The Man Who Went Up in Smoke (Martin Beck #2)

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The Man Who Went Up in Smoke (Martin Beck #2)

3.86 of 5 stars 3.86 · rating details · 1,712 ratings · 132 reviews

The masterful second novel in the Martin Beck series of mysteries by the internationally renowned crime writing duo Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, finds Beck searching for a well-known Swedish journalist who has disappeared without a trace.Inspector Martin Beck of the Stockholm Homicide Squad has his summer vacation abruptly terminated when the top brass at the foreign office...more

Paperback, 192 pages

Published March 12th 1976 by Vintage (first published 1965)

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Dec 28, 2012 Kemper rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, 5-0, crime-mystery, scandinavian-mayhem

With the first snow storm of the year hitting my area, it seemed like a great time to pick up a Swedish mystery novel. I figured I could put on a comfy sweater and sip some coffee while reading about the Stockholm police tracking criminals across a gloomy winter landscape that matched the view out my window. Unfortunately, the book is set during the summer, and the main character spends most of his time in hot and humid Hungary. So I got very confused and ended up putting on my shorts and going...more With the first snow storm of the year hitting my area, it seemed like a great time to pick up a Swedish mystery novel. I figured I could put on a comfy sweater and sip some coffee while reading about the Stockholm police tracking criminals across a gloomy winter landscape that matched the view out my window. Unfortunately, the book is set during the summer, and the main character spends most of his time in hot and humid Hungary. So I got very confused and ended up putting on my shorts and going out on the deck with a cooler of cold beer. The doctor managed to save four of my toes.

Police detective Martin Beck joins his family on their summer holiday but gets called back to work before he even has time to get a sunburn. A journalist named Alf Matsson has vanished while on an assignment in Budapest and with the newspaper he worked for threatening to cause a political fuss, the Swedish government wants Beck to find him. Beck journeys to Hungary and since the book was written in the mid-60s, this is behind the old Iron Curtain, and Beck has no official status as he tries to locate Matsson.

Thanks to growing up in Cold War era America, I was expecting a book involving a Western European cop going into the Eastern Bloc to get political and involve Beck investigating in a harsh socialist state while dealing with a hostile Hungarian police force. However, the Budapest of this book seems like an idyllic vacation spot, and the police are polite and fairly helpful to Beck. It was a nice surprise that this was more of cop-out-of-his-element story rather than a mystery with political/conspiracy overtones.

This series gets a lot of credit for being among the first police procedurals, and it’s easy to see the influence they had on the genre. Val McDermid has a great introduction in this edition that talks about how groundbreaking the books were at the time and how many of the elements introduced in them went on to become clichés. Unfortunately, this copycatting has familiarized me with the style enough to enable me to guess the solution to the mystery about half way through the book.

However, I also liked the way that so much of what Beck is feeling and thinking is explained via his actions and not exposition or dialogue. There are several hints that his marriage isn’t going so well and you get the feeling that he welcomes the chance to get away from a family vacation, but it’s never expressed plainly. The way we only know Beck through the way approaches his police work reminds me a lot of the early Matt Scudder novels by Lawrence Block.(less)

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Aug 27, 2012 Tfitoby rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: translation, black-as-night, whodunnit

I think I'm starting to understand Martin Beck now.

If Roseanna was a very good first book that I had some problems with then The Man Who Went Up In Smoke is a very good second book that tackles some of those issues and really gives you a feel for the protagonist Martin Beck.

This time Martin is recalled from his family vacation and despatched to Budapest at the request of a government department who fears that a Swedish journalist has disappeared behind "The Iron Curtain," but far from being a co...more I think I'm starting to understand Martin Beck now.

If Roseanna was a very good first book that I had some problems with then The Man Who Went Up In Smoke is a very good second book that tackles some of those issues and really gives you a feel for the protagonist Martin Beck.

This time Martin is recalled from his family vacation and despatched to Budapest at the request of a government department who fears that a Swedish journalist has disappeared behind "The Iron Curtain," but far from being a cold war mystery ala Le Carre this is a study of a man out of his comfort zone, interracting with foreign culture and dedicating himself to his profession.

Beck is a singular detective, evolved from the brilliant Simenon creation Maigret with a dash of the hardboiled Marlowes and Spades thrown in to the mix. His dedication to the job means his home life is slowly becoming a mess that he doesn't know how to interact with. This kind of thing is a genre staple but when reading the Martin Beck books it feels fresh and interesting, perhaps thanks to the subtlety of the writing but also because it was fresh back in the sixties.

The descriptive passages of Budapest from the point of view of Beck were both fascinating as a look at the city and as a view in to the way the mans mind works and were a joy to read. The fact that I am shortly to be visiting the city added a little extra pleasure too.

The plot is a good one and approached as if on holiday it has a leisurely, winding feel to it in the same way Beck wanders the Hungarian city with plenty of distractions to keep you looking/guessing. And in the same way life moves quicker when you return home from your holidays so too does the plot when Beck flies home to Sweden; no longer inebriated with foreign weather and cigarettes his little grey cells put the pieces together almost as if he'd known all along.

The fact that the authors have gone on record of wanting to "use the crime novel as a scalpel cutting open the belly of the ideologically pauperized and morally debatable so-called welfare state of the bourgeois type" serves to emphasise the importance of the team of detectives surrounding Beck; alone in Budapest he is not the famous detective, he is nothing, but on his return to his police family, with a support network of his equals he is once more able to achieve great things.

As Richard Shephard says in the p.s. section of the book after reading this you feel what is almost a compulsion to discover more about Beck and his life, what choice is there but to turn hurriedly to the third instalment?

Part 1: Roseanna (less)

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Apr 11, 2010 Margaret rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: thriller-mystery-suspense

Based thus far only on the first in this mystery (police procedural) series and now this second title, I declare this series by wife / husband team Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo to be Compulsively Readable, as in everybody go away because I'm reading! Main character Martin Beck is an intelligent Everyman with subtle character quirks. The story in this book takes Beck behind the then Iron Curtain to Budapest (mid-60's), but with no emphasis on the Cold War - the authors make no East versus West poli...more

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May 11, 2013 Ruth rated it 4 of 5 stars

Swedish police detective Martin Beck escapes from his family holiday when invited to investigate a missing person case in Budapest.

I love Beck's taciturnity and, indeed, the authorial taciturnity. The book is written in plain, sparse sentences. Beck's thinking is private, revealed only in actions. His relationships are economical of words and gestures. This gives the writing a dead pan, sardonic quality - bone dry black comedy. The professional weariness of the police characters is palpable. The...more

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May 04, 2012 Steve rated it 3 of 5 stars

# 2 in the Martin Beck etal series. For me, a disappointing follow up to a very good # 1 book, Roseanna. Perhaps primarily because there did not exist in this one the ensemble cast that the first one had. This one was primarily Beck trying to track down a missing journalist on his own in Budapest. While following events in Budapest was interesting for me, since I have visited there recently (although the descriptions were also somewhat generic and repetitive e.g. if there was one paddle steamer...more

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Apr 23, 2012 Simon rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Man Who Went Up In Smoke. The Martin Beck
Series book 2 by Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo

So as we were going to Gothenburg I thought I
ought to read some Swedish crime fiction while I
was there, So Imagine my surprise to find out
that most of this book is set in the very
Swedish city of Budapest!
Yes the Detective Martin Beck is brought back
from his Summer Vacation to go to Budapest in
search of the Journalist Alf Mattson who has
been reported missing while on assignment there.
As for what happ...more

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Mar 13, 2012 Seth Lynch rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime

This is the second of the ten Martin Beck novels. The first is Roseanna. They are quiet different books. Roseanna begins with the discover of the body. In this book Martin Beck is asked to track down a man who has disappeared. He was last seen in Budapest – this is 1966, Hungary is behind the Iron Curtain. Beck is followed, he thinks by the security police. There is an attempt on his life. He returns to Sweden without having found his man. Back home the investigation continues.

I don’t want to gi...more This is the second of the ten Martin Beck novels. The first is Roseanna. They are quiet different books. Roseanna begins with the discover of the body. In this book Martin Beck is asked to track down a man who has disappeared. He was last seen in Budapest – this is 1966, Hungary is behind the Iron Curtain. Beck is followed, he thinks by the security police. There is an attempt on his life. He returns to Sweden without having found his man. Back home the investigation continues.

I don’t want to give anything away so won’t say too much more. I liked the pun in the title. The character of Martin Beck is further developed. His marriage is slowly breaking apart, and you get the feeling that the marriages’ of all cops are breaking apart. The ongoing investigation does leaves Beck feeling drained. When it is over he recommences the summer holiday he was about to take at the beginning. This time, instead of looking forward to it, he feels sickened. The crime itself isn’t sickening – as the crime in Roseanna was – it is the inevitability of it all. The day will never come where Beck hangs up his hat and says ‘The streets are safe.’ Society gets slowly worse. The crimes keeping coming. Some are trivial some nasty. People live and die and Beck helps clean up the mess. And by the time one mess is cleaned two more are made. Beck’s sickness is societies sickness and if things don’t change they will continue to get slowly worse.

I hadn’t read much Swedish literature until I started reading Swedish Crime. I’m most of the way through the final Millennium Trilogy book. Upstairs I have a Wallander novel ready to read – although it is number 4 in the series and I don’t think I will be able to read it until I have read 1-3 first. As Beck makes his way around Stockholm I begin to recognise the street names. It must be what readers of Sherlock Holmes feel like when the read about London. At some point I’ll visit Stockholm and find a pleasant friendly city, but I won’t be able to shake of the murder and rape that occurs in these books. As for Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, they would probably be pleased to know it. They wanted to reveal the real city, not the free love paradise image that Sweden had in the sixties .(less)

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Mar 12, 2012 Mysterytribune rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: scandinavian-crime, mystery-tribune-must-reads

Swedish Crime Fiction would not have been what it is today without Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. A common-law wife and husband team of detective writers from Sweden, they conceived and wrote a series of ten novels (police procedurals) about the exploits of detectives from the special homicide commission of the national police in which the character of Martin Beck was the main protagonist.

Both authors also wrote novels separately. For the Martin Beck series, they plotted and researched each book to...more

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Feb 29, 2012 Karen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime, scandinavian

I'm still dipping into this reprint series from Harper Perennial with a profound sense of gratitude for the fact that they are bringing these fabulous books back to our attention. Originally copyrighted in 1966 THE MAN WHO WENT UP IN SMOKE sees the only time Wahloo and Sjowall take Martin way outside his comfort zone - to Budapest to investigate the disappearance of a Swedish journalist - he seems to have literally gone up in smoke!

Martin is called back from a family holiday - sort of - well not...more I'm still dipping into this reprint series from Harper Perennial with a profound sense of gratitude for the fact that they are bringing these fabulous books back to our attention. Originally copyrighted in 1966 THE MAN WHO WENT UP IN SMOKE sees the only time Wahloo and Sjowall take Martin way outside his comfort zone - to Budapest to investigate the disappearance of a Swedish journalist - he seems to have literally gone up in smoke!

Martin is called back from a family holiday - sort of - well not quite - grudgingly to work on this task in the heights of the European summer - in a country he's never been to before; with a local police force that doesn't really know why he's there; in the height and strangeness of another culture; in an Eastern European underworld that doesn't make sense. And he has to do this in an era before fax machines, before mobile telephones, before email - just an infrequent scratchy telephone call back home to try to find some details about who the missing man is in the first place.

In classic Sjowall/ Wahloo style Martin wanders his way around the problem, doing a little, thinking a lot and seeing more than anybody realises to find, firstly what on earth this journalist was up to and finally where he ended up.

In this edition, Val McDermid wrote the forward and, as is the way with this series, these forwards provide a valuable insight into just how wide the influence of this Swedish pair of writers has been - just to quote one small part of the excellent introduction:

"Discovering dedicated mystery booksellers was a bit like going to heaven without having to die first. There were so many crime writers whose books were available in the US only - ironically, some of them British - and in those pre-Internet days, the only apparent way to acquire them was physically to go there and buy them. Which I did. In industrial quantities. Among the books in the holdall were ten paperbacks in the black livery of Vintage Press. They comrpised a decalogue of crime novels written by the Swedish husband-wife team of Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo. They'd been on my must-read list since I'd read about them in Julian Symonds' definitive overview of the genre, Bloody Murder. "

Val's introduction is as worth reading as the book itself.(less)

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Dec 29, 2011 Rod rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is the second book in the Martin beck series and, unlike the later novels in the series, the emphasis is very much on Beck himself. The reason for this is that he is sent to Hungary to investigate the disappearance of a Swedish journalist. Over half of the book recounts Beck’s failed attempts to track down the journalist, with the result that this book is unusually heavy on descriptive passages – for example, of boats plying the Danube. Though the descriptions are generally excellent, the a...more This is the second book in the Martin beck series and, unlike the later novels in the series, the emphasis is very much on Beck himself. The reason for this is that he is sent to Hungary to investigate the disappearance of a Swedish journalist. Over half of the book recounts Beck’s failed attempts to track down the journalist, with the result that this book is unusually heavy on descriptive passages – for example, of boats plying the Danube. Though the descriptions are generally excellent, the avid crime reader may feel this part of book is unusually static.

At the time of writing, Hungary was part of the Soviet empire, whether it liked it or not, and we all remember, or know about the brutal suppression of the Hungarian rising in 1956. These unpleasant facts do not disturb the writers, who were both Marxists. And while they do not openly produce propaganda here, there is a whiff of it nonetheless.

To take one example, Beck notices that he is being followed and the obvious assumption is that the local secret police are keeping an eye on him. In fact, one policeman, Vilmos Szluka, is taking an interest in him but, as it turns out, in a benign way. He helps Beck as much as he can, and is unfailingly courteous to him. Not only that, he is also efficient. In fact, Beck is correct, he is being shadowed, but by two people involved in drug smuggling, neither of whom is Hungarian or communist.

More generally, if we compare the authors’ comments on Sweden with their description of Hungary, we might be forgiven for thinking that free, democratic Sweden was the more problematic.

The disappearance of the journalist (a singularly unpleasant man whom no one would be likely to miss), is well explained towards the end of the book, by which time Beck is back in Sweden. But readers of the series as a whole may feel that this title is the weakest of the ten.
They are likely to miss the more collegiate feel of the police work from the third title on. Kollberg appears, but not a lot, and the others barely rate a mention.

For me, the series hits its first really high note with the fourth novel, The Laughing Policeman, which is a miracle of narrative construction both on a large and a small scale.

To my way of thinking, the title is meant both literally and metaphorically (which I have read a pedantic person refer to as 'polysemous verity'!), but this may not have been the case in the original Swedish.
(less)

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Dec 11, 2009 Paul Patterson rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Scandinavian Mystery Fans

Shelves: scandinavian-mysteries

I am hoping to make my way through the whole canon of Maj and Per. I think I made a bit of an error listening to the audiobook rather than actually reading this volume. The trouble was that the reader was interpreting this as a Raymond Chandler sort of story and used the diction of noir America. There seems to me to be just too much humanism in these early police procedurals to class them as noir per se.

As for the book itself Martin Beck's character has compassionate understanding and has the ab...more

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May 30, 2010 Jake rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

So far I've read three of Sjowall and Wahloo's Martin Beck mysteries- while "The Laughing Policeman" was the best, "Roseanna" and this one were both very good- dark and philosophical, and yet fast-moving and fun to read. "The Man Who Went Up In Smoke" is supposedly a bit different than the rest of the books in the series, because a lot of the action takes place overseas (in Budapest), with only the beginning and the end back in Sweden. But I think that just gives the writers a little more room t...more

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Apr 20, 2013 David Lowther rated it 4 of 5 stars

A short but rather slow story, the second in the Martin Beck series. The pace of the novel was rather like the speed at which the detective hero operates which is pedestrian. But he is such an amiable and cerebral character that you forgive the pace and just enjoy the authors' wonderful descriptions of time and place.

The Man who Went up in Smoke is mostly set in Budapest where Martin Beck is sent to deal with a sensitive case involving a missing Swedish journalist. He arrives in a heat wave and...more

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May 12, 2012 Rob Kitchin rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Man Who Went Up in Smoke is a curious book. The edition I read is 198 pages long and for the first 80 or so very little happens. The narrative focuses on mundane, everyday life – Beck’s increasingly distant relationship with his family, his ambivalence towards his job, getting to know a new city. There are no dramatic events, no sudden revelations or twists and turns, no quickening of the pace. In this sense, the pacing and observations mimic Beck himself, who finds it difficult to summon an...more

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Mar 03, 2012 Algernon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

My third Martin Beck police procedural, although some lists consider this the second in the series. This is a standalone story, so the order of reading is not that important. Although the emotional intensity is dialed down compared to Roseanna and The Man on the Balcony, the Sjowall / Wahloo presentation is as convincingly realistic as usual re. the "banality of evil".

The book starts with Martin Beck leaving office for his summer vacation, only to be interrupted by the call of duty the very firs...more

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Nov 01, 2011 Karla Butler rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

After reading Rosanna, I was instantly intrigued to read the next installment of the Martin Beck series. By now, we are familiar with Beck's work colleagues and also have a good idea of his family life. (or non-existent family life, I should say!) Book #2 takes us to Budapest. The wonderful thing about Sjowall and Wahloo is that they describe the setting of their books so well. I can literally picture myself in Martin Beck's hotel room looking out of the window over the Danube and seeing the boa...more

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Feb 06, 2013 Maria João Fernandes rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-in-english, sjöwall-wahlöö, favorites

"The Man Who Went Up In Smoke" é o segundo livro da famosa série sueca do Martin Beck.

No final de "Roseanna" Martin Beck vai finalmente tirar umas férias merecidas. Contudo, estas são interrompidas pelo seu chefe, que lhe pede para ir até à Hungria. A sua missão é encontrar Alf Matsson, um jornalista que desapareceu misteriosamente. Curiosamente, o nosso inspector não fica muito chateado por voltar ao trabalho sem usufruir de um único dia de descanso. Afinal de contas, a sua vida familiar é tud...more "The Man Who Went Up In Smoke" é o segundo livro da famosa série sueca do Martin Beck.

No final de "Roseanna" Martin Beck vai finalmente tirar umas férias merecidas. Contudo, estas são interrompidas pelo seu chefe, que lhe pede para ir até à Hungria. A sua missão é encontrar Alf Matsson, um jornalista que desapareceu misteriosamente. Curiosamente, o nosso inspector não fica muito chateado por voltar ao trabalho sem usufruir de um único dia de descanso. Afinal de contas, a sua vida familiar é tudo menos um mar de rosas.

A investigação do desaparecimento é, de certa forma, secreta, a pedido do editor do jornalista. Esta descrição é acordada entre os superiores de Martin Beck e os serviços secretos. A acção passa-se durante a Cortina de Ferro, altura marcada pela censura rígida e pelas grandes restrições na deslocação de pessoas.

O nosso herói não se lembra de alguma vez se ter sentido tão desmotivado e sem esperança, numa investigação tão desprovida de interesse. Em Budapeste sente-se, frequentemente, inútil e sem saber que direcção tomar, como se houvesse alguma coisa especifica que ele deve-se estar a fazer, mas sobre a qual ele não faz ideia nenhuma. Este sentimento contrasta com o seu caso anterior, no livro "Roseanna", ao qual se entregou de alma e coração, tornando a sua resolução uma necessidade pessoal.

No seu intimo, Martin Beck, amaldiçoa-se por ter aceite este trabalho por impulso. As possibilidades de resolução tornam-se, ao longo do livro, cada vez mais remotas. Sozinho na Hungria e sem qualquer ideia sobre o que fazer a seguir, o inspector sente-se impotente. Apesar disso, ele sabe exactamente o que o fez aceitar o caso: é incapaz de não se dedicar às investigações com que se depara e não descansa até resolver os mistérios. É como uma doença.

Ao longo do enredo, caracterizado por acontecimentos inesperados, Martin Beck vai gradualmente ganhando vida, deixando de estar num estado apático e indiferente e começando a sentir-se cada vez mais confiante, à medida que as peças do puzzle se encaixam, ao mesmo tempo aos seus olhos e aos olhos do leitor.

Tal como em "Roseanna", os policias não desistem, exploram minuciosamente todas as pistas e analisam o caso de todos os ângulos possíveis. Através de interrogatórios, depoimentos de testemunhas e, claro, raciocínio lógico e experiência profissional, Martin Beck resolve o mistério de uma forma brilhante. O desfecho é inesperado e a explicação quase surreal.

Na série de Maj Sojwall e Per Wahloo a acção não se desenrola apenas à volta do trabalho policial, que é enfadonho, repetitivo e cansativo para o Martin Beck e os seus colegas. A intuição e a inspiração dos inspectores nascem a partir de provas e factos concretos. E a resposta não se revela de acordo com as suas primeiras suspeitas, mas em retrospectiva, tudo se encaixa de uma forma perfeita.

Confesso que a escrita do casal de escritores de policiais sueco se revela, a meu ver, estimulante e encantadora. Martin Beck é um inspector muito especial, que como o Kurt Wallander de Henning Mankell, conquistou um lugar no meu coração. Tal como com "Roseanna" também esta foi uma experiência de leitura maravilhosa que me deixou ansiosa pelo seguimento: "The Man on the Balcony".
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Sep 05, 2012 F.R. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

At their best these books have a great no fuss, straightforwardness. These are police procedurals with little in the way of histrionics, leftfield plot twists or characters whose motivations don’t have much relation to reality. The characters at the centre of these books are professionals who get on with their job – they interview the suspects, pull the pieces together and arrive at the correct conclusion. Indeed in this volume even the reveal of the killer is done in an understated, without thr...more

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Dec 25, 2012 Brad rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anyone who thinks Wallander is the cat's pyjamas

Shelves: audio-book, doing-the-dishes, detective, better-every-time, police-procedural, scandinavian-lit, swedish-lit

A Swedish national, a "sports" journalist, goes missing in Budapest, behind the "Iron Curtain." It's the height of the Cold War, and Swedish homicide detective Martin Beck, about to enjoy his vacation, is sent, instead, to look into the disappearance.

A Canadian boy would expect a 70s Budapest to be riddled with spies and spying and suspicion. A Canadian boy would expect oppressiveness and oppression at every Hungarian turn. A Canadian boy would expect high adventure mixed with the KGB and CIA....more

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Jan 04, 2009 Kathleen Hagen added it

Shelves: 2008-mysteries-suspense, 2008-audio-books

The Man Who Went Up in Smoke, by Maj Sjöwall, Per Wahlöö A-minus, narrated by Tom Weiner, produced by Blackstone Audio, downloaded from audible.com.

This is my first Martin Beck series book because they haven’t been recorded before. Blackstone has now recorded four, and I hope they plan to do all ten. This book had an introduction by Val McDermid. The books were originally written in the ‘60’s and were apparently re-published in the ‘90’s. The language is a little stilted. I’m not sure if that’s...more

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Dec 20, 2010 Seth rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: police-procedural

The Man Who Went Up in Smoke is the second in a ten-book series of detective Martin Beck stories. The main action takes place in Budapest, which is still behind the Iron Curtain. I enjoyed the description of the scene along the Danube and at the sulphur baths.

I'm getting used to the rhythm of Beck's police work. Faced with a hopeless case, Beck perseveres and triumphs improbably after an extended period of futility. Everything somehow suddenly falls into place. Beck is obsessed with his task and...more

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Jul 30, 2011 AmmarMajali rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is the 2nd book in the Martin Beck series. It is not as good as the 1st book Roseanna. Martin Beck is out of his comfort zone in this novel, he is investigating the disappearance of a Swedish journalist in Budapest.

One must remember that the event take place in the Eastern Bloc during the cold war. This investigation is not official, Martin must be a tourist and a policeman at the same time. He gets help from unexpected sources in Hungary.

There is a lot of water/ sea/ boats/ ferries descri...more

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Nov 19, 2009 rabbitprincess rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people who are already fans of the series

Shelves: from-me-to-me, 2009

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. * * 1/2 rounded up to three

I'm not sure how to begin with this review. I quite like the Martin Beck series; I really enjoyed The Laughing Policeman and what I read of The Terrorists (I found out midway through that it was the last one, so I decided to stop reading until I'd read at least a few more in the series), so I had reasonably high expectations for this one. But it left me feeling like something was missing. Perhaps it was the fact that the plot didn't really move that much -- Beck is sen...more

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Oct 30, 2011 Kate Savage rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery-crime, swedish

This second installment of the Martin Beck series finds the detective taken away from holiday to find a missing journalist.

Martin Beck gives us another matter-of-fact look at crime and police work in this story. A journalist has gone missing and the greedy magazine editor wishes to keep the disappearance quiet until it builds into a newsworthy story. Beck rummages through the secret life of the journalist and ends up meeting several characters who may have a lot to do with the disappearance.

Sjo...more

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Feb 08, 2011 Brian rated it 5 of 5 stars

The pair of Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo is unbeatable. They remind me of the fellow on the old variety shows that would take a place and put it on a stick and start it spinning then add another and another. These two can keep a lot of plates spinning.

The carry on a social dialogue about their country and ideologies, create unforgettable characters (the Detective Martin Beck is one of the best of all time, his staff is equally endearing), create a complex crime to solve and keep the pace up as you...more

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Mar 22, 2013 Maria Grazia rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biblioteca, noir-scandinavo, narrativa-scandinava

Se non sapessi che questo libro è un po' datato, lo scambierei per un esemplare della fioritura di noir scandinavi di cui godiamo da un po' di tempo in qua.
Non sono diverse l'ambientazione e la descrizione dei caratteri, detective che sono uomini comuni con i loro vizi e le loro mogli stressate e brontolone.
Non è diverso nemmeno il tentativo di critica sociale, che in questo caso però risente dell'età, dato che il termine di paragone è l'Ungheria, ancora al di là della cortina di ferro.
Ma soprat...more

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Apr 20, 2010 James Thane rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is the second book in the Martin Beck series by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo. It's something of an oddity in that much of the book takes place in Budapest, rather than in Sweden where the rest of the series is set.

Stockholm homicide detective Martin Beck is looking forward to beginning his long-awaited vacation, but only hours into it he's called back to investigate the disappearance of a Swedish journalist. Beck reluctantly agrees to take up the search which leads him to Budapest and finds h...more

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Sep 21, 2011 Rachel Hirstwood rated it 4 of 5 stars

martin Beck 2nd book - Beck is called upon to investigate a disappearance during the first days of his summer holiday - he gets a whole month the lucky man!

This book didn't seem to suffer from the lethargy that seemed to occur in Rosanne because Beck doesn't have to wait three weeks for a response to his letters in this case. There is no forensic requirement in this case, and very little traditional policing in fact, and I rather preferred it that way as I got frustrated in the first book waitin...more

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Jul 14, 2011 Kat rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: recently-read

Another top-notch book from my favourite pair of Scandinavian writers. There are so many subtle elements of humour in this one that I was quite frequently (to coin a well-used phrase), laughing out loud.

This is also a fascinating depiction of the city of Budapest in the 1960s - with quite a droll and quirky police character who ends up collaborating with Martin Beck on the disappearance of a Swedish man.

Again, I am somewhat stunned by the sexual liberalism that is prevalent in the attitudes of S...more

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Jul 22, 2012 Jan Schaap rated it 4 of 5 stars

I liked reading this book, it was written when i was born. I like whodoneit's so this series beeing the godfather of scandinavian crime stories was a must for me. It was nice to read a book that was written in the pre-internet and pre-mobilephone era. Communication to other countries had to be announced and you had to wait for a line, and it was an adventure to get a good quality line.
How is the story and the characters? The caracters become friends, the story was tense and lineair, i like it,...more

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About Maj Sjöwall

Maj Sjöwall is a Swedish author and translator. She is best known for the collaborative work with her partner Per Wahlöö on a series of ten novels about the exploits of Martin Beck, a police detective in Stockholm. In 1971, the fourth of these books, The Laughing Policeman (a translation of Den skrattande polisen, originally published in 1968) won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America...more

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Books by Maj Sjöwall

The Man on the Balcony (Martin Beck, #3)

The Fire Engine That Disappeared (Martin Beck #5)

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The Man Who Went Up in Smoke (Martin Beck #2)

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