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johnnyb1954's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
It is good that this is the last of the Martin Beck series.
The authors set out to explore various aspects of police work and crime. They also are intent on critique of Swedish society and the corruption of the system - and on attacking capitalism.
They lean heavily in these detective story aspects to the point that it spoils what they are actually good at.
They wrote good police stories and their social commentary is heavy handed - regardless of whether they are right or not - and not well written.
The story of Rebecka Lind is in this book only to show how vulnerable people are lost in and hurt by the systems. It’s really unnecessary to the book and the servile court scene is a farce.
The murder element is also like a short story within the book - unrelated to the terrorist plot.
The terrorism story is fairly well done except for the opening chapter which tries to make people being blown up comical. That is a problem on the last three books - the balance of humor and drama is poorly handled.
The authors set out to explore various aspects of police work and crime. They also are intent on critique of Swedish society and the corruption of the system - and on attacking capitalism.
They lean heavily in these detective story aspects to the point that it spoils what they are actually good at.
They wrote good police stories and their social commentary is heavy handed - regardless of whether they are right or not - and not well written.
The story of Rebecka Lind is in this book only to show how vulnerable people are lost in and hurt by the systems. It’s really unnecessary to the book and the servile court scene is a farce.
The murder element is also like a short story within the book - unrelated to the terrorist plot.
The terrorism story is fairly well done except for the opening chapter which tries to make people being blown up comical. That is a problem on the last three books - the balance of humor and drama is poorly handled.
etakloknok's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
bev_reads_mysteries's review against another edition
2.0
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.
jakewritesbooks's review against another edition
5.0
Is this it? Really it? All I get from the Martin Beck series?
Damn.
What great books these are. They’ve ruined the police procedural for me forever.
When I first sat down to read Roseanna about five years ago, I would have never guessed this would become one of my favorite book series of all time. I found it to be a drab, uninspiring procedural novel. Fun if you like reading about shoe leather detective work but otherwise nothing special.
And then someone turned me on to the rest of the series, saying it was probably the best book series they’ve ever read. So I went back to it. I liked book two. By book three, I was hooked. The rest, as they say, is history.
And now, we’re at the end of the road.
I believe this was completed shortly before Maj Sjöwall died. At the very least, I got a sense of both urgency and closure. Now that can sometimes lead to sloppiness. But we’re in capable hands here. These books are not always perfect (though they sometimes are) but they are never sloppy.
Here are essentially three cases in one that tie together to reveal the authors many criticisms of Sweden. Throughout the whole series, they’ve touched on nearly every aspect of Swedish society and now here, at last, they bring their analysis to its devastating conclusion. Every time an emotional note is hit, I remembered “Oh yeah, there’s another case to solve.”
They’ve also greatly contracted the scope too. Whereas, the books tend to give POVs from a wide variety of police officers, this one shrinks its scope to the two greatest characters: the familiar Martin Beck and the incomparable Gunvald Larsson. It gives us a chance to say goodbye to them.
Larsson will be remembered more easily of course, his misanthropic personality and hatred of his fellow officers and the system they uphold make him the series most iconic character. But let us pour one out for Beck too because his person is all the writers have been trying to show us the whole time: it takes patience, understanding and empathy to make a society work. Sometimes it comes in the most banal of packages, like now. The press hails Beck as the savvy detective. The reader knows otherwise. His humanity, imperfectly expressed, gives these stories the depth that makes them great.
I’m so sad this journey is over, and went out on such a high note. I will miss it. There’s simply nothing else like it.
Damn.
What great books these are. They’ve ruined the police procedural for me forever.
When I first sat down to read Roseanna about five years ago, I would have never guessed this would become one of my favorite book series of all time. I found it to be a drab, uninspiring procedural novel. Fun if you like reading about shoe leather detective work but otherwise nothing special.
And then someone turned me on to the rest of the series, saying it was probably the best book series they’ve ever read. So I went back to it. I liked book two. By book three, I was hooked. The rest, as they say, is history.
And now, we’re at the end of the road.
I believe this was completed shortly before Maj Sjöwall died. At the very least, I got a sense of both urgency and closure. Now that can sometimes lead to sloppiness. But we’re in capable hands here. These books are not always perfect (though they sometimes are) but they are never sloppy.
Here are essentially three cases in one that tie together to reveal the authors many criticisms of Sweden. Throughout the whole series, they’ve touched on nearly every aspect of Swedish society and now here, at last, they bring their analysis to its devastating conclusion. Every time an emotional note is hit, I remembered “Oh yeah, there’s another case to solve.”
They’ve also greatly contracted the scope too. Whereas, the books tend to give POVs from a wide variety of police officers, this one shrinks its scope to the two greatest characters: the familiar Martin Beck and the incomparable Gunvald Larsson. It gives us a chance to say goodbye to them.
Larsson will be remembered more easily of course, his misanthropic personality and hatred of his fellow officers and the system they uphold make him the series most iconic character. But let us pour one out for Beck too because his person is all the writers have been trying to show us the whole time: it takes patience, understanding and empathy to make a society work. Sometimes it comes in the most banal of packages, like now. The press hails Beck as the savvy detective. The reader knows otherwise. His humanity, imperfectly expressed, gives these stories the depth that makes them great.
I’m so sad this journey is over, and went out on such a high note. I will miss it. There’s simply nothing else like it.
antij's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This series has gone through interesting evolution from a couple of humorous books about a somewhat more realistic take on police work when sometime the police spend weeks without getting new clues and solve cases by accidentally stumbling on a criminal in the act of committing a crime to a more pointed take that the police as a system is faulty and broken where retiring is maybe the best thing a good police officer could do. This final book has one storyline that is fairly straightforward with an ending that is more stereotypical than expected, but a second storyline that is almost the complete opposite that is strong indictment of the whole political system (of 1970s Sweden specifically but also somewhat the whole world at large).
plantbirdwoman's review against another edition
4.0
I am in mourning. I've just finished the last of the Martin Beck mysteries. There will be no more regular visits with Beck and his doughty but quirky band of Swedish policemen as they battle to rid their society of the evil that afflicts it.
It seems fitting somehow that this last book featured terrorism as its theme, since terrorism has become such an expected part of our lives in the twenty-first century. This book was published in 1975 but it seems as fresh as today's news. Indeed, all ten of the books in this series, starting with Roseanna in 1965, seem current and not at all dated in their outlook. They seem very relevant for the times in which we live.
The Terrorists begins and ends with acts of terrorism - the first in an unnamed Latin American country and the second in Stockholm. These acts are committed by a very well organized international terrorist organization for whom terrorism is a business. But Sjowall/Wahloo seem to be exploring a much wider definition of terrorism including that which is perpetrated by the bureaucratic apparatus of the state which is always portrayed as a hapless, insensitive, incompetent villain in these books. The writers were always looking at the wider cultural issues that plagued Swedish society during the time about which they were writing and that, in fact, continue to plague Western societies today. That wider cultural focus is, I think, why these stories remain so fresh while some others from the same period seem hopelessly dated.
At the beginning of The Terrorists Gunwald Larsson is sent to that unnamed South American country as an observer of the security measures taken for a state event. As an observer, he is present when a bomb explodes, killing the president of the country as well as several other people. What he has learned from the experience, primarily, is that the terrorists are very skilled at their jobs.
Back in Stockholm, we meet a young teenage mother who is caught in the coils of red tape produced by that aforementioned incompetent bureaucratic apparatus. She responds by attempting to borrow some money from a bank. Her actions are misinterpreted and she is arrested for bank robbery. The gears of the bureaucracy continue to grind her up.
Then a millionaire pornography filmmaker is murdered and the search is on for his killer. That particular crime is cleared up in fairly short order when a confession is secured, but during all of this, while investigating the everyday crimes of Stockholm, the police must also prepare themselves for the upcoming state visit by a very unpopular United States senator. An act of terrorism is expected, perhaps an attempt to assassinate the man, and Martin Beck is put in charge of the security detail which must try to prevent that from happening.
He assembles his team which includes most of the names that we are familiar with from the previous nine books and they put a plan in place. It's never clear right up until the event itself whether that plan will actually work, but, throughout, the narrative is rendered in crisp and elegant prose and the pace is brisk. The reader is never bored.
As we say a sad farewell to Martin Beck, at least we are leaving him in a far better place than we found him. When we first met him, he was dyspeptic and morose, constantly battling an oncoming cold, and trapped in a loveless marriage with a woman who didn't appreciate him. Finally, after several books, he extricated himself from that marriage and since then, he has been happier and has been building a life that better suits him. He has found a woman, Rhea, whom he loves and who loves him and who makes him very happy. The only fly in his ointment seems to be the job, even though he is very good at it.
In the conclusion of the book, his friend, Lennart Kollberg, who has resigned from the police tells Martin Beck that he has "the wrong job. At the wrong time. In the wrong part of the world. In the wrong system." That is the Sjowall/Wahloo indictment of that "system" which they obviously felt soiled everything that it touched. These books have a point of view and the reader is never in doubt as to what that is.
One further note: One of the many pleasures of the editions of the books that I have been reading has been their introductions penned by present-day crime fiction writers. Those essays in themselves could stand alone and they have been a treat to read. This last one was introduced by Dennis Lehane and it is a worthy member of that collection.
It seems fitting somehow that this last book featured terrorism as its theme, since terrorism has become such an expected part of our lives in the twenty-first century. This book was published in 1975 but it seems as fresh as today's news. Indeed, all ten of the books in this series, starting with Roseanna in 1965, seem current and not at all dated in their outlook. They seem very relevant for the times in which we live.
The Terrorists begins and ends with acts of terrorism - the first in an unnamed Latin American country and the second in Stockholm. These acts are committed by a very well organized international terrorist organization for whom terrorism is a business. But Sjowall/Wahloo seem to be exploring a much wider definition of terrorism including that which is perpetrated by the bureaucratic apparatus of the state which is always portrayed as a hapless, insensitive, incompetent villain in these books. The writers were always looking at the wider cultural issues that plagued Swedish society during the time about which they were writing and that, in fact, continue to plague Western societies today. That wider cultural focus is, I think, why these stories remain so fresh while some others from the same period seem hopelessly dated.
At the beginning of The Terrorists Gunwald Larsson is sent to that unnamed South American country as an observer of the security measures taken for a state event. As an observer, he is present when a bomb explodes, killing the president of the country as well as several other people. What he has learned from the experience, primarily, is that the terrorists are very skilled at their jobs.
Back in Stockholm, we meet a young teenage mother who is caught in the coils of red tape produced by that aforementioned incompetent bureaucratic apparatus. She responds by attempting to borrow some money from a bank. Her actions are misinterpreted and she is arrested for bank robbery. The gears of the bureaucracy continue to grind her up.
Then a millionaire pornography filmmaker is murdered and the search is on for his killer. That particular crime is cleared up in fairly short order when a confession is secured, but during all of this, while investigating the everyday crimes of Stockholm, the police must also prepare themselves for the upcoming state visit by a very unpopular United States senator. An act of terrorism is expected, perhaps an attempt to assassinate the man, and Martin Beck is put in charge of the security detail which must try to prevent that from happening.
He assembles his team which includes most of the names that we are familiar with from the previous nine books and they put a plan in place. It's never clear right up until the event itself whether that plan will actually work, but, throughout, the narrative is rendered in crisp and elegant prose and the pace is brisk. The reader is never bored.
As we say a sad farewell to Martin Beck, at least we are leaving him in a far better place than we found him. When we first met him, he was dyspeptic and morose, constantly battling an oncoming cold, and trapped in a loveless marriage with a woman who didn't appreciate him. Finally, after several books, he extricated himself from that marriage and since then, he has been happier and has been building a life that better suits him. He has found a woman, Rhea, whom he loves and who loves him and who makes him very happy. The only fly in his ointment seems to be the job, even though he is very good at it.
In the conclusion of the book, his friend, Lennart Kollberg, who has resigned from the police tells Martin Beck that he has "the wrong job. At the wrong time. In the wrong part of the world. In the wrong system." That is the Sjowall/Wahloo indictment of that "system" which they obviously felt soiled everything that it touched. These books have a point of view and the reader is never in doubt as to what that is.
One further note: One of the many pleasures of the editions of the books that I have been reading has been their introductions penned by present-day crime fiction writers. Those essays in themselves could stand alone and they have been a treat to read. This last one was introduced by Dennis Lehane and it is a worthy member of that collection.
brontebucket's review against another edition
4.0
The 10th book in the 10-year book. Beck is frustrated by the increase in crime in Sweden and the increased violence uses by the police in return. The old fashioned policing methods are being replaced with a more equipped but heavy handed police force. The story has several strands - the murder of a porn film director, the story of Rebecca Lind a girl who has lost her boyfriend and who feels failed bu the system, and then a terrorist cell who are plotting to kill a visiting Senator. Beck ends up leading a multi-disciplinary team and all his colleagues we have grown to know over the series of books are involved. There are some surprises in the plot which I won’t give away and the ending is satisfactory although you are unsure what Beck will do with his career. I think it is a book which would be difficult to enjoy as much as a stand-alone. It builds up the characters through the series.
lettazett's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
piccoline's review against another edition
5.0
Quite a fitting close to a simply wonderful series. Witty and dark as ever, and with the critique of failing society even more sharp than before. There were two different passages where I’d have stood up and cheered if not for fear of waking someone nearby.
Beck is a literary creation of great worth.
Beck is a literary creation of great worth.