Book Review: Kennedy's Brain

Reviewed By: Pat Reid - RAM

Kennedy's Brain     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Henning Mankell
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Woman Main Character   Amateur Sleuth
The New Press, 2007, 328 pps.

Louise Cantor is a mother, a divorcee and a successful archaeologist. She is in Athens, Greece and contemplating her trip back to Sweden to participate in a conference and visit her 28-year old son Henrik. She was also looking forward to visiting her father. Little did Louise know that her life was about to undergo a drastic change, Louise would soon be plunged into a nightmare existence which would take every bit of her strength to survive.

When Louise is unable to contact her son by phone, she goes to his apartment and finds Henrik dead in his bed. The police tell her that he committed suicide but she is convinced that her son was murdered.

Artur, Louise’s father, tried his best to convince Louise that they needed to find Aaron, Henrik’s father. Louise was against it but as she became more aware that Henrik had lived, a life that she knew nothing about she finally reached out to Artur.

As Louise tried to retrace her son’s steps, her travels took her all over the world. Henrik had an apartment and friends in Barcelona he had never told her about nor had he told his father.

Eventually Louise found her way to Africa and discovered that Henrik was interested in what was happening there as far as the Aids epidemic was concerned. The deeper Louise dug into Henrik’s interests the more danger she found herself in.

Kennedy’s Brain is a book that invokes much thought about things that are going on in this world that never enters the mind of the average reader. Louise’s plight makes the reader’s heart go out to this bereaved mother.

Pat Reid - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Pat Reid - RAM