Friday, October 31, 2008

KENNEDY'S BRAIN


TITLE: KENNEDY'S BRAIN
AUTHOR: HENNING MANKELL
Date: 31/10/2008
Grade: 4-
Details: Audio: 11 Cd's / 11 hours and 10 minutes
Narrator: Anna Bentinck
Library

When archaeologist Louise Cantor returns to Sweden from Greece, it is to find her son, Henrik, dead in his bed. The official verdict is that Henrik committed suicide, but Louise, knowing her son, refuses to belief this.
As Louise starts looking into her son's life, she soon finds that there is a lot she didn't know about him; like his interest in the conspiracy theory concerning President Kennedy's brain which went missing after his autopsy, and the fact that Henrik had been HIV positive.
As she follows in her son's footsteps she finds herself travelling first to Spain and then to Africa. She also finds herself dealing with people disappearing and dying.
But even when she finds out what is behind the fear and the deaths, it remains unclear what she can do to stop it or prove it.
This was not a bad story, even if it was more a political thriller than a mystery. But to me it was frustrating that the issues involved are so great that the story realistically couldn't provide a solution or resolution. Which made for a more or less realistic ending, even if it wasn't a very satisfying one.

1 comment:

Maria said...

Oooh, I get mad at these types of books that get so...entangled, they can't untangle! I admit, I am partial to "pat" endings where most loose ends are tied up. Real life is hardly ever that satisfying. Which is part of the reason I read...for the satisfying ending!