The Secret Life of Wallander by Stafford Hildred

Author:Stafford Hildred
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781843585848
Publisher: John Blake Publishing
Published: 2011-05-11T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN:

THE MAN WHO

SMILED

The trauma suffered by Detective Chief Inspector Wallander during his lone crusade against the Russian villain Konovalenko as recounted in The White Lioness was much deeper than anyone imagined, including Wallander himself. He was out of action as a policeman for well over a year, convinced that his long and successful career was over. Taking away Wallander’s job meant taking away the centre of his being. In all other areas of life he was pretty well universally useless and unhappy. His wife Mona had never regretted her decision to leave the self-confessed workaholic. While he accepted that theirs had never been a particularly happy marriage, Wallander still bitterly regretted her abrupt departure as he wallowed in his loneliness.

Battling depression and struck by a complete inability to work or even function normally, as the book begins he is signed off on long-term sick leave. Many observers must have considered that the policeman well known in Ystad, and a wider area beyond, for his integrity and dedication to duty was going completely off the rails. There seems to be no point to his life and Wallander grows more and more restive and unhappy. The cosy community of Ystad becomes almost claustrophobic to him at times and whenever he has some money to spare, he sets off on lone trips abroad, which generally end disastrously. In the hope of rediscovering his enthusiasm for the pleasures of life, he books a package visit to the beautiful Caribbean island of Barbados. But while surrounded by families of cheerful holidaymakers he feels miserable and sorry for himself from the start. He behaves stupidly from the moment the flight takes off and makes enormous use of the plane’s bar on the outgoing journey. He steadily drinks himself into a gloom-laden stupor of oblivion. When he arrives, instead of simply relaxing, soaking up some sunshine and recharging his batteries, he feels nervous and withdrawn and stays in his hotel room for several days. He desperately wants to be on his own and refuses to have any contact with anyone else. He keeps clear of the beautiful beaches and only goes into the water once, when he falls over on a jetty and topples drunkenly into the sea.

When he does try to conquer his inability to have any social contact, he feels he has to fortify himself with so much booze beforehand that he has to go out and buy new supplies. Then he is approached by a local prostitute, which leads to a sickening spell of even more degrading depravity. Wallander’s first reaction is to make it clear to the girl that he is not interested, but in his low mental state and befuddled by alcohol he succumbs to her charms. In fact, he stays with the prostitute for three days in her squalid home until she has separated him from all of his money, and then her two beefy brothers turn up and hurl him out on his ear. Wallander is unrecognisable from the highly principled, clear-thinking detective he once was.

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