marco5599's review against another edition
4.0
The cold and dreary world of Martin Beck. By now it feels like a warm bath to me. A spectacular crime this time. American mayhem in Sweden. Some loony mowed down nine people in a bus. One of them a cop. A mass murder. And a ruined crime scene. Not the only frustration Beck and his team will have to deal with. Grumpiness on almost every page. And more. Remarkable how few of them these authors needed to come up with rich stories. The Beck novels might be short, but the cases are long. They are slow, but never dull. Somehow Maj Sjöwall en Per Wahlöö make the mundane feel like something special. In their hands good old-fashioned police work never gets old.
smemmott's review
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism, Gun violence, and Murder
Minor: Rape and Racism
sannacjn's review against another edition
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
annago's review
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
judyward's review against another edition
4.0
The Maj Sjowall-Per Wahloo books were recommended to me by a friend who knew that I have been reading Henning Mankell's books. This is the fourth book in the Martin Beck series and was originally published in the late 1960s in Sweden. The police in Stockholm are tied up trying to control a crowd protesting America's involvement in Vietnam when a mass murderer kills a bus driver and all of the passengers on a double decker public bus. In this police procedural, Martin Beck and the detectives with whom he works are forced to look into cold cases in order to solve the crime.
tombomp's review against another edition
4.0
Quality police procedural/mystery type novel. Does a kind of "gritty realism" thing but in the opposite direction to the "loose cannon"/gruff spoken detective who witnesses a ton of violence. Here the police officers are very average and get to the solution through hard work, procedure and good luck (and a little bad luck, too). The sort of grittiness is all about sleepless nights and frustration. I'm usually not too big on that sort of thing but the police's fallibility makes it work because it's a very human fallibility - no sudden insights, mistakes are made, but mostly they work hard and things eventually fall into place even though it's a struggle and life sucks. The book often is pretty funny in a very dry way (sometimes less dry) which helps keep it from being depressing. The case resolves in a very satisfying way and it keeps you hooked even without any real action happening. There's a leftist bent to it that appeals to me, as well. Some criticism of the police in general even as you sympathise with who you're seeing.
I will say I thought the treatment of some of the women is pretty misogynistic - some of it can be put down to the misogyny of the men but the treatment of Theresa, for example, feels very unfair and it's a bit gross in places. I don't think it ruins the book but it's a bit of a shame. There's also a 1 sentence description of something that's clearly rape but isn't described as such. That the author could have not noticed that makes me feel very uncomfortable, especially given that it's about a character who's incredibly sexualised (a nymphomaniac). It's 1 sentence so I don't like to make a big deal out of it but I guess I just think the way Theresa is talked about is gross and that was just too much.
I will say I thought the treatment of some of the women is pretty misogynistic - some of it can be put down to the misogyny of the men but the treatment of Theresa, for example, feels very unfair and it's a bit gross in places. I don't think it ruins the book but it's a bit of a shame. There's also a 1 sentence description of something that's clearly rape but isn't described as such. That the author could have not noticed that makes me feel very uncomfortable, especially given that it's about a character who's incredibly sexualised (a nymphomaniac). It's 1 sentence so I don't like to make a big deal out of it but I guess I just think the way Theresa is talked about is gross and that was just too much.
r3n's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
haaris's review against another edition
4.0
Read my first Martin Beck novel on a flight from Verona to New York. It's very entertaining. I like how it's a mass murder mystery written a comedic style. There is no star detective trying to solve the case of 9 people found murdered in a double-decker bus on the edge of Stockholm and Solna. Instead, a motley crew of imperfect police officers desperately forage for leads and clues.
What was also amusing for me was that this book, written in 1968, captures so many aspects of modern life in an almost timeless way. Sample this
What was also amusing for me was that this book, written in 1968, captures so many aspects of modern life in an almost timeless way. Sample this
The consumer society and its harassed citizens had other things to think of. Although it was over a month to Christmas, the advertising orgy had begun and the buying hysteria spread as swiftly and ruthlessly as the Black Death along the festooned shopping streets. The epidemic swept all before it and there was no escape. It ate its way into houses and apartments, poisoning and breaking down everything and everyone in its path. Children were already howling from exhaustion and fathers of families were plunged into debt until their next vacation. The gigantic legalised confidence trick claimed victims everywhere. The hospitals had a boom in cardiac infarctions, nervous breakdowns and burst stomach ulcers.
The police stations downtown had frequent visits from the outriders of the great family festival, in the shape of Santa Clauses who were dragged blind drunk out of doorways and public urinals. At Mariatorget two exhausted patrolmen dropped a drunken Father Christmas in the gutter when they cried to get him into a taxi.
leandrathetbrzero's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
In this Nordic noir translation, Stockholm is shaken by a shooting that takes place on a city bus, killing eight and wounding one in critical condition. Of the dead is Detective Åke Stenström, a promising young detective whose attendance on that bus baffles police inspector Martin Beck and the rest of the city’s Homicide Division. In this dark mystery, Sjöwall and Wahlöö shine a fascinating, critical spotlight on Sweden’s political and justice systems, and its issues with nationalism and xenophobia.
This was the Shedunnit book club’s pick for April, fulfilling this month’s theme of mysteries in translation. I certainly don’t read translated mysteries enough, so I was excited to read this title beyond the fact that it has been sitting on my TBR shelves for too long! Upon finishing this book, my overall impression is that I fully understand why this title has become a modern classic of Nordic noir. I really enjoyed the gritty atmospheric setting of Stockholm, the collaborative teamwork among Beck and the other investigators, and the linguistic elements infused in both characterization and clue-deciphering.
I love all things that involve linguistics, so it was fascinating to see certain characters defined by their accents and dialogue. This applied to a major clue in the case as well where the police needed to consult experts in deciphering audio and isolated auditory sounds. I ate those parts up! And, the mystery’s ending was satisfying as everything clicked into place nicely.
Interestingly, this book is very much “of its time.” The cultural assumptions about women’s sexuality and sexual freedom certainly set this book in the time it was written. With that said, there were moments that sadly aged too well, including one character’s dark joke after the shooting in which he asks his colleagues if Sweden was turning into the United States. More than 50 years later, and the U.S. is still known for its issues with mass shootings. A disturbing parallel, to say the least.
This was the Shedunnit book club’s pick for April, fulfilling this month’s theme of mysteries in translation. I certainly don’t read translated mysteries enough, so I was excited to read this title beyond the fact that it has been sitting on my TBR shelves for too long! Upon finishing this book, my overall impression is that I fully understand why this title has become a modern classic of Nordic noir. I really enjoyed the gritty atmospheric setting of Stockholm, the collaborative teamwork among Beck and the other investigators, and the linguistic elements infused in both characterization and clue-deciphering.
I love all things that involve linguistics, so it was fascinating to see certain characters defined by their accents and dialogue. This applied to a major clue in the case as well where the police needed to consult experts in deciphering audio and isolated auditory sounds. I ate those parts up! And, the mystery’s ending was satisfying as everything clicked into place nicely.
Interestingly, this book is very much “of its time.” The cultural assumptions about women’s sexuality and sexual freedom certainly set this book in the time it was written. With that said, there were moments that sadly aged too well, including one character’s dark joke after the shooting in which he asks his colleagues if Sweden was turning into the United States. More than 50 years later, and the U.S. is still known for its issues with mass shootings. A disturbing parallel, to say the least.