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johnnyb1954's review against another edition
4.0
I like this better than the first book
My only complaint is that there are a lot of characters who come into play at the end and it was difficult to follow.
My only complaint is that there are a lot of characters who come into play at the end and it was difficult to follow.
sethlynch's review against another edition
5.0
This is the second of the ten Martin Beck novels. The first is Roseanna. They are quiet different books. Roseanna begins with the discover of the body. In this book Martin Beck is asked to track down a man who has disappeared. He was last seen in Budapest – this is 1966, Hungary is behind the Iron Curtain. Beck is followed, he thinks by the security police. There is an attempt on his life. He returns to Sweden without having found his man. Back home the investigation continues.
I don’t want to give anything away so won’t say too much more. I liked the pun in the title. The character of Martin Beck is further developed. His marriage is slowly breaking apart, and you get the feeling that the marriages’ of all cops are breaking apart. The ongoing investigation does leaves Beck feeling drained. When it is over he recommences the summer holiday he was about to take at the beginning. This time, instead of looking forward to it, he feels sickened. The crime itself isn’t sickening – as the crime in Roseanna was – it is the inevitability of it all. The day will never come where Beck hangs up his hat and says ‘The streets are safe.’ Society gets slowly worse. The crimes keeping coming. Some are trivial some nasty. People live and die and Beck helps clean up the mess. And by the time one mess is cleaned two more are made. Beck’s sickness is societies sickness and if things don’t change they will continue to get slowly worse.
I hadn’t read much Swedish literature until I started reading Swedish Crime. I’m most of the way through the final Millennium Trilogy book. Upstairs I have a Wallander novel ready to read – although it is number 4 in the series and I don’t think I will be able to read it until I have read 1-3 first. As Beck makes his way around Stockholm I begin to recognise the street names. It must be what readers of Sherlock Holmes feel like when the read about London. At some point I’ll visit Stockholm and find a pleasant friendly city, but I won’t be able to shake of the murder and rape that occurs in these books. As for Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, they would probably be pleased to know it. They wanted to reveal the real city, not the free love paradise image that Sweden had in the sixties .
I don’t want to give anything away so won’t say too much more. I liked the pun in the title. The character of Martin Beck is further developed. His marriage is slowly breaking apart, and you get the feeling that the marriages’ of all cops are breaking apart. The ongoing investigation does leaves Beck feeling drained. When it is over he recommences the summer holiday he was about to take at the beginning. This time, instead of looking forward to it, he feels sickened. The crime itself isn’t sickening – as the crime in Roseanna was – it is the inevitability of it all. The day will never come where Beck hangs up his hat and says ‘The streets are safe.’ Society gets slowly worse. The crimes keeping coming. Some are trivial some nasty. People live and die and Beck helps clean up the mess. And by the time one mess is cleaned two more are made. Beck’s sickness is societies sickness and if things don’t change they will continue to get slowly worse.
I hadn’t read much Swedish literature until I started reading Swedish Crime. I’m most of the way through the final Millennium Trilogy book. Upstairs I have a Wallander novel ready to read – although it is number 4 in the series and I don’t think I will be able to read it until I have read 1-3 first. As Beck makes his way around Stockholm I begin to recognise the street names. It must be what readers of Sherlock Holmes feel like when the read about London. At some point I’ll visit Stockholm and find a pleasant friendly city, but I won’t be able to shake of the murder and rape that occurs in these books. As for Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, they would probably be pleased to know it. They wanted to reveal the real city, not the free love paradise image that Sweden had in the sixties .
markhoh's review against another edition
4.0
“Martin Beck, the born detective and famous observer, constantly occupied making useless observations and storing them away for future use. Doesn’t even have bats in his belfry—they wouldn’t get in for all the crap in the way”
What is it that I love about Martin Beck? There’s something about him that I cannot get enough of. I think it’s actually his ordinariness to be honest that makes him quite extraordinary. His attention to detail, be it the meticulous details of the crime he is investigating or the mundane details of everyday life is so explicitly portrayed. The activities of daily life that intersperse with the investigative genius that he really is, come together to make him a totally believable and very likeable character albeit a somewhat aloof character.
“He got up, went out into the bathroom and coughed for a while, as he usually did in the mornings. After drinking a gulp of mineral water, he pulled on his dressing gown and opened the shutters and the window. The contrast between the dusky light of the room and the clear, sharp sunlight outside was almost overwhelming. So was the view”. What is it that I love about just knowing that Martin Beck goes to the bathroom and coughs for a while first thing in the morning? It’s his totally human and totally relatable portrayal.
The Man Who Went Up In Smoke is the second in the Martin Beck series written by the Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, the duo who virtually created Scandi Noir. The story sees Martin Beck investigating the disappearance of a Swedish man in communist Hungary. The climax of the investigation occurs back on Swedish soil, however, Martin Beck’s experiences in Hungary are what I enjoyed the most.. the descriptions of Budapest, what he could see from his hotel window and the interchanges with the Hungarian police.
I love too how Sjöwall and Wahlöö always and without fail refer to Martin Beck by both his names. Never just Martin or Beck but always Martin Beck. Not sure why I love that but somehow it adds to the whole style of their writing. Really looking forward to more of this series that set the scene for Scandinavian crime fiction.
What is it that I love about Martin Beck? There’s something about him that I cannot get enough of. I think it’s actually his ordinariness to be honest that makes him quite extraordinary. His attention to detail, be it the meticulous details of the crime he is investigating or the mundane details of everyday life is so explicitly portrayed. The activities of daily life that intersperse with the investigative genius that he really is, come together to make him a totally believable and very likeable character albeit a somewhat aloof character.
“He got up, went out into the bathroom and coughed for a while, as he usually did in the mornings. After drinking a gulp of mineral water, he pulled on his dressing gown and opened the shutters and the window. The contrast between the dusky light of the room and the clear, sharp sunlight outside was almost overwhelming. So was the view”. What is it that I love about just knowing that Martin Beck goes to the bathroom and coughs for a while first thing in the morning? It’s his totally human and totally relatable portrayal.
The Man Who Went Up In Smoke is the second in the Martin Beck series written by the Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, the duo who virtually created Scandi Noir. The story sees Martin Beck investigating the disappearance of a Swedish man in communist Hungary. The climax of the investigation occurs back on Swedish soil, however, Martin Beck’s experiences in Hungary are what I enjoyed the most.. the descriptions of Budapest, what he could see from his hotel window and the interchanges with the Hungarian police.
I love too how Sjöwall and Wahlöö always and without fail refer to Martin Beck by both his names. Never just Martin or Beck but always Martin Beck. Not sure why I love that but somehow it adds to the whole style of their writing. Really looking forward to more of this series that set the scene for Scandinavian crime fiction.
senkahawke's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
quietjenn's review against another edition
4.0
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.
arthurbdd's review against another edition
4.0
Cunning exercise in justifying the ensemble cast approach of the Martin Beck series by letting Beck flounder by himself for a while before he's finally able to get the assistance of his colleagues and tackle the matter collaboratively. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/2022/08/17/a-random-slice-of-martin-beck/
grhuwi's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
chukg's review against another edition
3.0
These are pretty fun and fairly short, I'll probably keep up with them. You can really see the foundations of more recent crime novels.
etakloknok's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
lou1sb's review against another edition
5.0
This book made me want to do three things: 1. Go back to Budapest, 2. Drink a lot of beer and smoke a lot of bad Hungarian cigarettes and 3. Buy the next book in the series. Oh and it also made me want to watch Hitchcock films and not study for my mid-semester tomorrow.