What do you think?
Rate this book
Martin Beck #10
Los terroristas
Los terroristas (Serie Martin Beck, 10) es la última novela de la serie Martin Beck escrita por Sjöwall y Wahlöö, pioneros de la literatura negra escandinava. Publicada en 1975, la corrosiva crítica social que rebosan sus páginas convierte esta magnífica obra en algo más que una mera historia policíaca. Cuando la justicia no funciona y la policía no da abasto, solo cabe esperar un milagro. Esto fue lo que debió de pensar el comisario Martin Beck cuando le encomendaron la misión más compleja de su carrera policial: coordinar las tareas de protección de un senador estadounidense durante una visita oficial a Estocolmo. Tanto los atentados ocurridos recientemente en el país como la personalidad del político hacen que las autoridades teman que se vaya a producir una acción terrorista.
Sjöwall y Wahlöö son la pareja más conocida internacionalmente de la literatura negra sueca. En 1962, se casaron e iniciaron una brillante carrera conjunta, centrada en el género criminal. Su obra, traducida a más de 30 idiomas, la conforman un total de diez novelas protagonizadas por el comisario Martin Beck.Todas ellas publicadas en Serie Negra.
Sjöwall y Wahlöö son la pareja más conocida internacionalmente de la literatura negra sueca. En 1962, se casaron e iniciaron una brillante carrera conjunta, centrada en el género criminal. Su obra, traducida a más de 30 idiomas, la conforman un total de diez novelas protagonizadas por el comisario Martin Beck.Todas ellas publicadas en Serie Negra.
448 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1975
219 people are currently reading
1681 people want to read
About the author
Maj Sjöwall
108 books469 followersMaj Sjöwall was a Swedish author and translator. She was 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 for Best Novel. They also wrote novels separately.
Sjöwall had a 13 year relationship with Wahlöö which lasted until his death in 1975.
Sjöwall had a 13 year relationship with Wahlöö which lasted until his death in 1975.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 314 reviews
May 29, 2016
The Martin Beck saga ends with Sjowall and Wahloo’s 1975 novel The Terrorists.
Swedish police inspector Martin Beck’s career began to be chronicled by the talented pair of writers in the 1965 novel Roseanna. The Terrorists was not complete when Per Wahloo died in 1975 and Maj Sjowall finished the last few chapters alone.
Quirky and with a personality all its own, this follows a meandering path between loosely connected sub-plots with the main plot following Beck and his team assigned to protect a visiting American senator from a group of international terrorists.
Filled with interesting characters and a unique narrative structure this very early Nordic Noir entry may have prefigured the class of novels now more commonly known in this genre. Still, the writing is distinctive and has a charm and attraction that makes it stand out. This reminded me of 1960s films like Bullit and Dirty Harry, and I could almost hear a Lalo Schifrin score.
Swedish police inspector Martin Beck’s career began to be chronicled by the talented pair of writers in the 1965 novel Roseanna. The Terrorists was not complete when Per Wahloo died in 1975 and Maj Sjowall finished the last few chapters alone.
Quirky and with a personality all its own, this follows a meandering path between loosely connected sub-plots with the main plot following Beck and his team assigned to protect a visiting American senator from a group of international terrorists.
Filled with interesting characters and a unique narrative structure this very early Nordic Noir entry may have prefigured the class of novels now more commonly known in this genre. Still, the writing is distinctive and has a charm and attraction that makes it stand out. This reminded me of 1960s films like Bullit and Dirty Harry, and I could almost hear a Lalo Schifrin score.
September 9, 2015
rating for the series as a whole, now that I'm finished with the last installment,
Over the years, more than one person had wondered what it was that made Martin Beck such a good policeman.
A legitimate question, given the enduring popularity of this series of ten police procedural novels written 50 years ago and still considered among the best in the field. For the authors, it is a rhetorical question, aboundantly answered in the actions of their lead character:
"... a systematic mind, common sense, and conscientiousness", in that order.
Many popular writers have tried to explain their own interest in Beck, and each of the ten novels is introduced by one of these big guns in the field. I usually avoid introductions, trying to make my own mind about what I am reading before I check out what others critics think, but in this present case, I believe Dennis Lehane is much more articulate than I could ever hope to be, so I will let him present Martin Beck to you:
As this novel - the tenth in the series - is Martin Beck's swan song, it's worth noting that in the annals of realistic fictional policemen, Beck stands a full head above most. He carries plenty of psychic scars and admits to a depressive personality, but he's not gloom laden to the point of masochistic self-pity that so often masquerades as a hard-boiled hero's tragic worldview. Beck is a dogged worker bee entering his later middle-aged years with a healthy romantic life and no illusions about his place in the larger scheme of things. However exceptional, he is a civil servant. A great cop, yes, but in Sjowall and Wahloo's vision, a great cop is little more than a great functionary in a hopelessly flawed system. Beck's talents include "his good memory, his obstinacy, which was occasionally mule-like ... his capacity for logical thought ... and finding the time for everything that had anything to do with a case, even if this meant following up small details that later turned out to be of no significance"
This is what makes a great cop - not the gun, not outsized emotion, not a need to tilt at windmills and otherwise rage against machines. That's the writer's job. The cop's job is to persevere, to examine the evidence, collate the data, push the papers, and work the case to its end.
With an apology for the long quote, put here more for my own later reference, I will next remark on the writer's job, what Lehane calls "tilting at windmills". Over the ten book journey, I have remarked on the increasing acerbity of the social polemic promoted by Sjowall and Wahloo. The murder cases under investigation start with an anonymous victim of a deranged serial killer in "Roseanna", and slowly evolve into a condemnation of society in its entirety, in particular of the incompetent bureaucracy that controls the centralized police force. Martin Beck is apolitical, a functionary doing his job, but even for himself it becomes impossible to ignore the larger significance of the murders cases that land on his desk. For his colleague and best friend Kollberg, the pressure to conform to a rotten system proved too much, so he throws in the towel and quits. Martin is resigned to the loss of his friend, but this way out is not an option for him, too aware that it is the responsiblity of a good person to continue to do his job to the best of his ability:
He's a nice man. I like his wife, too. And I think he did the right thing. He saw that the police as an organization devoted itself to terrorizing mainly two categories of people, socialists and people who couldn't make it in our class society. He acted according to his conscience and convinctions.
It comes as no surprise to readers who followed the series in publication order, that the last book is dominated by the social issues to an unprecedented level. Given that Wahloo knew he was dying of cancer, it is probably not surprising that he turned the final chapter into a fiery anti-establishment manifesto. With his life partner Maj Sjowall, they close 'The Story of Crime' with the whole government put on trial for murders against 'the people'.
I think lots of people know perfectly well they're being cheated and betrayed, but most people are too scared or too comfortable to say anything. It doesn't help to protest or complain, either, because the people in power don't pay any attention. They don't care about anything except their own importance, they don't care about ordinary people.
There are several kinds of terrorists in this last novel, and analyzing their methods and their ideology is probably going to spoil the outcome of the investigation, so tread carefully from this point on.
---
---
---
---
The novel starts with three unrelated events: a young woman is accused of robbing a bank, a producer of pornographic movies is assassinated in the house of his mistress, and a president of a Latin American country is blown to pieces by a hidden bomb on an official visit, despite comprehensive protective measures. Beck, as head of the Crime section of Stockholm's police is involved in the first two, and is later assigned as coordinator for security measures surrounding the visit of a powerful American senator to Sweden. Given the absence of old time friend Kollberg, Beck has to rely to a greater degree on Gunvald Larsson, despite their mutual dislike.
The trend of blaming the system and the incompetent of ill-intended oligarchy was started several books back in the series, but it reaches its peak here, as the role are reversed and the criminals are cast in a positive light and their actions are seen as justified rebellion in the face of gross injustice. The victims or targets are cast as guilty as charged of crimes against humanity.
Pro bono lawyer Braxen captures the essence of the futile efforts of the individual against the system:
A long lifetime's struggle against various authorities, and especially those who have more power than others, has taught me that one can seldom get anyone to listen, and even more seldom convince them that you're right.
From the same Braxen, in case the point was not clear enough:
What sort of people are they you get for murder and other horrors? Like the last one - some poor working slob who tried to hit back at the capitalist bastard who had destroyed his life.
Such blatant embrace of socialist politics might have been a turn-off, a disconnect, in the hands of less skillfull writers. But Sjowall and Wahloo are working together like a fine tuned piano, tugging at the heart strings with their tale of woe of the simple men and women, carefully escalating the tension of the chase and depicting the slow accumulation of clues with consummate art. Without humour and a touch of love this tale would be grim and depressing, but sometimes the same humour is of such a dark shade that the laughter is coming hand in hand with fury:
You mean he thought your abbreviation for 'clod squad' stood for 'commando section.' ?
It's even harder to laugh when you know that several years after the book was published, life overtook fiction and . Regarding the unequal struggle between the oligarchy and the disenfranchised citizens, I can't help but notice that Sjowall and Wahloo's arguments, situated unapologetically at the extreme left of the political spectrum, are nevertheless echoed today in the indifference of the major players to the demonstrations and grass roots movements of their electorate: protests against globalization, mass surveillance, money in politics, too big to fall banks and widespread corruption come and go under the imperturbable gaze of the elite, while secret pacts are negotiated to give them and their corporations even more control over our lives.
Recently - no; for as long as I can remember, large and powerful nations within the capitalist bloc have been ruled by people who according to accepted legal norms are simply criminals, who from lust for power and financial gain have led their people into an abyss of egoism, self-indulgence and a view of life based entirely on materialism and ruthlessness toward their fellow human beings. reiterates the attorney Braxton while Rhea, the late blooming new love in Martin Beck's life, exclaims: What a goddamn awful world we live in. , even as she continues with her small efforts to make life better for her small circle of friends and neighbours. I think of her, and the only hope I see for the future is in these individual gestures of kindness and integrity that always start from the bottom up.
A lot of nostalgia and reminiscing about the past infuses this last novel in the series. I share in the sadness of necessary goodbyes to Beck and his idiosyncratic colleagues from the Stockholm Serious Crime Unit, many of them making cameo appearances in this last investigation: Lennart Kollberg, Fredrik Melander, Benny Skacke, Gunnvald Larsson, Einar Ronn, Asa Torrell, Per Mansson, and all the other memorable people that give a human face to the cold equations of murder.
The influence of the work of Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo is unquestioned on both sides of the Atlantic, and is often judged as the golden standard against which other police procedurals are today judged. The authors claim that they planned it from the start to tell their story in ten books, but my last quote reflects on the continuity, both of the criminal endeavours and of the efforts of good men and women to fight against them and against the root causes of evil.
- "Do you remember ten years ago?"
- "When we were hunting for Folke Bengtsson and the police had just been nationalized? Yes, I do, and I guess that is a time to remember. But everything that happened afterwards? No, goddammit."
- "Do you think that was when it all began?"
- "No, I don't. And what's worse, I don't think this is where it's going to end."
Over the years, more than one person had wondered what it was that made Martin Beck such a good policeman.
A legitimate question, given the enduring popularity of this series of ten police procedural novels written 50 years ago and still considered among the best in the field. For the authors, it is a rhetorical question, aboundantly answered in the actions of their lead character:
"... a systematic mind, common sense, and conscientiousness", in that order.
Many popular writers have tried to explain their own interest in Beck, and each of the ten novels is introduced by one of these big guns in the field. I usually avoid introductions, trying to make my own mind about what I am reading before I check out what others critics think, but in this present case, I believe Dennis Lehane is much more articulate than I could ever hope to be, so I will let him present Martin Beck to you:
As this novel - the tenth in the series - is Martin Beck's swan song, it's worth noting that in the annals of realistic fictional policemen, Beck stands a full head above most. He carries plenty of psychic scars and admits to a depressive personality, but he's not gloom laden to the point of masochistic self-pity that so often masquerades as a hard-boiled hero's tragic worldview. Beck is a dogged worker bee entering his later middle-aged years with a healthy romantic life and no illusions about his place in the larger scheme of things. However exceptional, he is a civil servant. A great cop, yes, but in Sjowall and Wahloo's vision, a great cop is little more than a great functionary in a hopelessly flawed system. Beck's talents include "his good memory, his obstinacy, which was occasionally mule-like ... his capacity for logical thought ... and finding the time for everything that had anything to do with a case, even if this meant following up small details that later turned out to be of no significance"
This is what makes a great cop - not the gun, not outsized emotion, not a need to tilt at windmills and otherwise rage against machines. That's the writer's job. The cop's job is to persevere, to examine the evidence, collate the data, push the papers, and work the case to its end.
With an apology for the long quote, put here more for my own later reference, I will next remark on the writer's job, what Lehane calls "tilting at windmills". Over the ten book journey, I have remarked on the increasing acerbity of the social polemic promoted by Sjowall and Wahloo. The murder cases under investigation start with an anonymous victim of a deranged serial killer in "Roseanna", and slowly evolve into a condemnation of society in its entirety, in particular of the incompetent bureaucracy that controls the centralized police force. Martin Beck is apolitical, a functionary doing his job, but even for himself it becomes impossible to ignore the larger significance of the murders cases that land on his desk. For his colleague and best friend Kollberg, the pressure to conform to a rotten system proved too much, so he throws in the towel and quits. Martin is resigned to the loss of his friend, but this way out is not an option for him, too aware that it is the responsiblity of a good person to continue to do his job to the best of his ability:
He's a nice man. I like his wife, too. And I think he did the right thing. He saw that the police as an organization devoted itself to terrorizing mainly two categories of people, socialists and people who couldn't make it in our class society. He acted according to his conscience and convinctions.
It comes as no surprise to readers who followed the series in publication order, that the last book is dominated by the social issues to an unprecedented level. Given that Wahloo knew he was dying of cancer, it is probably not surprising that he turned the final chapter into a fiery anti-establishment manifesto. With his life partner Maj Sjowall, they close 'The Story of Crime' with the whole government put on trial for murders against 'the people'.
I think lots of people know perfectly well they're being cheated and betrayed, but most people are too scared or too comfortable to say anything. It doesn't help to protest or complain, either, because the people in power don't pay any attention. They don't care about anything except their own importance, they don't care about ordinary people.
There are several kinds of terrorists in this last novel, and analyzing their methods and their ideology is probably going to spoil the outcome of the investigation, so tread carefully from this point on.
---
---
---
---
The novel starts with three unrelated events: a young woman is accused of robbing a bank, a producer of pornographic movies is assassinated in the house of his mistress, and a president of a Latin American country is blown to pieces by a hidden bomb on an official visit, despite comprehensive protective measures. Beck, as head of the Crime section of Stockholm's police is involved in the first two, and is later assigned as coordinator for security measures surrounding the visit of a powerful American senator to Sweden. Given the absence of old time friend Kollberg, Beck has to rely to a greater degree on Gunvald Larsson, despite their mutual dislike.
The trend of blaming the system and the incompetent of ill-intended oligarchy was started several books back in the series, but it reaches its peak here, as the role are reversed and the criminals are cast in a positive light and their actions are seen as justified rebellion in the face of gross injustice. The victims or targets are cast as guilty as charged of crimes against humanity.
Pro bono lawyer Braxen captures the essence of the futile efforts of the individual against the system:
A long lifetime's struggle against various authorities, and especially those who have more power than others, has taught me that one can seldom get anyone to listen, and even more seldom convince them that you're right.
From the same Braxen, in case the point was not clear enough:
What sort of people are they you get for murder and other horrors? Like the last one - some poor working slob who tried to hit back at the capitalist bastard who had destroyed his life.
Such blatant embrace of socialist politics might have been a turn-off, a disconnect, in the hands of less skillfull writers. But Sjowall and Wahloo are working together like a fine tuned piano, tugging at the heart strings with their tale of woe of the simple men and women, carefully escalating the tension of the chase and depicting the slow accumulation of clues with consummate art. Without humour and a touch of love this tale would be grim and depressing, but sometimes the same humour is of such a dark shade that the laughter is coming hand in hand with fury:
You mean he thought your abbreviation for 'clod squad' stood for 'commando section.' ?
It's even harder to laugh when you know that several years after the book was published, life overtook fiction and . Regarding the unequal struggle between the oligarchy and the disenfranchised citizens, I can't help but notice that Sjowall and Wahloo's arguments, situated unapologetically at the extreme left of the political spectrum, are nevertheless echoed today in the indifference of the major players to the demonstrations and grass roots movements of their electorate: protests against globalization, mass surveillance, money in politics, too big to fall banks and widespread corruption come and go under the imperturbable gaze of the elite, while secret pacts are negotiated to give them and their corporations even more control over our lives.
Recently - no; for as long as I can remember, large and powerful nations within the capitalist bloc have been ruled by people who according to accepted legal norms are simply criminals, who from lust for power and financial gain have led their people into an abyss of egoism, self-indulgence and a view of life based entirely on materialism and ruthlessness toward their fellow human beings. reiterates the attorney Braxton while Rhea, the late blooming new love in Martin Beck's life, exclaims: What a goddamn awful world we live in. , even as she continues with her small efforts to make life better for her small circle of friends and neighbours. I think of her, and the only hope I see for the future is in these individual gestures of kindness and integrity that always start from the bottom up.
A lot of nostalgia and reminiscing about the past infuses this last novel in the series. I share in the sadness of necessary goodbyes to Beck and his idiosyncratic colleagues from the Stockholm Serious Crime Unit, many of them making cameo appearances in this last investigation: Lennart Kollberg, Fredrik Melander, Benny Skacke, Gunnvald Larsson, Einar Ronn, Asa Torrell, Per Mansson, and all the other memorable people that give a human face to the cold equations of murder.
The influence of the work of Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo is unquestioned on both sides of the Atlantic, and is often judged as the golden standard against which other police procedurals are today judged. The authors claim that they planned it from the start to tell their story in ten books, but my last quote reflects on the continuity, both of the criminal endeavours and of the efforts of good men and women to fight against them and against the root causes of evil.
- "Do you remember ten years ago?"
- "When we were hunting for Folke Bengtsson and the police had just been nationalized? Yes, I do, and I guess that is a time to remember. But everything that happened afterwards? No, goddammit."
- "Do you think that was when it all began?"
- "No, I don't. And what's worse, I don't think this is where it's going to end."
December 21, 2024
Written in 1975 by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, The Terrorists A Martin Beck Police Mystery is about us right now.
It is about the homegrown terrorists we make through our capitalist greed, our ever increasing inequality, our casting aside of those who don't fit into our neat ideas of a "normal" society.
It is about the ideological terrorists who fight for a cause that isn't ours with whatever tools are at their disposal, tearing apart flesh and bone with bombs, blasting holes into skulls with bullets projected from sniper rifles, using their bodies as delivery systems for death -- all to make a point they feel can't be made any other way.
It is about the terrorists who own us and rule us and manipulate us using the apparatus of government, unjust laws, and armed security forces to keep us in line.
It is about the armies that we send out to kill and maim and destroy in our names.
It is about how we move through our world surrounded by terrorists, maybe even being these terrorists ourselves, and how we can keep some modicum of what we like to imagine is our "humanity" in the face of it all.
Leonard Kollberg and Martin Beck, Gunn Kollberg and Rhea Olsson manage to keep some of that humanity. I think Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö wished a portion of it upon us all.
It is about the homegrown terrorists we make through our capitalist greed, our ever increasing inequality, our casting aside of those who don't fit into our neat ideas of a "normal" society.
It is about the ideological terrorists who fight for a cause that isn't ours with whatever tools are at their disposal, tearing apart flesh and bone with bombs, blasting holes into skulls with bullets projected from sniper rifles, using their bodies as delivery systems for death -- all to make a point they feel can't be made any other way.
It is about the terrorists who own us and rule us and manipulate us using the apparatus of government, unjust laws, and armed security forces to keep us in line.
It is about the armies that we send out to kill and maim and destroy in our names.
It is about how we move through our world surrounded by terrorists, maybe even being these terrorists ourselves, and how we can keep some modicum of what we like to imagine is our "humanity" in the face of it all.
Leonard Kollberg and Martin Beck, Gunn Kollberg and Rhea Olsson manage to keep some of that humanity. I think Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö wished a portion of it upon us all.
June 21, 2014
Sjöwall and Wahlöö were lovers. And they wrote books together. Apparently, during their collaboration, they always worked by writing alternate chapters -- and then corrected each other's chapters.
Wahlöö developed cancer and died in 1975, in Malmö, at the age of 48. The Terrorists was the final book of a projected 10 book series. Sjöwall has said that this volume was written almost entirely by Wahlöö, as he was dying -- in a race to the finish line. It is one of the better ones of this outstanding series.
The books, of course, should be read in sequence, starting with Roseanna.
This series was one of the first Scandi police procedurals -- and it is very effective. Moreover, by the end, one has come to know a series of very interesting characters. The books have interesting plots, and the plots are character driven in a way that most crime novels are not. They are not thrillers -- they are analytical.
Wahlöö developed cancer and died in 1975, in Malmö, at the age of 48. The Terrorists was the final book of a projected 10 book series. Sjöwall has said that this volume was written almost entirely by Wahlöö, as he was dying -- in a race to the finish line. It is one of the better ones of this outstanding series.
The books, of course, should be read in sequence, starting with Roseanna.
This series was one of the first Scandi police procedurals -- and it is very effective. Moreover, by the end, one has come to know a series of very interesting characters. The books have interesting plots, and the plots are character driven in a way that most crime novels are not. They are not thrillers -- they are analytical.
April 17, 2022
The Terrorists (1975) is the final entry in the ten-book crime series about Detective Martin Beck and his team, written by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo. The series was intended to be a kind of socio/cultural/political analysis of late sixties seventies Sweden, which had socialist leanings and a kind of political neutrality but was turned capitalist more and more every year, exacerbating already existing inequities.
The authors use the device of a police procedural as a way of reflecting on society, through the lens of crime, and in this one the world outside Sweden impedes on this little country, as a reactionary US Senator (Ronald Reagan?) comes to the country, a fortune is spent to protect him as desperately poor people go unattended to. The (socialist) point is clear; capitalist societies do not care about anyone but the rich and powerful. As Rhea says,
“I think lots of people know perfectly well they're being cheated and betrayed, but most people are too scared or too comfortable to say anything. It doesn't help to protest or complain, either, because the people in power don't pay any attention. They don't care about anything except their own importance, they don't care about ordinary people.”
One mouthpiece for the political views of the authors is not Beck but Gunnvald Larsson, who detests the US Senator and tells you why. Another mouthpiece for the authors’ political views is Beck’s girlfriend, Rhea. Two principal things happen in this book. When a rich abusive pornographer who preys on teen girls and lures them through drugs to pornography is brutally killed, Rhea speaks for the authors here; the women and girls of the sixties and seventies--revered as flower children--were not served well by the Free Love movement. In this one drugs/crime/prostitution/pornography proliferate in Sweden and (usually young) girls become victims, their lives destroyed as men celebrate their freedom to have sex with anyone they want. And this is a point made in several of the books; women are the primary victims of capitalism.
And (spoiler alert) one of these young women kills the prime minister in rage about the greedy rich. There’s a terrorist organization named Ulag that is also trying to kill the politicians, presaging the terrorists of the twenty-first century.
This is the third book I have read recently tying the destruction of women’s lives to the (broken) promises of films/Hollywood as a means to glamour and success.
This is the very model for all police procedurals that follow it. Just superbly well done. While I have given only a couple of the individual books five stars, I will give this one five stars as my rating of the series as a whole. Goodbye Stockholm Serious Crime Unit: Lennart Kollberg, Fredrik Melander, Benny Skacke, Gunnvald Larsson, and sad sack Martin Beck, who says his three principles of crime work are for him "a systematic mind, common sense, and conscientiousness.” All in the end are burned out--hard-working, dedicated, but cynical and depressed.
I like how it ends, too, as Kollberg plays a word game with his wife and Rhea and Beck, playing the letter x in the word "Marx." Perfect for the Marxist authors, Wahloo dying from cancer at 48, months before the book was finished.
The authors use the device of a police procedural as a way of reflecting on society, through the lens of crime, and in this one the world outside Sweden impedes on this little country, as a reactionary US Senator (Ronald Reagan?) comes to the country, a fortune is spent to protect him as desperately poor people go unattended to. The (socialist) point is clear; capitalist societies do not care about anyone but the rich and powerful. As Rhea says,
“I think lots of people know perfectly well they're being cheated and betrayed, but most people are too scared or too comfortable to say anything. It doesn't help to protest or complain, either, because the people in power don't pay any attention. They don't care about anything except their own importance, they don't care about ordinary people.”
One mouthpiece for the political views of the authors is not Beck but Gunnvald Larsson, who detests the US Senator and tells you why. Another mouthpiece for the authors’ political views is Beck’s girlfriend, Rhea. Two principal things happen in this book. When a rich abusive pornographer who preys on teen girls and lures them through drugs to pornography is brutally killed, Rhea speaks for the authors here; the women and girls of the sixties and seventies--revered as flower children--were not served well by the Free Love movement. In this one drugs/crime/prostitution/pornography proliferate in Sweden and (usually young) girls become victims, their lives destroyed as men celebrate their freedom to have sex with anyone they want. And this is a point made in several of the books; women are the primary victims of capitalism.
And (spoiler alert) one of these young women kills the prime minister in rage about the greedy rich. There’s a terrorist organization named Ulag that is also trying to kill the politicians, presaging the terrorists of the twenty-first century.
This is the third book I have read recently tying the destruction of women’s lives to the (broken) promises of films/Hollywood as a means to glamour and success.
This is the very model for all police procedurals that follow it. Just superbly well done. While I have given only a couple of the individual books five stars, I will give this one five stars as my rating of the series as a whole. Goodbye Stockholm Serious Crime Unit: Lennart Kollberg, Fredrik Melander, Benny Skacke, Gunnvald Larsson, and sad sack Martin Beck, who says his three principles of crime work are for him "a systematic mind, common sense, and conscientiousness.” All in the end are burned out--hard-working, dedicated, but cynical and depressed.
I like how it ends, too, as Kollberg plays a word game with his wife and Rhea and Beck, playing the letter x in the word "Marx." Perfect for the Marxist authors, Wahloo dying from cancer at 48, months before the book was finished.
September 15, 2021
Decima e ultima avventura di Martin Beck. E' decisamente una delle peggio riuscite di tutta le serie, purtroppo. O per fortuna, cosi' da rendere il distacco dal nostro personaggio meno triste. La serie termino' a causa della morte improvvisa di Wahloo, e quasi come presagio, questo lavoro risente di un'aura mortifera e crepuscolare. Un libro troppo "scritto", troppa carne al fuoco, ben 3 plot condotti un po' confusamente. Una (lodevole) verve socio-politica che pero' sbaglia marcia e diventa proclama velleitario. Un libro insomma che non resta in mente se non per l'addio a un bel personaggio e a una schiera di comprimari di pari qualita'.
August 22, 2025
Ben de yoğun bir hüzün ve ayrılığın yürek pırpırını bırakarak bitti. Bu 10 kitaplık okur yolculuğu için aklıma gelen ilk şey; YALINLIK.
Onuncu son kitaba gelene kadar yazarlara kimdir; yüzleri nasıldır diye bakmamıştım. Gazetecilermiş. Anlatının dilinin akıcı olmasını, kolay okunur olmasını, karaktere haksızlık etmeyen yerinde ve yeterli dozda övgü ve yergi kullanımını gazetecilik mesleğinin açıklayacağını düşünüyorum. Dünya görüşlerini bir cümle veya bir paragrafta net bir şekilde açıklamışlar. İnsanı odağına koyup ve çevreyi, yoksulluğu, kentsel dönüşümü eleştirel bir bakış açısıyla anlatmışlar.
Biz okurun yüzünü dünyalı insanın tragedyasını anlatırken Dionysos’un varlığıyla gülümsetmişler. Metroda kendi kendime minik kahkahalar attığımı itiraf edeyim:)
İyi ki yazmışlar; yazar kalemleri bir armağan 🎁
…
Ayrıksı Yayınevine ve çevirmenine gönülden sonsuz teşekkürlerimi iletiyorum. Harika bir iş çıkarmışlar. On kitabın ilk sayfasındaki konuşma balkonundaki insan olmaya gayret ettiğimi bilmelerini isterim:)
…
Okumayan kaybeder, net!
Onuncu son kitaba gelene kadar yazarlara kimdir; yüzleri nasıldır diye bakmamıştım. Gazetecilermiş. Anlatının dilinin akıcı olmasını, kolay okunur olmasını, karaktere haksızlık etmeyen yerinde ve yeterli dozda övgü ve yergi kullanımını gazetecilik mesleğinin açıklayacağını düşünüyorum. Dünya görüşlerini bir cümle veya bir paragrafta net bir şekilde açıklamışlar. İnsanı odağına koyup ve çevreyi, yoksulluğu, kentsel dönüşümü eleştirel bir bakış açısıyla anlatmışlar.
Biz okurun yüzünü dünyalı insanın tragedyasını anlatırken Dionysos’un varlığıyla gülümsetmişler. Metroda kendi kendime minik kahkahalar attığımı itiraf edeyim:)
İyi ki yazmışlar; yazar kalemleri bir armağan 🎁
…
Ayrıksı Yayınevine ve çevirmenine gönülden sonsuz teşekkürlerimi iletiyorum. Harika bir iş çıkarmışlar. On kitabın ilk sayfasındaki konuşma balkonundaki insan olmaya gayret ettiğimi bilmelerini isterim:)
…
Okumayan kaybeder, net!
April 30, 2016
I have not read from this classic series from the 70’s that pioneers what we now call Nordic Noir. I have been collecting them over the years for just the right mood to take the plunge with Stockholm police inspector Martin Beck. A crazy impulse led me to check out the library audiobook version of this last one of the series of ten. I didn’t suffer from getting a mature version of Beck, who has a largely administrative post with the homicide branch. The crime he faces here is a potential one. He is tasked with assuring that the treats of a terrorist attack surrounding a state visit from a powerful American senator do not come to pass. He has to work around a lot of political drones and ambitious idiots in the various sectors of the police and state security forces. But he plays the personalities and marshals the talents of competent old friends with the mastery of a symphony conductor with aplomb. The high-stakes gambles he is forced to employ makes for huge stresses, but he rises to the occasion. He is not a true noir hero with a lot of baggage in personal demons and jaded outlook. He retains a more playful mind and warm heart and uses his cynicism about the crass motives of most humans as a source of insight.
His adversaries include a meticulous Danish mastermind and two Japanese technocrats known for blowing up their targets around the world with clever placement of their munitions (e.g. on a gas line under the streets). Before the advent of cell phone snooping and vast computer databases, counterterrorism efforts are severely handicapped. This was fun and thrilling. I can now be comfortable going back to the beginning of the series to see how Beck develops in his personality and talents.
It is sad that this series came to an abrupt end with the death of Sjöwall's writing partner Per Wahlöö in 1975. For an articulate and engaging introduction to the series and overview of their impact see Harry Roolart's review of the first, Roseanna.
His adversaries include a meticulous Danish mastermind and two Japanese technocrats known for blowing up their targets around the world with clever placement of their munitions (e.g. on a gas line under the streets). Before the advent of cell phone snooping and vast computer databases, counterterrorism efforts are severely handicapped. This was fun and thrilling. I can now be comfortable going back to the beginning of the series to see how Beck develops in his personality and talents.
It is sad that this series came to an abrupt end with the death of Sjöwall's writing partner Per Wahlöö in 1975. For an articulate and engaging introduction to the series and overview of their impact see Harry Roolart's review of the first, Roseanna.
February 20, 2015
I really needed to finally finish this series. The intended sense of despair and despondency of society going straight to hell that slowly grows from Roseanna through ten books in ten years until this point where people have finally decided to make a stand against the leaders who have brought this upon us was starting to make me feel like not bothering.
As Sjowall was dying of cancer during the writing of this entry the plot takes an even more melancholy tone, the idealism of the political protesters that regularly appear as background characters in this series becomes almost as much misguided aggression as that of the constantly condemned police force. Here are some writers wondering whether all of their protests were worth it, at the same time when their protagonists - Beck et al - are wondering whether their personal sacrifices in becoming policemen were worth it.
Beck has been tasked with protecting an American senator visiting Sweden after a terrorist threat is raised. It's smartly done on both sides of the law, the writing provides great tension and intrigue as well as the copious amounts of societal criticism that occasionally comes across as a grouchy old sod writing to their local newspaper. At this stage it's very much like spending time with old colleagues that you've grown to respect and care for, comfortable and relaxed. The painstaking procedural style action of the first few books has given way to a more conventional thriller plot except in true Beck style things deliberately end with a whimper and not a bang. It's been a highly enjoyable ride but somehow I expected more. I recently compared the series of books to the TV show The Wire, each book focussing on a different aspect of society to paint a grand picture of what's wrong, and I thought that show ended a little disappointingly too now I think about it.
As Sjowall was dying of cancer during the writing of this entry the plot takes an even more melancholy tone, the idealism of the political protesters that regularly appear as background characters in this series becomes almost as much misguided aggression as that of the constantly condemned police force. Here are some writers wondering whether all of their protests were worth it, at the same time when their protagonists - Beck et al - are wondering whether their personal sacrifices in becoming policemen were worth it.
Beck has been tasked with protecting an American senator visiting Sweden after a terrorist threat is raised. It's smartly done on both sides of the law, the writing provides great tension and intrigue as well as the copious amounts of societal criticism that occasionally comes across as a grouchy old sod writing to their local newspaper. At this stage it's very much like spending time with old colleagues that you've grown to respect and care for, comfortable and relaxed. The painstaking procedural style action of the first few books has given way to a more conventional thriller plot except in true Beck style things deliberately end with a whimper and not a bang. It's been a highly enjoyable ride but somehow I expected more. I recently compared the series of books to the TV show The Wire, each book focussing on a different aspect of society to paint a grand picture of what's wrong, and I thought that show ended a little disappointingly too now I think about it.
September 23, 2024
March 2018:
Wow. A wonderful book, the last of ten books by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo. My list of things to do today has lain untouched on the kitchen table, as has the washing-up from breakfast AND lunch - I just had to know how the plot unfolded. I found I deeply cared about these Swedish policeman and assorted other characters, and also that I was very affected by the authors' anger about society and capitalism.
I know this is often said, but if you haven't read any of the Martin Beck novels, you are in for a treat. I envy you! Though I will be re-reading all of them. I have taken these books to my heart.
September 2024:
Read for the second time. As marvellous as ever.
Wow. A wonderful book, the last of ten books by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo. My list of things to do today has lain untouched on the kitchen table, as has the washing-up from breakfast AND lunch - I just had to know how the plot unfolded. I found I deeply cared about these Swedish policeman and assorted other characters, and also that I was very affected by the authors' anger about society and capitalism.
I know this is often said, but if you haven't read any of the Martin Beck novels, you are in for a treat. I envy you! Though I will be re-reading all of them. I have taken these books to my heart.
September 2024:
Read for the second time. As marvellous as ever.
March 28, 2011
The Terrorists is the tenth and final book in Sjöwall and Wahlöö's series featuring Martin Beck. In this installment, an unpopular American senator has planned a visit to Sweden, and Beck is chosen as head of the security team for the duration. The biggest worry is terrorist activity, and as Gunvald Larsson finds out while observing in a Latin American country, the terrorists do not play nice. While Beck is busy with trying to keep the would-be assassins from killing the Senator, he is also investigating a case dealing with pornography, drugs, and murder. Although the main focus of this novels is the measures put into place to prevent the death of the senator from a group who kill, get out and go on to their next job, the authors also reveal that there are other forms of terrorism that exist beyond the political -- and that they exist in every society.
Excellent book, especially the scene when Larsson is in Latin America, but consistently good throughout. My only problem was this nit-picky thing: in the Vintage/Black Lizard edition of Cop Killer, Martin Beck's friend and fellow detective inspector had the last name of "Allwright," where in The Terrorists, his name was changed to "Content." I know exactly what happened and that each translator does things differently to try to fully convey the nuances of a language, but at the same time, it should be more consistent in a series of editions. I spent a few minutes puzzled, but it dawned on me that the name change was in the translation.
Now that this series is over and my Vintage/Black Lizard Crime editions are all neatly shelved together, it's sort of a bittersweet kind of moment. I'm rather sad that I've finished all of the books, but the getting there was great. These authors have put together an outstanding set of novels that no readers of crime fiction should miss, even if you do not agree with the authors' political statements. The series was launched when Wahlöö sold only a minimal amount of copies of a book of his own political philosophy, and the two authors came to the realization that although no one was paying to read what Wahloo wrote, they would pay to read crime fiction. Thus began the Martin Beck series, collectively known as "The Story of a Crime." Actually, they managed to get their various points across quite effectively, and there are some truths to what they say. On the other hand, as Dennis Lehane points out in the introduction to this particular edition,
"One wonders how Sjöwall and Wahlöö managed to live there through the writing of the ten Martin Beck novels, so negative is their depiction of not just the failed welfare state but the physical landscape as well ...The courts don't work, the schools produce little but rot, and the ruling class skims the cream off the top and turns its back as the poor fight over the coffee grounds."
They've also commented on the state of the police force since it was nationalized, the treatment of the elderly, and a host of other issues that they felt arose as a result of what they saw as the failure of the Swedish welfare state to take care of its people, setting aside the interests of regular citizens for the interests of those most actively involved in capitalism.
But politics aside, Sjöwall and Wahlöö gave us Martin Beck, the detective who started out on a patrol beat and became good at his job on the way up, and all of his co-workers, friends and associates whose lives we've followed throughout all of the books. And there are many humorous moments throughout the series as well -- the Keystone cop-like antics of some of the patrolmen, the inept Stig Malm, Beck's boss whose job includes a great deal of toadying to his superiors, and there are many standing examples of Sjöwall and Perlöö's wry humor that run throughout all of the novels. But the best part of these books lie in the authors' ability to create believable plots, to come up with ever-developing characters who often become frustrated to the point where they want to chuck it all but inevitably show up the next day for work (if they go home to sleep at all), and then they throw all of that in with their political opinions, and still manage to create a crime fiction series that stays on task, never getting excessive. The bottom line is that Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö began these books as their personal mission, but the series stayed consistently excellent, and it has entertained and will continue to satisfy millions of crime fiction enthusiasts around the world.
Excellent book, especially the scene when Larsson is in Latin America, but consistently good throughout. My only problem was this nit-picky thing: in the Vintage/Black Lizard edition of Cop Killer, Martin Beck's friend and fellow detective inspector had the last name of "Allwright," where in The Terrorists, his name was changed to "Content." I know exactly what happened and that each translator does things differently to try to fully convey the nuances of a language, but at the same time, it should be more consistent in a series of editions. I spent a few minutes puzzled, but it dawned on me that the name change was in the translation.
Now that this series is over and my Vintage/Black Lizard Crime editions are all neatly shelved together, it's sort of a bittersweet kind of moment. I'm rather sad that I've finished all of the books, but the getting there was great. These authors have put together an outstanding set of novels that no readers of crime fiction should miss, even if you do not agree with the authors' political statements. The series was launched when Wahlöö sold only a minimal amount of copies of a book of his own political philosophy, and the two authors came to the realization that although no one was paying to read what Wahloo wrote, they would pay to read crime fiction. Thus began the Martin Beck series, collectively known as "The Story of a Crime." Actually, they managed to get their various points across quite effectively, and there are some truths to what they say. On the other hand, as Dennis Lehane points out in the introduction to this particular edition,
"One wonders how Sjöwall and Wahlöö managed to live there through the writing of the ten Martin Beck novels, so negative is their depiction of not just the failed welfare state but the physical landscape as well ...The courts don't work, the schools produce little but rot, and the ruling class skims the cream off the top and turns its back as the poor fight over the coffee grounds."
They've also commented on the state of the police force since it was nationalized, the treatment of the elderly, and a host of other issues that they felt arose as a result of what they saw as the failure of the Swedish welfare state to take care of its people, setting aside the interests of regular citizens for the interests of those most actively involved in capitalism.
But politics aside, Sjöwall and Wahlöö gave us Martin Beck, the detective who started out on a patrol beat and became good at his job on the way up, and all of his co-workers, friends and associates whose lives we've followed throughout all of the books. And there are many humorous moments throughout the series as well -- the Keystone cop-like antics of some of the patrolmen, the inept Stig Malm, Beck's boss whose job includes a great deal of toadying to his superiors, and there are many standing examples of Sjöwall and Perlöö's wry humor that run throughout all of the novels. But the best part of these books lie in the authors' ability to create believable plots, to come up with ever-developing characters who often become frustrated to the point where they want to chuck it all but inevitably show up the next day for work (if they go home to sleep at all), and then they throw all of that in with their political opinions, and still manage to create a crime fiction series that stays on task, never getting excessive. The bottom line is that Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö began these books as their personal mission, but the series stayed consistently excellent, and it has entertained and will continue to satisfy millions of crime fiction enthusiasts around the world.
December 17, 2019
A crack terrorist unit is hell bent on murder and mayhem in Stockholm. Between them and death and destruction lies Martin Beck and his colleagues. Can team Beck beat the baddies?
In a parallel story, a homeless teenage girl is trying to get to the US to reunite with the father of her baby. Society is arraigned against her. Capitalism does not look kindly on the innocent, the uneducated or the unskilled.
A fast paced thriller, crisp and compelling. Written in the 70s but very accessible. A bit earnest and right on, but this grins through in just a few places.
My only regret is that this is the last of the series.
Well worth a read.
In a parallel story, a homeless teenage girl is trying to get to the US to reunite with the father of her baby. Society is arraigned against her. Capitalism does not look kindly on the innocent, the uneducated or the unskilled.
A fast paced thriller, crisp and compelling. Written in the 70s but very accessible. A bit earnest and right on, but this grins through in just a few places.
My only regret is that this is the last of the series.
Well worth a read.
September 4, 2024
Con este libro se cierra la serie de Martín Beck, el famoso policía sueco creado por la pareja de escritores Maj Sjowall y Per Wahloo, de los principales artífices de que la novela negra nórdica se convirtiera en un fenómeno mundial.
Es de los libros más extensos pues encadena tres historias distintas además de una crítica bastante desarrollada y amplia acerca del capitalismo y la democracia.
Aunque me encanta esta serie debo decir que me dejó con sentimientos encontrados, por un lado la historia lleva un ritmo trepidante pero se vuelve soporífera cuando introducen largos párrafos hablando de política aunque es un tema importante creo que alguien que quiera conocer de estos temas a profundidad recurriría a otros géneros y no precisamente a la novela negra.
Algo que destaco es lo bien que cerraron la historia del protagonista, lo cual deja un halo de nostalgia pero al mismo tiempo deja satisfechos a los lectores.
El tono desenfadado y sin censura en que se aborda el tema policial siempre le da mucha credibilidad a las historias de Martín Beck, lidiar con corrupción, jefes ineptos que ocupan puestos otorgados políticamente, policías mal preparados, etc
Hay un juicio que es uno de los mejores que he leído, da risa y enojo al mismo tiempo por lo absurdo que puede ser el sistema de justicia sobre todo cuando se juzga a personas desamparadas.
“Para vivir en este mundo tan raro hace falta dinero, es lo malo que tiene. La mayoría sólo quieren dinero en vez de querer a sus semejantes, pero yo creo que un día despertarán a la realidad en lugar de vivir de ilusiones».”
Es de los libros más extensos pues encadena tres historias distintas además de una crítica bastante desarrollada y amplia acerca del capitalismo y la democracia.
Aunque me encanta esta serie debo decir que me dejó con sentimientos encontrados, por un lado la historia lleva un ritmo trepidante pero se vuelve soporífera cuando introducen largos párrafos hablando de política aunque es un tema importante creo que alguien que quiera conocer de estos temas a profundidad recurriría a otros géneros y no precisamente a la novela negra.
Algo que destaco es lo bien que cerraron la historia del protagonista, lo cual deja un halo de nostalgia pero al mismo tiempo deja satisfechos a los lectores.
El tono desenfadado y sin censura en que se aborda el tema policial siempre le da mucha credibilidad a las historias de Martín Beck, lidiar con corrupción, jefes ineptos que ocupan puestos otorgados políticamente, policías mal preparados, etc
Hay un juicio que es uno de los mejores que he leído, da risa y enojo al mismo tiempo por lo absurdo que puede ser el sistema de justicia sobre todo cuando se juzga a personas desamparadas.
“Para vivir en este mundo tan raro hace falta dinero, es lo malo que tiene. La mayoría sólo quieren dinero en vez de querer a sus semejantes, pero yo creo que un día despertarán a la realidad en lugar de vivir de ilusiones».”
September 10, 2017
La stazione di metropolitana di Midsommarkransen con un bellissimo mosaico che ne riproduceva l'appellativo, attigua a Vattenledningsvagen e da cui ogni giorno mi muovevo, Sergels Torg, il Pendeltag - anche se allora non si chiamava così, il sole che d'estate sorge alle tre del mattino e l'imbrunire verso le due del pomeriggio, case e ville costruite sulle tante isolette dell'acrcipelago stoccolmese: un libro su una città che amo per se stessa e per i tanti ricordi che vi sono legati.
Molto diverso il quadro che ne viene tracciato rispetto a ciò che ho visto e vissuto. Svedesi ignoranti, brutali e rozzi. Profondamente maschilisti. L'arte del rutto e della flatulenza coltivate in massimo grado. E' stato scritto agni inizi degli anni Settanta del secolo scorso e questo credo abbia inciso parecchio.
Molta satira politica, forse troppa, che rende l'opera un po' datata e talvolta indigesta, ciò nonostante i personaggi siano interessanti.
Molto diverso il quadro che ne viene tracciato rispetto a ciò che ho visto e vissuto. Svedesi ignoranti, brutali e rozzi. Profondamente maschilisti. L'arte del rutto e della flatulenza coltivate in massimo grado. E' stato scritto agni inizi degli anni Settanta del secolo scorso e questo credo abbia inciso parecchio.
Molta satira politica, forse troppa, che rende l'opera un po' datata e talvolta indigesta, ciò nonostante i personaggi siano interessanti.
February 14, 2018
This is the final story in the Martin Beck series and it doesn't disappoint. I'm not an habitual reader of police procedurals, and discovered these stories completely by chance. The series remains good from first to last and doesn't run out of any of its energy. Its interesting cast of disparate characters avoids cliche and develops in a satisfying way, with each book providing a highly enjoyable reading experience. Naturally, I liked some of the stories more than others, but all ten are consistently good. The whole series gets a resounding five stars from this very satisfied reader. Excellent. Will read again and probably quite soon!
April 17, 2009
Superb and a fitting ending the the Wahloo/Sjowall series of Martin Beck novels. Published after Wahloo's death from cancer in 1975 -- this novel is sharper than the earlier ones in its critique of Swedish society. It also templates the 1986 assassination of the Swedish prime minister Olof Palme.
That may be ironic -- but then that future conjuncture fostered Mankell's Wallander into existence.
Swedish crime fiction rocks!
Of all the crime fiction I've read these ten by Wahloo/Sjowall are the the closest to perfectly composed and pitched.Gems every one of them.
That may be ironic -- but then that future conjuncture fostered Mankell's Wallander into existence.
Swedish crime fiction rocks!
Of all the crime fiction I've read these ten by Wahloo/Sjowall are the the closest to perfectly composed and pitched.Gems every one of them.
September 17, 2021
3 stars
Is there such a thing as conjoined triplets? That's what this final novel in the fabulous Martin Beck series reminds me of. Three separate drafts of novels that came out as a single unit, all attached to each other in awkward and painful-looking ways.
Let's look:
The plot strand that's best developed is the one concerning Gunvald Larsson hunting a cell of free-lance international terrorists who have come to Sweden to kill a visiting American senator. So far, so good.
The two lesser developed plot strands:
1) an 'innocent' young girl (Rousseau's idea of the 'nature child') is falsely accused of attempted bank robbery. She is poor and uneducated...and therefore the perfect victim of a lying state that claims to have its people's best interests at heart, but really only cares about protecting money and privilege. (One of this author duo's main topics)
This strand attempts some odd -- and oddly placed -- humour around the character of "Braket" that makes it read like a court satire over longer stretches. It sticks out like a sore thumb from the tone of the rest of the work.
2) the quickly-solved murder of an erotic film producer who had the habit of getting young girls hooked on drugs in order to convince them to sleep with him and perform in his films. Again, the topic is the brutal exploitation of innocence for profit and privilege.
In need of a serious edit:
Information and character descriptions are repeated in several places throughout the text with almost the exact same words, there are pages and pages of in-depth, irrelevant description and as discussed above, under-developed, awkwardly attached "subplots".
But we can't really blame the authors for that. Wahlöö was dying of cancer and Sjöwall obviously didn't want to take the red pen to her partner's last words. Who can blame her?
With more time, thought and editing"Terroristerna" could have been a magnificent crowning finale to the series (and perhaps have spawned 2 other Wahlöö novels). As it is, it's an unfinished draft and should be read as such, rather like F. Scott Fitzgerald's final work in which you can see the brilliant potential it had if only the author had lived to complete it.
Unfortunately, due to that, I personally found this last instalment largely boring and a real chore to slog through in parts-- a new experience for me with Martin Beck-- and can't rate it any higher than a 3 due to that. As much as I'd like to.
The series as a whole, however, gets an unabashed 5 stars.
PS: if you ever get a chance to read these in the original Swedish, DO SO! It really opens your eyes to why this series was, and is, considered to be an absolute masterpiece. The plots and writing style seem to grow organically from the Swedish language, its rhythm and vocabulary. Something that gets more than lost in translation but it truly stunning to see in the original.
Is there such a thing as conjoined triplets? That's what this final novel in the fabulous Martin Beck series reminds me of. Three separate drafts of novels that came out as a single unit, all attached to each other in awkward and painful-looking ways.
Let's look:
The plot strand that's best developed is the one concerning Gunvald Larsson hunting a cell of free-lance international terrorists who have come to Sweden to kill a visiting American senator. So far, so good.
The two lesser developed plot strands:
1) an 'innocent' young girl (Rousseau's idea of the 'nature child') is falsely accused of attempted bank robbery. She is poor and uneducated...and therefore the perfect victim of a lying state that claims to have its people's best interests at heart, but really only cares about protecting money and privilege. (One of this author duo's main topics)
This strand attempts some odd -- and oddly placed -- humour around the character of "Braket" that makes it read like a court satire over longer stretches. It sticks out like a sore thumb from the tone of the rest of the work.
2) the quickly-solved murder of an erotic film producer who had the habit of getting young girls hooked on drugs in order to convince them to sleep with him and perform in his films. Again, the topic is the brutal exploitation of innocence for profit and privilege.
In need of a serious edit:
Information and character descriptions are repeated in several places throughout the text with almost the exact same words, there are pages and pages of in-depth, irrelevant description and as discussed above, under-developed, awkwardly attached "subplots".
But we can't really blame the authors for that. Wahlöö was dying of cancer and Sjöwall obviously didn't want to take the red pen to her partner's last words. Who can blame her?
With more time, thought and editing"Terroristerna" could have been a magnificent crowning finale to the series (and perhaps have spawned 2 other Wahlöö novels). As it is, it's an unfinished draft and should be read as such, rather like F. Scott Fitzgerald's final work in which you can see the brilliant potential it had if only the author had lived to complete it.
Unfortunately, due to that, I personally found this last instalment largely boring and a real chore to slog through in parts-- a new experience for me with Martin Beck-- and can't rate it any higher than a 3 due to that. As much as I'd like to.
The series as a whole, however, gets an unabashed 5 stars.
PS: if you ever get a chance to read these in the original Swedish, DO SO! It really opens your eyes to why this series was, and is, considered to be an absolute masterpiece. The plots and writing style seem to grow organically from the Swedish language, its rhythm and vocabulary. Something that gets more than lost in translation but it truly stunning to see in the original.
August 4, 2022
David Meyer, a fellow connoisseur and critic of noir fiction, once called Swedish "the most soporific language in the world." You could probably yell out"I'm going to slice you up!"in Swedish and put your intended victim to sleep first. That makes it all the more wondrous that Maj Sjowall was able to write not one but ten police detective thrillers set in Sweden, of which this is the last. Her creation, Det. Martin Beck, is not a hard-boiled private eye a la' Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe but a by-the-book policeman whose personality is as gloomy as the sky over Sweden. What makes this a thriller is precisely the lack of motivation on the part of Beck and the criminal perpetrators he tracks down: a hippie girl who he saves from being framed for a bank hold up (don't worry; she returns later in the novel to commit a heinous though unmotivated deed that captures the world's attention); a Swedish film pornographer (yes, Beck knows this is a redundancy) bludgeoned to death in the home of his mistress; and finally, the terrorists---a mysterious organization named ULAG which carries out high profile assassinations in the name of, well, no one ever figures that out. Beck's own lover complains that "the world is full of violence these days" but no one knows of what source. Oddly, for a detective novel written by a woman, her female characters are either fall girls or supportive mistresses; no happy marriages though. Think of THE TERRORISTS as an existentialist detective story where clues are plenty and the mystery of life, and lives, is never solved.
September 13, 2014
Set in 1975, the primary plot follows the assassinations of high-profile political leaders around the world by an impenetrable organization of highly trained killers. Martin Beck reluctantly accepts the job of managing an inter-agency group to protect a visiting U.S. warmonging senator. There are two other plots, all of which are well orchestrated: a wealthy pornographer has been murdered in his mistresses' apartment and a young homeless, somewhat addled waif of a girl has been charged with bank robbery, trying to protect her young baby. All three plots involve the irony of protecting the undeserving against monsters equally horrible, and continue the authors' sociological portrayal of Sweden in this era. Good policework by Beck and his team, especially in trapping the assassination squad, is the hallmark of this finale to a 10-book series. Don't skip the introduction by Dennis Lehane.
February 9, 2021
第一次看《馬丁貝克刑事檔案》是2013年夏天，遠流版的紙本書。那是我第一次看系列作看到停不下來，每天出門，都認真掂掂剩下的頁數是否足以支撐來回兩三個小時的車程。
這次重看是木馬的電子書，總算不必擔心出門在外無書可看的狀況了XD
去年看了《分解人》跟《TSUBASA翼》，才發現自己很喜歡「因緣際會相遇的夥伴，各分東西後，彼此之間還是有某種聯繫。或是因為很相信彼此，所以即使走散了，也不擔心對方，而是安心地一邊往前走，一邊等待重逢的機會來到」這樣的故事。（引號也太長XD）
《馬丁貝克刑事檔案》的最後兩本也有類似的劇情，且最後一本《恐怖份子》很有一種……大家一起簽畢業紀念冊的感覺，真的好喜歡又好捨不得看完。
只是再怎麼珍惜地慢慢讀，也還是有看完的一天。希望書裡的大家一切都好 (;_;
readmoo電子書：
http://moo.im/a/7acegN
這次重看是木馬的電子書，總算不必擔心出門在外無書可看的狀況了XD
去年看了《分解人》跟《TSUBASA翼》，才發現自己很喜歡「因緣際會相遇的夥伴，各分東西後，彼此之間還是有某種聯繫。或是因為很相信彼此，所以即使走散了，也不擔心對方，而是安心地一邊往前走，一邊等待重逢的機會來到」這樣的故事。（引號也太長XD）
《馬丁貝克刑事檔案》的最後兩本也有類似的劇情，且最後一本《恐怖份子》很有一種……大家一起簽畢業紀念冊的感覺，真的好喜歡又好捨不得看完。
只是再怎麼珍惜地慢慢讀，也還是有看完的一天。希望書裡的大家一切都好 (;_;
readmoo電子書：
http://moo.im/a/7acegN
July 4, 2020
The Terrorists (1975) by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö is the last book to feature Martin Beck who has been promoted to Chief of the National Murder Squad--much to his chagrin since the new post will entail a great deal of desk work and far less time in the field. But he gets at least one more chance for action when he (and his usual team) are detailed to provide protection for an unpopular American Senator in Sweden on a state visit. Terrorists plant a bomb along the route the Senator will be taking (bet you didn't see that coming, given the title of the book!), but fortunately the timing is off and Beck & company are able to avoid any casualities. With time in between for side-stories involving a woman accused of a bank robbery she wasn't trying to commit and the murder of a pornographic film producer, Beck, Ronn, and Larsson manage to quickly trace two of the terrorists. But split-second timing will be needed for them to take the last two alive without having an entire apartment building blown up--with them in it.
The strength of this final entry is in the characters and the way Sjöwall and Wahlöö portray their interactions and relationships to one another. Beck has had to resign himself to the fact that Kollberg, his friend and, in many ways, right-hand man through much of the series, has resigned from the force. He finally admits that he has grown to like working with Larsson. It was interesting to watch Beck learn to rely more heavily on other members of his team--recognizing the strengths that each has. Less appealing to me was the terrorism theme. As Sjöwall and Wahlöö were wont to do, they use the theme to highlight societal ills and governmental flaws but I found the plot very slow-going and heavy-handed this time around. This book more than any of the others was a slog for me and I was sorry to have the series end on a disappointing (to me) note. Others have found this to be a very strong finale...so your mileage may vary. ★★ and a very weak 1/2.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
The strength of this final entry is in the characters and the way Sjöwall and Wahlöö portray their interactions and relationships to one another. Beck has had to resign himself to the fact that Kollberg, his friend and, in many ways, right-hand man through much of the series, has resigned from the force. He finally admits that he has grown to like working with Larsson. It was interesting to watch Beck learn to rely more heavily on other members of his team--recognizing the strengths that each has. Less appealing to me was the terrorism theme. As Sjöwall and Wahlöö were wont to do, they use the theme to highlight societal ills and governmental flaws but I found the plot very slow-going and heavy-handed this time around. This book more than any of the others was a slog for me and I was sorry to have the series end on a disappointing (to me) note. Others have found this to be a very strong finale...so your mileage may vary. ★★ and a very weak 1/2.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
June 14, 2021
*3.5 stars.
"He was delighted with the pattern on the underpants, yellow moose against a blue background, and he owned five more pairs" (10).
"... and a none too squeamish cat could have made a good meal from the food stains on his waist coat" (21).
"'Rebecka is as innocent as the carrots in the ground.'
"Everyone appeared to ponder this novel image" (21).
"The Commissioner, who for some reason that long pauses increased his authority…" (87).
"He was good at meetings. They were part of life itself. Without them, nothing would ever get done. Society would quite simply collapse"(88). **Ughh. Sounds like several of my bosses' mindsets.
*Of an ugly wreath: "At a distance, the whole arrangement looked like a gigantic life preserver painted by a mentally disturbed seamen" (202).
"Since Martin Beck and his generation have been children, Christmas has changed from a fine traditional family festival into something that might be called economic cheapjackery or commercial insanity" (269).
*Based on the preponderance of "on the other hand" appearances in the last few books of the series, I counted this time. 12. I wish I would have counted those found in the previous book as I believe at least several more sets of hands made their presence known.
"He was delighted with the pattern on the underpants, yellow moose against a blue background, and he owned five more pairs" (10).
"... and a none too squeamish cat could have made a good meal from the food stains on his waist coat" (21).
"'Rebecka is as innocent as the carrots in the ground.'
"Everyone appeared to ponder this novel image" (21).
"The Commissioner, who for some reason that long pauses increased his authority…" (87).
"He was good at meetings. They were part of life itself. Without them, nothing would ever get done. Society would quite simply collapse"(88). **Ughh. Sounds like several of my bosses' mindsets.
*Of an ugly wreath: "At a distance, the whole arrangement looked like a gigantic life preserver painted by a mentally disturbed seamen" (202).
"Since Martin Beck and his generation have been children, Christmas has changed from a fine traditional family festival into something that might be called economic cheapjackery or commercial insanity" (269).
*Based on the preponderance of "on the other hand" appearances in the last few books of the series, I counted this time. 12. I wish I would have counted those found in the previous book as I believe at least several more sets of hands made their presence known.
January 24, 2024
Bueno, este no es mi favorito de la saga, a pesar de lo bien implementada que está en la trama su crítica social y política, como nos tiene acostumbrados.
Los personajes, que ya casi son de la familia, también están excelentemente retratados a excepción de la chica a la que juzgan al principio cuya personalidad, de ser como la describen (e insisten en ello, encima), no me acaba de cuadrar, al punto de que ese "detalle" estuvo molestándome toda la novela y acabó restándole puntos a un cierre de saga que iba camino a ser estupendo.
Los personajes, que ya casi son de la familia, también están excelentemente retratados a excepción de la chica a la que juzgan al principio cuya personalidad, de ser como la describen (e insisten en ello, encima), no me acaba de cuadrar, al punto de que ese "detalle" estuvo molestándome toda la novela y acabó restándole puntos a un cierre de saga que iba camino a ser estupendo.
March 29, 2021
Det är tur att denna är den sista i serien. Jag hade inte orkat med en till. Den här är den svagaste av den ojämna serien. Också första gången jag läste den för länge sen tyckte jag att den var obehaglig. Nu är den ännu jobbigare med tanke på mordet på Olof Palme. Att skriva så raljerande om mordet på en statsminister är inte OK. Visserligen står jag också till vänster om sossarna men den hätska och cyniska synen på Sverige och svenskarna i boken är mycket irriterande. Och visst fan fick den gubbsjuke Wahlöö in en bröstvårta att beskriva. Puerilt.
October 8, 2022
Nu har jag läst alla 10 efter varandra! Det var rätt härligt med de fem första, men överlag kan jag inte rekommendera att göra detta. Jäkligt tröttsamt med det politiska moraliserandet när det upprepandes, medan det är charmigt i en eller två efter varandra. Hatar också alla karaktärer utom Den Gode Kollberg efter detta. Säkert meningen.
Den här sista är spännande, mackan beck är lycklig och kär på ett ganska uppfriskande sätt faktiskt. Som vanligt en viss slajmig ton från MB.
Den här sista är spännande, mackan beck är lycklig och kär på ett ganska uppfriskande sätt faktiskt. Som vanligt en viss slajmig ton från MB.
July 30, 2014
A fitting end to the excellent Martin Beck series, The Terrorists perfectly blends human-scale story-telling, suspense and action, and social commentary.
Gunvald Larsson, for whom readers now have a measure of respect and sympathy, takes centre stage as he travels overseas to learn about security measures to help Sweden prepare for a state visit by a controversial US Senator. The outcome of the trip is both grisly and grimly comic and introduces us to the terrorist group ULAG who will become the novel's main threat.
Other threads, too, are woven. The personal becomes the political when a naive single mother is charged with robbing a bank and is defended by the comically shambolic and humane Theobald Braxén. And a director of pornographic movies is murdered in Malmo.
The action and drama is superbly stoked, and the authors' anti-capitalist sentiments are as explicitly on display as at any other time, but this never overwhelms the narrative and I am a little in awe at how deftly we are drawn to the human emotions and consequences at the heart of these stories: the father who loses a daughter to exploitation and abuse; the mother who has no assurance of a future for her and her daughter.
I particularly liked the way that characters who have been, at best, distrustful of one another in the past – particularly Beck, the plodding Einar Rönn, and Gunvald Larsson – have come to a measure of appreciation and understanding of one another over the long haul of police-work together.
There's a warm melancholy in the novel's final companionable meal between old friends as Lennart Kollberg reflects that Martin Beck has "the wrong job. At the wrong time. In the wrong part of the world. In the wrong system." Followed by a playful authorial touch as Kollberg picks a final word to illustrate his choice of the letter "X" in the word game he and his wife Gun, Beck and Rhea Neilsen, are playing. The word is, of course, "Marx".
Gunvald Larsson, for whom readers now have a measure of respect and sympathy, takes centre stage as he travels overseas to learn about security measures to help Sweden prepare for a state visit by a controversial US Senator. The outcome of the trip is both grisly and grimly comic and introduces us to the terrorist group ULAG who will become the novel's main threat.
Other threads, too, are woven. The personal becomes the political when a naive single mother is charged with robbing a bank and is defended by the comically shambolic and humane Theobald Braxén. And a director of pornographic movies is murdered in Malmo.
The action and drama is superbly stoked, and the authors' anti-capitalist sentiments are as explicitly on display as at any other time, but this never overwhelms the narrative and I am a little in awe at how deftly we are drawn to the human emotions and consequences at the heart of these stories: the father who loses a daughter to exploitation and abuse; the mother who has no assurance of a future for her and her daughter.
I particularly liked the way that characters who have been, at best, distrustful of one another in the past – particularly Beck, the plodding Einar Rönn, and Gunvald Larsson – have come to a measure of appreciation and understanding of one another over the long haul of police-work together.
There's a warm melancholy in the novel's final companionable meal between old friends as Lennart Kollberg reflects that Martin Beck has "the wrong job. At the wrong time. In the wrong part of the world. In the wrong system." Followed by a playful authorial touch as Kollberg picks a final word to illustrate his choice of the letter "X" in the word game he and his wife Gun, Beck and Rhea Neilsen, are playing. The word is, of course, "Marx".
May 7, 2025
My favourite of the series, full of action, tragedy, gloom, and also friendship, tenacity, and victory. I understand Per Wahlöö died shortly after finishing this book which may explain the preachy intensity where (his own) political opinions are concerned. According to which Sweden, state and society, should have reached rock bottom ages ago.
The terrorists, here to kill a really reactionary American senator (ring any bells?) for rather obscure reasons, are some ice-cold types, perfectly trained, but without any political background. They just do it "for the money", it seems, which (conveniently) puts them in the "capitalist" camp. I was a child in those days, early to mid-seventies, but I don't think that's quite what terrorists stood for. I seem to remember lefty-anarchists and their "palestinian" bedfellows.
So what do I like about this? The characters are so well drawn, the story is well told. I have a suspicion that all the good women in it (Gun Kollberg, Åsa Torell and Rhea Nielsen) are a bit like Maj Sjöwall as seen by Per Wahlöö, and he himself might want to be a mix of Martin Beck and Lennart Kollberg with a little Gunvald Larsson.
A great read altogether, all 10 volumes. I must have read them 4 times now, and I can imagine rereading them again in some years' time.
2025 reread: Still great. The ISFJ "defender" in me wants to protect Rebecka.
The terrorists, here to kill a really reactionary American senator (ring any bells?) for rather obscure reasons, are some ice-cold types, perfectly trained, but without any political background. They just do it "for the money", it seems, which (conveniently) puts them in the "capitalist" camp. I was a child in those days, early to mid-seventies, but I don't think that's quite what terrorists stood for. I seem to remember lefty-anarchists and their "palestinian" bedfellows.
So what do I like about this? The characters are so well drawn, the story is well told. I have a suspicion that all the good women in it (Gun Kollberg, Åsa Torell and Rhea Nielsen) are a bit like Maj Sjöwall as seen by Per Wahlöö, and he himself might want to be a mix of Martin Beck and Lennart Kollberg with a little Gunvald Larsson.
A great read altogether, all 10 volumes. I must have read them 4 times now, and I can imagine rereading them again in some years' time.
2025 reread: Still great. The ISFJ "defender" in me wants to protect Rebecka.
February 10, 2017
Apesar de o último livro da série do Martin Beck ter sido publicado, pela primeira vez, em 1974, é tão inteligente e atual como os nove que o antecedem. O tema principal é o terrorismo, tal como o título indica, mas a história vai muito além disso, sendo as personagens e as suas ideias o mais importante.
O enredo divide-se em três partes distintas.
Primeira parte: uma jovem mulher é acusada de roubar um banco e Martin Beck é chamado como testemunha de defesa no seu julgamento.
Segunda parte: um homem é assassinado e o responsável caminha calmamente, para longe do lugar do crime, à luz do sol da manhã, deixando para trás a arma do crime.
Terceira parte: um importante senador americano visita Estocolmo e a força policial toma medidas de segurança especiais. Martin Beck é escolhido para liderar a equipa principal responsável.
Ao longo dos dez livros, Maj Söjwall e Per Wahlöö fazem uma critica à Suécia, através de uma caracterização minuciosa da força policial. Da perspetiva de Martin Beck e a sua equipa, os autores revelam as consequências das decisões políticas para o cidadão comum. Acima de tudo, o casal sueco não teve medo de expor a forma como seu país é governado, mantendo presente a realidade, numa narrativa de ficção estimulante, perspicaz, complexa e, acima de tudo, repleta de significados sobre a vida e o ser humano.
O enredo divide-se em três partes distintas.
Primeira parte: uma jovem mulher é acusada de roubar um banco e Martin Beck é chamado como testemunha de defesa no seu julgamento.
Segunda parte: um homem é assassinado e o responsável caminha calmamente, para longe do lugar do crime, à luz do sol da manhã, deixando para trás a arma do crime.
Terceira parte: um importante senador americano visita Estocolmo e a força policial toma medidas de segurança especiais. Martin Beck é escolhido para liderar a equipa principal responsável.
Ao longo dos dez livros, Maj Söjwall e Per Wahlöö fazem uma critica à Suécia, através de uma caracterização minuciosa da força policial. Da perspetiva de Martin Beck e a sua equipa, os autores revelam as consequências das decisões políticas para o cidadão comum. Acima de tudo, o casal sueco não teve medo de expor a forma como seu país é governado, mantendo presente a realidade, numa narrativa de ficção estimulante, perspicaz, complexa e, acima de tudo, repleta de significados sobre a vida e o ser humano.
March 6, 2014
The last one...
Sat Drama
This could be the best of them all, and sadly, the end. Just goes to prove that a series needn't deteriorate into dross. *looks pointedly at Cornwell's Scarpetta*
3* Roseanna (Martin Beck #1)
3* The Man Who Went Up in Smoke (Martin Beck #2)
3* The Man on the Balcony (Martin Beck, #3)
3* The Laughing Policeman (Martin Beck #4)
3* The Fire Engine That Disappeared (Martin Beck #5)
#6 MISSING! Oh Noes!!
3* The Abominable Man (Martin Beck #7)
3* The Locked Room (Martin Beck #8)
2* Cop Killer (Martin Beck #9)
4* The Terrorists
Sat DramaThis could be the best of them all, and sadly, the end. Just goes to prove that a series needn't deteriorate into dross. *looks pointedly at Cornwell's Scarpetta*
3* Roseanna (Martin Beck #1)
3* The Man Who Went Up in Smoke (Martin Beck #2)
3* The Man on the Balcony (Martin Beck, #3)
3* The Laughing Policeman (Martin Beck #4)
3* The Fire Engine That Disappeared (Martin Beck #5)
#6 MISSING! Oh Noes!!
3* The Abominable Man (Martin Beck #7)
3* The Locked Room (Martin Beck #8)
2* Cop Killer (Martin Beck #9)
4* The Terrorists
September 23, 2022
Very good final entry in the Martin Beck series. I wish there were a few more of these to read!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 314 reviews