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

Mar 22, 2009 Nancy Oakes rated it really liked it · review of another edition

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

catching up on unreviewed books (from 2011)

According to author Jo Nesbø, who wrote the introduction to this edition of the novel (third in the Martin Beck series), Man on the Balcony found its inspiration in an actual case that occurred in Stockholm in 1963. At that time, two little girls were sexually abused and then murdered by someone who lured them away from the park where they were playing. Man on the Balcony imagines a similar case and its authors deliver it into the hands of Martin Beck a catching up on unreviewed books (from 2011)

According to author Jo Nesbø, who wrote the introduction to this edition of the novel (third in the Martin Beck series), Man on the Balcony found its inspiration in an actual case that occurred in Stockholm in 1963. At that time, two little girls were sexually abused and then murdered by someone who lured them away from the park where they were playing. Man on the Balcony imagines a similar case and its authors deliver it into the hands of Martin Beck and other detectives of the Stockholm police.

As the story opens, a man is sitting on his balcony as the sun comes up one June day. There he smokes cigarettes, drinks coffee, and watches. He looks at the roofs of other buildings and observes the street below him, and as the city begins to awaken, he watches traffic, pedestrians, cyclists, and a man walking his dog -- nothing out of the ordinary really. The action then switches to the police station, where Martin Beck and his colleagues are discussing the latest in a series of serious muggings that have been taking place in the city parks. But the worst is yet to come -- in one of these parks, two "seedy figures" looking for coins in the grass take a break, open a bottle to share, and come upon the body of a young girl hidden beneath a bush. It is only the first of what will become a series of murders, and Beck (who is always referred to as "Martin Beck" throughout the novel) and the other detectives now find themselves in a race against time before the killer strikes again.

The Man on the Balcony is a police procedural, but that particular label isn't the best description for this series. There's much more at work here than the police getting the case, looking for clues and solving it. The policemen, while they do their jobs well, can at times be rather introspective about the state of crime and crime solving.

Sjowall and Wahloo also draw attention to the social climate of the times in Stockholm and Sweden, reflecting not just on what occurs within police precinct walls but throughout the city as well. At the park at Mariatorget, for example, a place where "schoolchildren and other young people met the small-scale dope pushers,"

Every day large quantities of hashish, marijuana, preludin and LSD were passed furtively from seller to buyer. And the buyers were getting younger and younger. Soon they would become addicts... Drug-taking among young people was caused by a catastrophic philosophy which had been provoked by the prevailing system. Consequently society should be duty bound to produce an effective counterargument.

For many readers, the commentary on Sweden of the late 60s might not be a drawing point, but it adds a sense of the realism regarding the society in which these fictional crimes occur. This is a hallmark of the other books in the series as well, in which the authors "use the crime novel as a scalpel cutting open the belly of the ideological pauperized and morally debatable so-called welfare state of the bourgeois type." But going beyond the social criticism, Man On the Balcony is a realistic novel where the characters behave in a realistic fashion. Take the main character, Martin Beck, for example. Now a superintendent, he still suffers from insomnia, still has problems with his wife and still has trouble making sense of society, but is not nearly as angst ridden as some of the more modern Scandinavian detectives. He doesn't always agree with his colleagues about the way they're handling either of the cases, but he cares about them and he loves his work. He also knows how to work the system when he needs to. There is a wonderful section in this novel where Beck interviews a three year-old witness that actually made me laugh, but it could only have been Beck that pulled it off.

Man on the Balcony is such a good novel that the time spent reading it just flies by. There's an incredible sense of sophistication in the writing, the sense of place and time is very well established, and it's an intelligent read. The length of the book might be short, but it doesn't need to be any longer -- everything that's needed to make this novel work is already there, especially in the characterizations. I can definitely recommend it to readers of Scandinavian crime fiction, to readers who may have read one or two other books in the Martin Beck series and aren't sure about the rest, and to readers of crime fiction in general.
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Mar 25, 2023 Susan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Although I really enjoyed the previous two books in this series, for me, this was the first five-star review. First published in 1968, this follows a disturbing case in the Stockholm police department. It is another warm summer (so far, we have not hit typical Scandanavian weather in this series) and even before the case begins, the police are disturbed by a series of violent muggings in the city parks. However, then a young girl is found murdered and the police find themselves questioned and un ...more

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May 09, 2011 Bev rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, police-procedural

The Man on the Balcony by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö starts out with what seems to be a crank call. An elderly woman phones the police to complaining about a "nasty" man who stands on his own balcony for hours at a time--just staring at the traffic and the children at play in the streets below. Before long that call is forgotten as the Stockholm police are confronted with a child-killer. Someone is stalking young girls (average age of ten) and then molesting and killing them in the city's parks. The Man on the Balcony by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö starts out with what seems to be a crank call. An elderly woman phones the police to complaining about a "nasty" man who stands on his own balcony for hours at a time--just staring at the traffic and the children at play in the streets below. Before long that call is forgotten as the Stockholm police are confronted with a child-killer. Someone is stalking young girls (average age of ten) and then molesting and killing them in the city's parks. There are few clues to be had for Superintendent Martin Beck and his colleagues and soon the city's residents are putting together civil guards to watch their children at play. Everyone is on edge with the undercurrent of fear affecting even the police. Beck has two witnesses: a mugger who doesn't really want to cooperate and a three-year-old boy who can't tell all he knows. But will they tell the police enough to lead them to the killer?

This was a really difficult read for me. Not difficult like my previous book, Intruder in the Dust, was difficult--thankfully, there is no stream of consciousness here. And not difficult in the writing style--I sailed right through the the story. It wasn't over my head. No, what was hard was the subject matter. I have a very difficult time reading stories that involve children being murdered, abused, or harmed in any way. The only thing that helped me overcome the subject was the deft manner in which it was handled. The writing is clear and simple and it carries the reader straight through the action. The deaths are described in such a way that you feel the horror of the situation without being immersed in it. It also helps that Sjöwalll and Wahlöö write such a good police procedural. You are concentrating on the policemen and their methods far more than on horrible crimes--which for me is a good thing.

Overall, my enjoyment of the writing, the characters, and the story itself far outweighed any squeamishness on my part to read about child-murder. ...more

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Aug 15, 2012 Katie rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery

I usually avoid any book that deals with crimes against children, but this one was so well written, and I like this series so much, I took the chance. It was definitely worth it! I just skipped over the crime's details to save my sanity, and still really enjoyed this book. They remind me of the Maigret books - just love them! ...more

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