Point of View

The novel is told in the third person by a semi-omniscient narrator, from the point of view of Kurt Wallander. The first chapter of the novel is an exception. This first chapter, which relates the discovery of the murder victims, is told in the present tense and from the point of view of the victims' neighbor, who finds the crime scene. The different perspective and time frame of the first chapter sets it aside from the rest of the novel. This builds interest in the crime that Wallander will investigate.

The third person semi-omniscient narrator puts the reader inside Wallander's mind as he conducts the investigation of the case. As the clues are revealed, the reader learns of them alongside Wallander. The reader also goes along with Wallander on a journey through his private life, in which Wallander must begin to accept changes in his life...