Reflections on the Beck series

When you come across an author you really like there is always that dilemma that as you plough through their catalogue and get closer to the end of their output you know that the moment when you finish is getting nearer.

So it was perhaps for that reason that completing the tenth and final Martin Beck crime story from husband and wife team Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo took a bit longer to get to than I planned.

Having completed it and as a result finished the Beck books I'd like to just make a few comments about the experience.

Firstly, this was my first introduction to Swedish crime writing, which is so much in vogue now but was virgin territory when these books were written back in the 1970s. As a result through the pages of these books I was introduced to a country that was cold most of the time, windswept and had the same problems you find anywhere else with drugs and murder occupying the police.

But these books also provided a political and social context as a backdrop to their stories so the changing nature of the police, becoming armed and more authoritarian, is also a feature along with references to anti-Vietnam war protests and some of the demands for the legalisation of drugs.

Throughout the series of books a small team of police officers that operate around the central character of Martin Beck are introduced and one of these Kollberg, a good policeman, goes as far as to leave the force because he cannot live with the changes that are happening to the police.

Secondly, the style of the books introduces a reader into a world where crimes can take months and years to solve and often it is a bit of luck that helps solve them rather than the great ability of a master detective. The first book Roseanna had just one such case that took the police months to solve.

Given that the action can be slow to come to a head you could be forgiven for wondering why you stick with it. The answer is a mixture of great characteisation, you want to know more about Beck and his colleagues, and an ability to pull out some of the detail from the background into the foreground.

Although these days it's all about girls and dragon tatoos and snowmen the Beck books are some of the orignials and for those who enjoy a good crime read and police procedural it's hard to beat these books. I'm sad to have finished them but very grateful that I came across them.

book review: The Terrorists by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo

"'The motorcade is now passing Haga southern gates,' said the radio announcer. 'The streets are absolutely seething with demonstrators. They're shouting slogans in chorus. It's even worse at Haga Courthouse.'
Heydt looked at the television screens to see for himself. The slogans could be heard less well on television and the reporter did not bother to mention them. Instead, he said, 'The Senator's bullet-proof, custom-built car is now passing Stallmastaregarden, where the government is giving a gala banquet tonight.'
The moment was very close.
'At this moment the car with the Senator and the Prime Minister is leaving Solna and crossing the Stockholm city boundary.'
Very, very close."

The idea of knowing the face and final movements of terrorists is something that has become all too common in the last few years as the video taped final statements are broadcast after the suicide bombers wreak their terrible havoc.

But back in the 1970s terrorism was a faceless secret activity where people planted bombs with out the intention of either taking their own lives or getting caught. It is this type of terrorist, ruthlessly efficient but a career bomber and political assassin, that the Swedish police find themselves trying to defend a visiting US senator against.

Weaving through this story is not just a couple of sub plots, plenty of detail on character and the personal lives of the main protagonists but also plenty of social context. Sjowall and Wahloo don't just write books that contain policemen solving crimes they put those crime fighting efforts in a context that is not always a good one. The Vietnam war is in its final stages and the police have become an armed force of repression against not those that protest against the war but against too many normal citizens.

In this environment Martin Beck has to coordinate attempts to stop the assassination of the deeply unpopular US senator. There are moments in the cat and mouse game with the terrorists where the book is so visual you turn the pages as if watching a film.

The police know the identity of one of the terrorists Richard Heydt and in the end it becomes a personal battle between him and Gunvald Larsson who sets his sights on bringing him to justice.

The sense of failure is always in the air and there are numerous points where your faith in Beck, well established over nine previous books, is seriously tested.

But if there is one thing the couple know how to do it is to deliver a story that kicks into a higher gear as it reaches the final third and the pace is evident again here.

Putting this alongside all the other Beck novels it has to be considered one of the better ones. But you could never come to this without knowing about the past laid down in the previous books. Neither is it possible to get top the end of this 10 book series without a deep appreciation and respect for the husband and wife team that wrote them. Reading them has been one of my best reading discoveries of recent years.

Thoughts at the half way point of The Terrorists

There is something rather odd reading a book penned in the 1970s that covers terrorism in a way that seems almost fresh. We are so familiar with the idea of bombings, political assassinations and explosions designed to disrupt society that it is almost taken for granted.

But here the idea of a terrorist cell turning up on Swedish soil to target the visit of a US senator is one that throws the police into confusion. As usual Mart Beck emerges as the calm in the storm and is given responsibility for protecting the senator.

But before the senator arrives there is the case of a bank robbery to be dealt with and the lessons from the latest political assassination which is witnessed by a Swedish policeman sent to watch and learn how an anti-terrorist campaign is run.

The failure of those efforts to prevent the bombing and the poor state of the anti-terrorist forces in the Swedish police indicate that any attempts to stop the bombing in Sweden are going to be a close run thing.

A review follows on completion...

book review - Cop Killer - Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo

"There seemed to be no one within the police administration capable of grasping the simple truth that violence breeds violence and that, in fact, it was the police who had struck the first blow."

The reason why the crime books penned by husband and wife team Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo are so enjoyable is because they are not just about crime and detection.

This is a book that takes you back into the 1960s and 1970s Sweden a country that suffers from suicides, gun crime and has a police force that lacks popularity. Part of the problem with the police is of course the involvement of guns and the response from the criminals who have become increasingly violent.

The book starts with just such an example with a petty bank robber who has killed a woman during a robbery because he had taken a gun along to the crime. But quickly the action shifts towards the countryside as Beck is sent to solve the dissapearance and then confirmed murder of a local woman.

In the one horse town Beck finds a different Sweden where the police are part of the community and crime has not taken over society. But even in that location there is a chance for Beck readers to become acquainted with the killer from the first book in the series and the murderer from the third. These figures are there perhaps to confuse and distract as much as to show a dedication by Sjowall and Wahloo to dig back into the rich world they have created.

If there is a dominant theme in the book, which has already emerged in the The Locked Room, it is the amount of time Beck has to spend fighting his superiors and dealing with politics. Crime solving by numbers means that innocent people are going to be sent to prison and Beck and his colleagues are resorting to using their basic police skills to outwit their superiors as well as protect the public.

This book, the ninth in a ten book series, is a return to the form of the first book in the series and by the end you are gladly immersed with the characters that you have come to care about, sympathise with and want the best for.

Onwards to the end which will be a mixed experience as reading these crime books has been great.

Thoughts at the half way point of Cop Killer

one of the tricks that you must be allowed to play after you have reached the ninth book in a series is to reintroduce some of the characters from the earlier books.

So the killer from the first Martin Beck book reappears here and is in the frame for another sex murder. But neither Beck or his friend Kollberg can believe that the man is innocent and against a backdrop of political pressure the two men delay putting an innocent man behind bars.

Sjowall and Wahloo are able to set the action away from Stockholm in the countryside where a murder makes big news providing a contrast with which to make points about the decline of life in 1970s Sweden.

The police are despised and the criminals are getting more trigger happy making it increasingly difficult for those that disagree with the questions of the police being armed.

A review follows soon...

book review - The Locked Room - Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo

'Don't you ever read detective stories?'
'No'
'I read tons of them. Anything. And forget most of it as soon as I've finished. But that's a classic. A room locked on the inside...'

By the eight book in a series of ten you start to fear that perhaps the initial high standards might have started to wear off. There is that worry that the characters that seemed so fresh at the start are by now hitting the boundaries of the descriptions their authors have written for them.

Those fears are totally understandable but utterly irrelevant with The Locked Room. Far from dipping in terms of quality Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo open the shoulders here and display a confidence about their world and their ability to deliver solid characters as well as well written plots. Martin Beck, the man who after all lends his name to the series, plays second fiddle here.

But what is fresh about the Locked Room is the injection of humour with some passages being almost Tom Sharpe like in the way the police descend into farce trying to catch bank robbers. The chief of police who leads an anti-vietnam march straight into a crowd of football hooligans is just one of the images that lingers.

At the heart are the parallel stories of the bank robbery that opens the book and the discovery of a dead man in a locked room who had suffered a shot to the stomach.

Police incompetence riddles both cases with Beck often expressing exasperation with his colleagues more than with the challenges of tracking down smart criminals. It is the ability to bring in the social and political background that makes the books from Sjowall and Wahloo so different because you are given an insight into a Sweden in the early 1970s, a society that dislikes the police and has political leanings towards the left. The witness who deliberately invents a get-away car does so to hinder the police and aid those he sees as fighting against society.

The other great skill in the Beck series is the way that along with the hard graft of policeman and women like Beck out there on the streets there is the way that luck plays a crucial role. They never overplay it and on the tightrope of keeping the reader believing you are always kept on the right side of falling into disbelief.

Onwards to the last couple in the series.

Thoughts at the half way point of The Locked Room

There is a great deal more humour in this book than some of the others in the Martin Beck series and there is incredible confidence being shown by the authors.

It's hard to imagine anyone effectively sidelining the main character for half of the story as the action focuses elsewhere but this is what they do with Beck who as a result cuts an even lonelier figure.

In a tale dominated by bank robberies and blundering officials Beck concentrates his mind on working out just who killed the man in the locked room.

Review on completion soon...

Murder at the Savoy - post II

Although this book might not have the pace of some of the earlier Beck books you have to admire the confidence that the authors have in opening up the cast of characters. Some people would rely on the main detective and a sidekick, think Morse, but here there are a handful of police officers that are fleshed out enough to be able to carry the story on their own.

If anything in this book Beck takes a background role as the foot work is done by others and the breakthrough comes collectively. This is one of those stories that is perhaps on the cusp of not only finishing the series with the last four books but feels like that because it is describing a country on the edge of change.

The constant references to the heat are not just there to paint the scene but also provide an indication of a growing friction created by change. The forces of conservatism are being attacked by the youthful led demands for change in the 60s.

The fact a thriller can convey such socio and political information without interrupting or spoiling the main story is testament to the writing ability of Sjowall and Wahloo. This leaves you wanting to crack on with the seventh book in the series.

A review will follow soon...

Murder at the Savoy - post I

Every reader has a guilty pleasure, a book that although it isn't Tolstoy fills them with joy, and in my case the genre best able to deliver that quick hit of intense reading pleasure is the thriller.

Being slightly more specific about it the police procedurals, following the case through the lens of the police activity, when done well can be gripping. Two of the masters are husband and wife team Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo and with their creation of Martin Beck they take you onto the streets of Sweden in the 1960s and into police stations in Stockholm and Malmo.

The crime tends to take place early on and then the rest of the book is spent following Beck and his colleagues as they try to fathom the often unfathomable and bring the case to a conclusion.

This is no different with a prominent business man shot in a hotel, the Savoy dining room, by a gun man who then jumps out of an open window into the hot summer night and disappears.

From that starting point, with no clear witness statements the police have to start the hunt for a killer.

More tomorrow....

book review - The Fire Engine that Disappeared

Some of these books are better than others but I am unashamed to say that I thoroughly enjoy the Martin Beck thrillers from Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo.

Between them the husband and wife team manage to weave together a story that often seems to be in two halves with the crime and the misunderstanding around it taking up the first chunk before they pin it down in the second.

Interestingly the main character Martin Beck doesn’t feature a great deal in this book as the other detectives step into the spotlight and help crack a crime that at first seems to be suicide and then a crime where it will be almost impossible to find the killer.

What keeps it going of course is the determination and dedication of a handful of detectives who refuse to give in even when the odds of them getting a resolution to the crime seem to be remote.

Along with the police Sweden itself plays a role along with the weather as the cold streets of Swedish cities and docks add to the mood and the feeling of despondency.

As part of the story there is a development in Beck’s family life with the breakdown of his marriage more obvious and his daughter opting to move out and make life at home even more unbearable. But he is largely in the shadows and that is a brave move. It would be hard to imagine an Inspector Morse story where the spotlight fell wholly on Lewis and others in the department solved the crime.

But that is the difference that Sjowall and Wahloo bring along with a determination to introduce political themes of the day, in this case the rumblings of discontent against the 60s love culture and drugs.

Although it is hardly going to be put on the library shelf in the category of great literature this is a real joy to read and there are moments when reading should provide this sort of experience.

The Fire Engine that Dissapeared - post II

After an experience like Lines of fate it is attractive to turn to something that is like a warm bath. For me the thrillers of Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo fir that bill.

The fifth book in the ten book series has all of the pluses of the former books with strong characterisation, an intelligent plot and an eye to detail that others might have missed.

But it also has the same frustrating moments when a detective chooses to keep suspicions to themselves or goes back to bed rather than follow-up an idea.

In this story Beck takes rather a back seat as the other officers fight it out between themselves to initially get the case dismissed before they then get on with the task of getting the killers.

Keeps going right until the last page and after a book that took weeks to race through a couple of hundred pages in a day is a complete joy.

A review will come soon…

The Fire Engine that Dissapeared - post I

When you are feeling rough it is always comfortable to take your temperature and duvet and slip into a thriller. There is a pace that prevents you from falling asleep and even if you feel no better you can't be as bad as some of the characters described on the pages of this book.

As you have come to expect with this husband and wife writing duo the story sits up and grabs you in the first couple of chapters. In this case a man, suspected of being involved with drugs, is blown up while one of Martin Beck's homicide squad watches from over the street.

Of course after the action, with the detective pulling bodies out of the windows, the questions start to be asked. At that point Beck starts to come to the fore but he is tired and run down and there is no spark there yet.

book review -The Laughing Policeman

A friend recently asked me if I read anything that could be described as relaxing and fun. I nodded vigorously and mentioned a couple of names he had never heard of before, Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo. The title of their fourth book, The Laughing Policeman, also elicited no response but you can guarantee it would have done from anyone who had read this book.

The reason for the success of what could easily sound dull as a police procedural thriller is the pace and the plot. The pace moves up and down the gears and as a result has the ability to catch you when you are not expecting it with marginal characters making breakthroughs in the case and then what looks like a strong lead hitting a brick wall.

But it is the ability of the husband and wife team to deliver a plot with a cast of characters that are actually made out to be human beings rather than just physical representations of certain job types that is clever. 20 pages in and you are given a twist that jolts you out of autopilot and reminds you that this is going to be something different.

Other thrillers start with a dead body and then keep piling them up until the detective manages to crack the case. Here it is different. You get the crime, in this case eight shot dead in a bus, but then you get very little else until the killer is caught.

Because the killer goes back into the shadows the reader has no idea who they are and has to sit on the shoulder of detective Martin Beck and his team to try and watch how he or she is caught.

Things are never straightforward because this is real life. It is also a book prepared to make statements about the politics of the time with some anti-Vietnam war material in her. It pains a mixed picture of Sweden making it feel much more real than a picture postcard ever could.

But ultimately what makes this fun is the gripping nature of the plot and the perfect timing of the development of the story until it reaches its conclusion. I took this on holiday expecting to spend a few days on it and stayed up late until I had finished it in one sitting. The reason was simply that although I could put it down I simply did not want to.

If you get a chance to pick up one of the thrillers in the ten book series this one after the first Roseanna would b e my recommendation. Beck’s marriage has fallen slightly more apart compared to Roseanna but he is still the cold ridden snow hating detective who never knows when to switch off and the crimes he tries to solve are gripping thanks to the imagination of Maj and Per.

The Laughing Policeman - post III

The cases of both the current murder and the previous ones unravel with cars being the key to the later and the occupant of one of the seats near the dead policeman another. With those pieces of the jigsaw the pace quickens and the conclusion draws nearer.

Just like the other books written by this husband and wife team the touches of detail are the things that make it all so believable. Characters that are bit=part players get depth and those that are centre stage like Beck become deeper with his marriage and health both deteriorating again through this book.

The relationships between the police officers are also something that is just right and totally believable with the stress of the case forcing them at each other’s throats.

A review will follow soon…

The Laughing Policeman - post II

This is just like the first three books in the Martin Beck detective series but only better with a gripping plot and twists and turns that make you suspect that the wrong police colleague has been killed in the opening chapter and that the wrong sort of crime has been committed for much of the first half of the book.

It is only when the connection is made by Beck and colleagues with the work the dead policeman might have been engaged with, that things start to become slightly clearer and the pace increases. Linking the current bus murder with an unsolved murder from almost two decades earlier suddenly makes things a great deal more interesting and complicated.

Characters suddenly appear that like to do a lot of unusual laughing that also tips you the wink that things are heading in the right direction.

More tomorrow…

The Laughing Policeman - post I

If you are on holiday then one of the types of books that is going to appeal is a cracking thriller. This book, the fourth in nthe Martin Beck series of ten novels, gets going instantly and with a bus crashing full of dead bodies, including one of Beck's best friends you are gripped by page 20.

This is maybe not everyone's idea of a good poolside read but at least when you put it down your head is racing with questions and you know that it will be straight back into it even after a break of a day or two.

More to come...

book review - The Man on the Balcony

The first book in the ten title series of police procedural thrillers put together by husband and wife writing team Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo was something so different that it really stuck in the memory.

Sadly this book, the third in the series of ten books following the career of policeman Martin Beck, was not quite as good. Partly of course it is because the shock of the style has worn off. But there is a flaw with the story that it is quite hard to put to one side.

A series of child murders in parks coincide with park muggings. It becomes imperative to find the mugger and get him to share the information he knows, including a description of the killer. That part makes sense. It even makes sense to a degree when Beck interviews a three-year-old boy who met the killer before he dragged off one of his sister’s friends and murdered her.

But where the problems start is the leaps that Beck makes to tie together a phone call at the start of the story from a woman complaining about a man standing out on his balcony all day and night staring at children playing and the idea that he might be the killer. The descriptions are the same and that is enough for the policeman but then finding the balcony is like searching for a needle in a haystack.

The problems is that you know that they are going to find that needle because there are no other leads on the table. The other problem is that for some reason everyone in the police station where Beck works is ill or grumpy. It adds to the colour but a whole book of people being rude to each other does get a bit wearing.

What manages to save the book from utter disappointment is the pace that kicks in as they start to get close to solving the crime. Plus there is a twist at the end that makes it clear Beck is human and that chance rather than hunches and good police work can sometimes be the keys to solving a crime.

Although not as good as Roseanna I would read the fourth in the series and follow it through because even when things seem to be plodding and the plot might take an unreasonable turn the writing here is fantastic. What you notice is the mixture of different viewpoints with the moment when a hardened policeman has to tell a woman her daughter has died being handled so sensitively.

On to the next one and hoping for something better.

Version read – Harper perennial paperback

Lunchtime read: The Man on the Balcony

A chance encounter with the woman who reported the man on the balcony with a young police officer provides the location for Beck to focus on. Entering an empty flat the evidence is there that links the killer to the murders of the two girls.

Noe they have an identity they start a chase to catch him before he kills again. In the end Beck ironically catches the wrong man and it is left to two humorous traffic cops to prevent another killing and bring in the real killer.

Although there is pace there what doesn’t quite work is the leap between the seraching for a man in the park and the man on the balcony. Usually these books are accurate but with that moment it is pushing the suspension of disbelief slighty further than you would like.

The other problem is that throughout the book everyone is at each other’s throats and that starts to make it a rather depressing read because even with the killer caught there is little sign of relief.

A review will follow soon…

Lunchtime read: The Man on the Balcony

By following his intuition and questioning a three year old boy Martin Beck discovers that the man who killed the children used a tube to get their and as a result his location can be narrowed down.

The problem is that there are few witnesses but the one that they are working with from the mugger sticks in Beck’s brain. He keeps replaying the description and realises that it tallies word for word with one he overheard being made by a colleague when he talked to a woman about a man on the balcony.

Although it is going to be like a needle in a haystack, and several colleagues think it is a waste of time, Beck starts to focus the search on the man on the balcony before he can kill again.

Last chunk tomorrow…

Lunchtime read: The Man on the Balcony

With the discovery of a dead child the pace of the thriller picks up and the key to getting a break in the case is to disover the identity of the mugger who was operating in the park at the same time as the killer.

The police are at each other’s throats suffering from sleep deprivation, colds and general grumpiness. At points all they can see in each other are faults and because there are the dual investigations of the mugger and the child killer – who strikes again in another park murdering another 10 year old girl – Beck is not in overall control.

Where it does feel like it is getting back onto Beck dominated ground is when the policeman follows his instinct and interviews a three-year-old boy who unwittingly met the killer and was fobbed off with an underground ticket.

Added to that the mugger is caught as a result of his girlfriend dropping him in it and he did indeed see the killer. Those two developments mean the net is tightening but there are plenty of pages left to have a twist or two.