did find the last few chapters a little disappointing.

This book started out slow but got really good and I readed it in 2 sittings only to be so disappointed by the ending.

Just arrived from Germany through BM.

A contemporary book showing how HIV have deepened the poverty and misery in Africa.