johnnyb1954's review against another edition
4.0
More tragic and more action-filled than previous entries in the series. There is still the plodding procedure, but less of it So I was tempted to give only three stars, but it was a very good read. The police characters remain sharply drawn, flawed, yet each contributing to the team.
There are a few words that seem out of place so it makes me question the translation.
The authors seem to have tired of a couple of characters that I enjoyed and eliminate them.
The ending is abrupt and leaves us hanging as to some of the outcome.
I grew tired of Martin Beck’s constant cold. But at least it is referred to less in this book and his stomach trouble seems to have gone finally.
There are a few words that seem out of place so it makes me question the translation.
The authors seem to have tired of a couple of characters that I enjoyed and eliminate them.
The ending is abrupt and leaves us hanging as to some of the outcome.
I grew tired of Martin Beck’s constant cold. But at least it is referred to less in this book and his stomach trouble seems to have gone finally.
etakloknok's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
bjornmalter's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
bev_reads_mysteries's review against another edition
4.0
The Abominable Man (1971) is the seventh novel in the Martin Beck mystery series by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. It shows Beck facing one of the greatest challenges in his career--challenges calling for quick detective work and professional challenges when his investigation reveals evidence of corruption all the way through some of the highest levels of the force.
It all begins with the horrific murder of a chief inspector in his hospital room--murdered by bayonet. And it soon becomes apparent that the person responsible has a personal hatred of not only Chief Inspector Nyman but the police in general. As Beck and his team work against the clock to find the madman before he can drastically reduce the number of officers on the force, they find a link to Nyman's reputation for brutal, strong-arm police tactics. Tactics he perfected as a sadistic instructor in the armed forces and used over a forty-year career. Could the madman be someone falsely arrested and abused while in custody? Or perhaps he's a rogue cop who suffered under a harsh Inspector and is looking for revenge.
Beck and his colleagues finally run the culprit to earth, but the final stand-off with an expert marksman will raise the police body count to at least five and Beck will have to resort to a drastic plan in order to stop the killer before he can claim more lives. The man will be caught--but at what cost? And how much blame rests with a police force which harbored corrupt officers and turned a blind eye to reports of misconduct?
This installment of the Beck series is a hard-hitting novel on a number of levels. It opens with Nyman's very brutal death, but soon turns into a commentary on the method of police work that had its roots in a sadistic drill-sergeant style of instruction and enforcement. Although the reader can't condone the murders, one can still understand the motive. When those who are called upon to serve and protect cause so much harm in one person's life, it isn't hard to understand when that person reaches the end of their endurance.
Definitely not a puzzle mystery and not entirely a police procedural--although we do watch Beck and his men hard at work gathering the evidence and searching the records for clues to the killer's identity. This works best as a social commentary on the state of the police force in the early 1970s and makes for an absorbing read. But it is also an action-packed police drama--moving quickly from the first murder to the final scene. Sjöwall and Wahlöö are experts at setting the scene and placing the reader right in the middle of the action. ★★★★ for a perfectly paced, police thriller.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
It all begins with the horrific murder of a chief inspector in his hospital room--murdered by bayonet. And it soon becomes apparent that the person responsible has a personal hatred of not only Chief Inspector Nyman but the police in general. As Beck and his team work against the clock to find the madman before he can drastically reduce the number of officers on the force, they find a link to Nyman's reputation for brutal, strong-arm police tactics. Tactics he perfected as a sadistic instructor in the armed forces and used over a forty-year career. Could the madman be someone falsely arrested and abused while in custody? Or perhaps he's a rogue cop who suffered under a harsh Inspector and is looking for revenge.
Beck and his colleagues finally run the culprit to earth, but the final stand-off with an expert marksman will raise the police body count to at least five and Beck will have to resort to a drastic plan in order to stop the killer before he can claim more lives. The man will be caught--but at what cost? And how much blame rests with a police force which harbored corrupt officers and turned a blind eye to reports of misconduct?
This installment of the Beck series is a hard-hitting novel on a number of levels. It opens with Nyman's very brutal death, but soon turns into a commentary on the method of police work that had its roots in a sadistic drill-sergeant style of instruction and enforcement. Although the reader can't condone the murders, one can still understand the motive. When those who are called upon to serve and protect cause so much harm in one person's life, it isn't hard to understand when that person reaches the end of their endurance.
Definitely not a puzzle mystery and not entirely a police procedural--although we do watch Beck and his men hard at work gathering the evidence and searching the records for clues to the killer's identity. This works best as a social commentary on the state of the police force in the early 1970s and makes for an absorbing read. But it is also an action-packed police drama--moving quickly from the first murder to the final scene. Sjöwall and Wahlöö are experts at setting the scene and placing the reader right in the middle of the action. ★★★★ for a perfectly paced, police thriller.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
jakewritesbooks's review against another edition
4.0
One of the best in an already great series, The Abominable Man grapples with a lot and spares no emotion.
At the heart of this offering is what it means for a country to be policed. It’s a discussion that’s been had by a broader swath of Americans since the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, which though originally inspired by the murder of Trayvon Martin, galvanized the deaths of young black men at the hands of law enforcement. Police brutality in the States has its historic roots in anti-blackness and xenophobia, but it is not a phenomenon limited here.
What little I know about the evolution of Swedish police departments, I learned from this series. Maybe it’s all bs, I don’t know. The writers certainly have their political bend. But it appears to me that Sweden, Stockholm in particular, had some major police reforms in the 60s to crack down on rampant brutality and corruption within law enforcement. The effects of this were still being felt in the early 1970s, when the book takes place.
The Abominable Man is an unflinching look at the subject. It’s a violent book, perhaps more violent than any other in the Martin Beck series. And it’s a book without heroes. From the decedent, a former police officer himself, to the officers investigating and to the Stockholm department writ large, none are spared a keen examination of what it means to police a populace. If Murder at the Savoy was preachy to the point of being sententious on income inequality, The Abominable Man is a denouement on the issue of law enforcement. There are no answers, not even at the end of the book. And that’s what makes it so good.
You don’t need to read this series in order to appreciate it but the joy of trying to do so is how it allows you, the reader, to see how the writers develop the story over time. This newest step in its evolution is one of the best and it will remain with me.
At the heart of this offering is what it means for a country to be policed. It’s a discussion that’s been had by a broader swath of Americans since the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, which though originally inspired by the murder of Trayvon Martin, galvanized the deaths of young black men at the hands of law enforcement. Police brutality in the States has its historic roots in anti-blackness and xenophobia, but it is not a phenomenon limited here.
What little I know about the evolution of Swedish police departments, I learned from this series. Maybe it’s all bs, I don’t know. The writers certainly have their political bend. But it appears to me that Sweden, Stockholm in particular, had some major police reforms in the 60s to crack down on rampant brutality and corruption within law enforcement. The effects of this were still being felt in the early 1970s, when the book takes place.
The Abominable Man is an unflinching look at the subject. It’s a violent book, perhaps more violent than any other in the Martin Beck series. And it’s a book without heroes. From the decedent, a former police officer himself, to the officers investigating and to the Stockholm department writ large, none are spared a keen examination of what it means to police a populace. If Murder at the Savoy was preachy to the point of being sententious on income inequality, The Abominable Man is a denouement on the issue of law enforcement. There are no answers, not even at the end of the book. And that’s what makes it so good.
You don’t need to read this series in order to appreciate it but the joy of trying to do so is how it allows you, the reader, to see how the writers develop the story over time. This newest step in its evolution is one of the best and it will remain with me.
camrobbins's review
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Discussions about police violence from this 1970’s, Swedish book feel very similar to today’s discussion in the US.
plantbirdwoman's review against another edition
3.0
I've come to the conclusion that this series should not be read so much as police procedural mysteries as social studies of Sweden at a particular point in time - the 1960s. So much of the narrative is taken up with the authors' observations about and critiques of the social welfare society that was that country at that time.
The central point and organizational theory of this particular entry in the series is the consequence of police excesses. It presents a police department that has lost the respect of the populace because of the rampant corruption and brutality that has become so much a part of that essential organization.
We are introduced briefly to a police inspector who is known to be exceptionally cruel in his treatment of the policemen under his command and particularly the prisoners who are unfortunate enough to find themselves under his control. Beatings are routine. Ignoring medical needs is a common occurrence.
The result of this indifference to the condition of those locked in cells has its entirely predictable end. People suffer and die. Needlessly.
The brutal police inspector is in the hospital when we meet him. He is seriously ill, but would have recovered his doctor says. He doesn't get the chance. Someone breaks into his room and dispatches him with a bayonet, essentially disemboweling him in the process.
There is no lack of potential suspects, people who would have wished this man dead with good cause. There are citizens who were beaten by the man and his minions. There are those who were merely ill but were arrested because they were suspected of being drunk - epileptics and diabetics, for example, some of whom died in custody. Was it one of their survivors who decided to even the score?
But the dead man was hardly the only one responsible for such brutality. Are other policemen on the kill list of the murderer? Does that list include policemen who knew that the brutality was taking place but did nothing to stop it? Is Martin Beck's name on the list?
Martin Beck and his colleagues comb police records looking for potential suspects. They are overwhelmed by the volume and exhausted by the search. It is true that when a policeman is killed - even a bad policeman like this one - his colleagues spare no effort in finding the perpetrator. The authors note that there are many murders that go unsolved but none of them are murders of policemen. All such crimes end in the perpetrator being brought to justice. Or killed.
Martin Beck's famous instinct tells him that he and other policemen are in danger and, as usual, his instinct is correct. The murderer holes up on the roof of a building from which he can pick off his targets - all of them policemen - one by one, which is just what he proceeds to do. And so we have what has become an iconic event of the 21st century in America - except this is the decade after the middle of the 20th century in Sweden: A mass murderer wielding a rifle.
In the end, it didn't take any great amount of police work to unmask the killer this time. More important in this case was the explanation of the killer's motive and what sent him over the edge and into insanity. One feels nothing but sympathy for the man.
Shocking as the ending is, it is utterly predictable and the authors lead us to that conclusion step-by-step. I find their method of telling these stories fascinating, particularly the great care they take in describing and setting the scene. One is always able to "see" just what is happening and the environment in which it is happening. Nothing is really left to the imagination. Some readers might find the copious detail somewhat annoying but, to me, it just seems a very clean and clear way of telling a story.
The central point and organizational theory of this particular entry in the series is the consequence of police excesses. It presents a police department that has lost the respect of the populace because of the rampant corruption and brutality that has become so much a part of that essential organization.
We are introduced briefly to a police inspector who is known to be exceptionally cruel in his treatment of the policemen under his command and particularly the prisoners who are unfortunate enough to find themselves under his control. Beatings are routine. Ignoring medical needs is a common occurrence.
The result of this indifference to the condition of those locked in cells has its entirely predictable end. People suffer and die. Needlessly.
The brutal police inspector is in the hospital when we meet him. He is seriously ill, but would have recovered his doctor says. He doesn't get the chance. Someone breaks into his room and dispatches him with a bayonet, essentially disemboweling him in the process.
There is no lack of potential suspects, people who would have wished this man dead with good cause. There are citizens who were beaten by the man and his minions. There are those who were merely ill but were arrested because they were suspected of being drunk - epileptics and diabetics, for example, some of whom died in custody. Was it one of their survivors who decided to even the score?
But the dead man was hardly the only one responsible for such brutality. Are other policemen on the kill list of the murderer? Does that list include policemen who knew that the brutality was taking place but did nothing to stop it? Is Martin Beck's name on the list?
Martin Beck and his colleagues comb police records looking for potential suspects. They are overwhelmed by the volume and exhausted by the search. It is true that when a policeman is killed - even a bad policeman like this one - his colleagues spare no effort in finding the perpetrator. The authors note that there are many murders that go unsolved but none of them are murders of policemen. All such crimes end in the perpetrator being brought to justice. Or killed.
Martin Beck's famous instinct tells him that he and other policemen are in danger and, as usual, his instinct is correct. The murderer holes up on the roof of a building from which he can pick off his targets - all of them policemen - one by one, which is just what he proceeds to do. And so we have what has become an iconic event of the 21st century in America - except this is the decade after the middle of the 20th century in Sweden: A mass murderer wielding a rifle.
In the end, it didn't take any great amount of police work to unmask the killer this time. More important in this case was the explanation of the killer's motive and what sent him over the edge and into insanity. One feels nothing but sympathy for the man.
Shocking as the ending is, it is utterly predictable and the authors lead us to that conclusion step-by-step. I find their method of telling these stories fascinating, particularly the great care they take in describing and setting the scene. One is always able to "see" just what is happening and the environment in which it is happening. Nothing is really left to the imagination. Some readers might find the copious detail somewhat annoying but, to me, it just seems a very clean and clear way of telling a story.
obione_tdg's review against another edition
2.0
Parte molto bene, ma si conclude in modo estremamente rapido con un tonfo spaventoso. Vicenda che poteva essere sviluppata in modo decisamente migliore, tanti elementi per niente sfruttati ed ignorati. Peccato.
brontebucket's review against another edition
5.0
I love this series of books as they take detective novels back to basics - proper sleuthing before the advent of computers and mobile phones. They have to go the long way round to get their break-through. The story is short, only 215 pages but the writing is to the point so a lot of ground is covered. This one is about a recently retired police officer who is brutally murdered at the start of the book and so their is a lot of emotion is trying to catch the killer of one of their own. Very good but at old style pace!