Firewall

A man drops dead at a cash machine with no apparent cause. Two teenage girls murder a taxi driver and show no remorse when caught. One then escapes police custody, and days later a blackout sweeps half the country. Inspector Wallander is certain these events are connected, and his investigation leads him toward a cell of technologically sophisticated anarchists operating inside the anonymity of cyberspace — who seem to anticipate the police's every move. Mankell's eighth Wallander novel is a prescient thriller about digital vulnerability.

Dick Hill's steady, atmospheric narration suits the Nordic procedural tone perfectly, his measured delivery conveying both Wallander's frustration and the creeping wrongness of a world where the enemy is invisible. At over sixteen hours, Firewall is one of the longer Wallander entries, and Hill handles the sustained complexity of the dual investigation without losing either narrative thread. Essential reading for fans of intelligent, socially engaged crime fiction.