The striking seventh novel in the Martin Beck mystery series by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, finds Beck facing one of the greatest ch...
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Sep 12, 2011
Nancy
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Part the seventh of Sjöwall and Wahlöö's excellent 10-part series, The Abominable Man starts off in a hospital room where a man lays in a great deal of pain and anxiety due to his fear of death. To get his mind off his problems for a moment, he makes his way to the nurses' station and back, and is savagely attacked when he returns to his room. Martin Beck, who had just spent the evening with his daughter, has just gotten into bed at 2:30 a.m. when the phone rings. The caller is Einar Rönn, also
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Aug 31, 2011
Mitch
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One of the things that I enjoy about the Martin Beck series is that each book fits into a different archetype (if that's the right word): there's a sex fiend, there's an organized crime story, etc. Maybe almost all long series are like this, and we've just gotten too used to series that represent one epic story arc (a la Harry Potter).
In any case, The Abominable Man centers around a madman and wins a fourth star from me for its high-tension conclusion. That said, part of the reason the te More...
In any case, The Abominable Man centers around a madman and wins a fourth star from me for its high-tension conclusion. That said, part of the reason the te More...
Jan 03, 2011
Trish
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It is positively reassuring to have the authors create a group of police detectives so distinct that we pale at the thought that they may be injured, or worse, cut from the next volume in the series. The language is so fresh and without accent, the only thing preventing us from imagining it happening today is that there are no cell phones to clutter the action. It is painful to see something happening in slow motion in these pages, all the while knowing this could never happen anywhere in the wo
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Feb 06, 2012
Steve
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Once again, as is their habit, the authors start with a murder. This time, it’s a hospitalized police inspector who, while in his hospital room, is brutally killed with a bayonet. The usual characters assemble to solve the mystery. The plot resolves in a much more straightforward way than Murder at the Savoy.
The murder victim is the title character, “the abominable man.” He’s a sadistic, brutal guy who trained other cops in his ways. It makes for an interesting character. But the autho More...
The murder victim is the title character, “the abominable man.” He’s a sadistic, brutal guy who trained other cops in his ways. It makes for an interesting character. But the autho More...
Oct 26, 2009
The Abominable Man,by Maj Sjöwall, Per Wahlöö, A. narrated by Tom Weiner, produced by Blackstone Audio Books, downloaded from audible.com.
In this Martin Beck mystery, a policeman is brutally murdered in his hospital room. Beck hadn’t known him well but had not heard good things about him. Others wouldn’t say much about him, so it took much digging for Martin Beck to find out that he was a monster who engaged in sadistic practices while in the military and brought them to his work More...
In this Martin Beck mystery, a policeman is brutally murdered in his hospital room. Beck hadn’t known him well but had not heard good things about him. Others wouldn’t say much about him, so it took much digging for Martin Beck to find out that he was a monster who engaged in sadistic practices while in the military and brought them to his work More...
Jan 05, 2012
Tbfrank
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The faimiliarity with the cast of characters draws in those who have read other novels in this series. A depth is given to several players which alters the reader's perception of them. The story is not complicated but it does have false leads and proceeds in fits and starts much like real police work. This aspect has always appeared to be one of the themes the authors have stressed. Certainly there is a political undertone to all the novels given the authors' views on society in general and how
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Jan 30, 2011
Jim
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Another excellent entry in this 10-volume "story of a crime." This one ends as brutally as it begins. The more I read Maj Sjöwall & Per Wahlöö, the more impressed I am with how solid this series is – characters, plot, social critique, atmosphere, even… its grim metaphysics. Compared to these decades-old police procedurals, most hard-boiled detective fiction seems hysterical, over-written, forced and fake. The first murder (of "the abominable man," a father who loves his child
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Apr 03, 2011
Monty
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Oh, Yes! Here is another great detective series; it was recommended by a friend and takes place in Sweden and was written by a husband and wife team beginning in the mid 1960s. This book is the seventh in the series. I liked the detailed descriptions of people and places. The murder mystery part was fascinating. This is the third Swedish detective book author I have read, and so far I have enjoyed every one (the second is the girl with the dragon tattoo series and the third is about Inspect
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Jul 02, 2010
Lars
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"The Abominable Man (Den vedervärdige mannen från Säffle) is a Swedish crime novel by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö from 1971 in the series revolving around police detective Martin Beck." -wiki
For those of you who love mystery, good story, deep characters and early 1970s Sweden, this book is for you. I acquired this book quite unexpectedly and randomly (on a cruise ship) and could not put it down. A fine read which illustrates that Sweden's surprising grip on the (existential More...
For those of you who love mystery, good story, deep characters and early 1970s Sweden, this book is for you. I acquired this book quite unexpectedly and randomly (on a cruise ship) and could not put it down. A fine read which illustrates that Sweden's surprising grip on the (existential More...
Sep 12, 2011
Jake
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Book seven of the Martin Beck series opens on a dour note. It's not just the brutal evisceration of a thuggish police captain at the local hospital- the city itself seems to be getting ripped up and destroyed:
Stockholm's inhabitants looked on with sorrow and bitterness as serviceable and irreplaceable old apartment houses were razed to make way for sterile office buildings. Powerless, they let themselves be deported to distant suburbs while the pleasant, lively neighborhoods where they had liMore...
Jan 12, 2012
Maurizio
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Sono passati sette anni dal caso di Roseanna, il primo della serie; il commissario Martin Beck ha sette anni in più, è divorziato e la figlia maggiore è già una donna, tanto che all'inizio si vedono padre e figlia a chiacchierare in un locale. Ma a parte queste considerazioni e l'accorgersi che la coppia Sjöwall-Wahlöö è sempre specializzata in descrizioni minutissime di luoghi, tanto che uno potrebbe farci un Google Maps coi loro libri, in questo libro sotto la trama del poliziesco c'è un roman
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May 13, 2009
Zeno
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A naked woman was dredged up from the bottom of Sweden's beautiful Lake Vattern one July day. Where had she come from? How had she got there? And why? . . . a rash of brutal muggings and child sex-murders with the elusive mugger perhaps the only person in Stockholm to have seen the murderer . . . the search for a hard-drinking well-known Swedish journalist in Budapest, who has vanished without a trace . . . eight people were shot to death in a Stockholm bus, with one of the dead being an ambitio
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Dec 19, 2010
Meredith
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These books are sparsely written, even for Swedish detective novels, and I find them somewhat unsatisfying as a consequence. This is the second one in this series that I have read, The Laughing Policeman being the first. This one had a plot so simplex and characters so one-dimensional that it may be the last one that I read. Can't believe this book got an average of nearly 4 stars - more highly rated than Last Night in Twisted River. Twisted ratings.....more like it.
Sep 08, 2010
Mat
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My first Sjowall/Wahlöö Martin Beck mystery. I'm hooked. Going now to read all 10.
They read a bit like proto-"Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," and are perhaps where Stieg Larsson lifted the conceit of having a 10-year, 10-novel (in his case, sadly unfinished) arc, with each novel describing a different year in the life of Sweden?
But these are better than Larsson, I think, at least by virtue of their brevity, and focus. And what's remarkable is how modern they stil More...
They read a bit like proto-"Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," and are perhaps where Stieg Larsson lifted the conceit of having a 10-year, 10-novel (in his case, sadly unfinished) arc, with each novel describing a different year in the life of Sweden?
But these are better than Larsson, I think, at least by virtue of their brevity, and focus. And what's remarkable is how modern they stil More...
Nov 27, 2010
Nick
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Spare, taut police procedural, but the culprit is revealed without too much real detection, more like putting two plus two together. Still, protagonist Martin Beck is complex and interesting, and the descriptions of the Stockholm police are rather frightening.
Nov 11, 2011
"A taut, gripping narrative....A book you won't easily put down." - Chicago Tribune
Listen to The Abominable Man on your smartphone.
Listen to The Abominable Man on your smartphone.
Jan 23, 2010
Jc
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Another wonderful Martin Beck mystery. Sjöwall and Wahlöö where a very special pair, pretty much creating the Swedish police procedural. I recommend the entire series (influence for the works of Henning Mankell).
Aug 14, 2009
Matthew
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One of the more disjointed of the Martin Beck books, but also one of the more gripping stories. I'm so annoyed I only have one more of these to re-read...
Sep 15, 2011
Kat
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Spent the day reading this book. It was THAT good! Almost finished the series, but I wish there were more than just ten.
Jun 05, 2011
Lisbeth
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This one makes me want to go back and reread all the rest. Only 3 more in the series, alas.
Sep 19, 2011
Agnes
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Seventh novel; gruesome murder by sword of a police captain. Shows brutality of police; corruption. Beck comes to the solution.
Dec 19, 2007
Christopher
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Part of the famous Martin Beck series written by Maj and Per (wife and husband) in the late 1960s / early 1970s. After the tenth and final novel in the series (The Terrorists), Per--I think it was Per--died.
Great reads, all of them. Really sharp characters, fine mysteries, and the books are an excellent reflection of the changes in Swedish society over that 10-year period.
Great reads, all of them. Really sharp characters, fine mysteries, and the books are an excellent reflection of the changes in Swedish society over that 10-year period.
Nov 13, 2010
Roxanne
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Amazing book – the authors do such a superb job of building the readers anger against the actions of the police that you find yourself rooting for the ‘bad guy’. Then you find yourself asking – but is he the ‘bad guy’ or is he a victim?
