Sidetracked opens with the horrifying image of a young woman who sets herself on fire in a field. There can be no doubt that it was suicide, but can anything but a crime drive someone to take her life in such a gruesome way? The violence continues with the murder of an ex minister of justice who was scalped after his death. What kind of person would collect the trophy of his brutality and what could be his motive?

There is an undeniable success of serial-killer stories in popular media in the past decades. Maybe for some there is the element of torture porn, but I think for most people the depth and darkness of the human mind is fascinating. In the story, Wallander's team seeks help from a behavioral psychologist to create a profile of what the killer might be like.

Taking the physical evidence into account, they can stipulate that the killer paints his face, goes barefoot, and uses an axe, which inevitably conjures up the image of a Native American. Assuming that it was just a role, why would someone pick this particular role? How does he see himself? The investigations of this kind are not as meticulously depicted as maybe they could have been, but it was still great how the killer somehow emerges through grounded speculation.

There is another very disturbing aspect of the plot that connects to the woman in the field. Wallander discovers systematic human trafficking and sexual slavery of women lured to Europe by the promise of a more secure future. The victims of the serial killer were all in one way or another involved in these dealings.

I regularly say in my reviews on here that what intrigues me the most about stories is the intangible, and here we have another instance of this quality. There is no doubt that the serial killer's mind is twisted, yet it's not too difficult to imagine what might happen to a little boy who discovers that his sister was sexually assaulted by their father. In his mind, he's not fighting the cause of the women shipped in from the Dominican Republic, he believes that by his doings he can bring her back (she had been psychological clinic for a long time). Yet, the story denies the reader any easy assignment of perpetrator and victim.

While the previous novel, The Man Who Smiled, should have been a bit longer, Sidetracked nails the perfect balance between progress and giving the investigation enough space to tread water. It does justice to the fact that police work is mostly a question of patience, as Wallander himself puts it. Given its title it shouldn't be a big surprise that for some time our detective isn't fully on the right track, although he isn't as far off as you might expect.

The plot is again mystery or question driven. What is the connection between the victims, and is it possible for them to perceive the link as the killer sees it? Why does the killer change his behavior, why the increased level of gore? Is it significant that three girl or young women were affected by the murders? At some point, all the questions have been asked (as Wallander explicitly acknowledges), only the answers are still missing. Given the fact that the reader is "there" when the killer strikes, we are slightly ahead, which I thought was where captivating and intense when you realize that Wallander is getting closer – only he doesn't know it yet.

For me, Sidetracked is the strongest novel in the series so far, not the least because of how it confronts the reader with harsh realities. The case is solved in the end, but its tragic final act and the fact that Wallander's hands are tied in respect to the human trafficking leave you thoroughly disheartened.

Rating: 4/5