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

Maj Sjöwall,

Per Wahlöö

Start date: January 15, 2023

Finish date: February 7, 2023

Discussion: Buddy reads

Why we're reading this: The second in this acclaimed series.
[close] The second in this acclaimed series.

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What Members Thought

Dec 21, 2022 Susan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is the second in the Martin Beck series, first published in 1966. It is August in Stockholm and Beck is about to join his wife and children on an island for his summer holiday. However, no sooner has he arrived than he receives a call asking for him to return. A Swedish journalist, Alf Matsson, has disappeared in Hungary. Counter-espionage are interested in the missing journalist, who is said to be an expert on Eastern Europe. Abandoning the holiday (his wife bemoaning her lot in being left ...more

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Jan 14, 2009 Nancy Oakes rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-fiction, translated-crime-fiction, crime-fiction-scandinavia

The Man Who Went Up in Smoke is #2 in the series featuring Inspector Martin Beck. It's his vacation time, and his family has taken a cottage on an island off the coast of Sweden. But only a day into vacation time, he's recalled to work for an important case. It seems that the foreign office is concerned about a missing journalist, Alf Matsson, who was last seen in Budapest. While Beck's not clear as to why the foreign office should be so concerned, he takes on the case, starting in Matsson's las ...more

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Apr 14, 2012 Bev rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, vintage-mystery, police-procedural, mount-tbr-2013

The Man Who Went up in Smoke is the second novel by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö in the Martin Beck series. In this one, Martin--a policeman through and through--gives up his summer holiday with his family to try and track down a missing journalist and avoid an international incident. He finds himself leaving his island off the coast of Sweden to head to Hungary to search for Alf Matsson who has vanished without a trace from his hotel in Budapest. Matsson checked into the hotel, spent a whole half The Man Who Went up in Smoke is the second novel by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö in the Martin Beck series. In this one, Martin--a policeman through and through--gives up his summer holiday with his family to try and track down a missing journalist and avoid an international incident. He finds himself leaving his island off the coast of Sweden to head to Hungary to search for Alf Matsson who has vanished without a trace from his hotel in Budapest. Matsson checked into the hotel, spent a whole half hour in his room, and walked out of the hotel never to be seen again. Martin follows up clues that lead him through the Eastern underworld and finds him in contact with some very shady journalists. Officials in Hungary seem to want to believe that Matsson is just playing tourist. But Martin refuses to believe that the journalist would have walked off without his passport and the large sum of money hidden in his luggage. But has Matsson disappeared by his own design or has he met foul play? That's what Martin must discover.

This is an interesting story about a detective out of his comfort zone. Martin has to operate in another country--without the resources of his police colleagues to help in the immediate action. He does contact his department to follow up what leads they can back in Sweden, but he is on his own in Hungary. At least until he wins the trust of the local officials. I enjoyed this story in a different way from the other Martin Beck novels I've read so far. It was interesting to see him on his own and to read the descriptions of Hungary and the comparisons to Sweden. It was a nice one-off story. But I have to say that given the choice--I prefer the interactions between Martin and his colleagues to Martin on his own and I wouldn't want to read an entire series that focused on Martin by himself.

The mystery sets Martin a fine little puzzle and it's interesting to watch him follow the leads. There were a couple of leaps in deduction that caught me unawares and it took me a bit to catch up with our detective--but overall, a good solid story. Three stars.

This was first posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks. ...more

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Aug 05, 2009 Jenn Estepp rated it really liked it

Shelves: sleuths-and-gumshoes, libraries-are-great

second in the series. which i suspect i am going to end up reading my way through in it's entirety. somewhat cerebral and i tapped into the solution slightly before martin beck did, but still entirely absorbing and enjoyable. ...more

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