10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A utopia is a dystopia forced upon you by a madman., August 11, 2010
That quote, from Swedish science-fiction writer Sam Jerrie Lundwall, seems an appropriate frame of reference not only for "The Terrorists" but for all ten stories in the Inspector Martin Beck series. It struck me as I was reading this final book that the portrait that Sjowall and Wahloo has drawn is one of a society teetering on the edge of a fine line between Utopia and Dystopia.
Set in 1975, The Terrorists finds Inspector Martin Beck placed in charge of a Swedish inter-agency anti-terrorist group. Its purpose is to foil what the intelligences services have determined is an assassination attempt against a visiting U.S. Senator. Two other story-lines flesh out the novel: a wealthy pornographer has been murdered in his mistresses' apartment; and a young homeless, somewhat addled waif of a girl has been charged with bank robbery. Any additional detail would likely include spoilers so I'll just not for the record that the plot lines work admirably well together and kept me interested throughout.
In previous reviews of books in the Inspector Beck series I've noted that two things attracted me and kept me interested in the series: the well-drawn characters of Inspector Beck and his colleagues and the setting, Sweden from 1965 to 1975. The Terrorists is no exception on either count. However, in this case Sjowall and Wahloo's last look (Wahloo died shortly after the book was finished) at Swedish society was disturbing and moving.
Sweden in the 60s and 70s was in the midst of transforming itself into a social-democratic state based on the principles of egalitarianism and social welfare/justice for all. But, despite being committed socialists, Sjowall and Wahloo saw the dysfunction, social disruption and despair brought about by this transformation. Rather than a shining city on a hill they saw the same bleak dystopian landscape that Anthony Burgess saw in "A Clockwork Orange." According to Wahloo, their intention was to "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." To the extent that this was Sjowall and Wahloo's intent, The Terrorist is in my opinion their most successful story. The interplay between Beck and his partner Gunvald Larsson as they try to stop an assassination attempt puts them in contact with the `powers that be' and the flotsam and jetsam of Sweden's hoped-for utopia provides a stark reminder that the road to hell is often paved with good intentions. The fact that the book also works so well as a pure police procedural made this book a very satisfying one to read.
As I finished the book and the series I was content with the ending but more than a bit disappointed that I had actually finished the series. As with any good series that evolves over time, I'd recommend reading the books in order. Again, I very much enjoyed the entire Martin Beck series and found The Terrorist to be an excellent concluding volume. L. Fleisig
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Grand Finale of a great series, January 4, 2000
This review is from: The Terrorists (Paperback)
Although it has been several years since I read this book, it is the culmination of a great series that is part mystery, part social commentary and part satire. All of the Martin Beck mysteries are good and should be read in order beginning with Roseanne and ending with this book.
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11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Day of Jackal meets Letters from the Underworld, January 2, 2001
This review is from: The Terrorists (Paperback)
Well, Sjowall and Wahloo are trying to be Fredrick Forsyth and Fedor Dostoevsky at the same time here, and Forsyth part came out much better. There are three subplots to this book - the murder of porno director Walter Petrus, the political assasinations, and the story of young Stockholmer Rebecka Lind, loosely tying the former two together. The attempt on the life of American Senator is written out superbly, rivaling the Day of Jackal. The rest of the book is also readable, but by the end of the series Sjowall and Wahloo became quite didactic in their social commentaries, occasionally crossing into Pravda-like condemnation of the capitalist evils. Authors disenchantement with capitalism is evident in their other books also, but in Terrorists its influence is far less artful and a great measure less subtle. I still like the book but one could wish - can't he? - that this mesalliance between a crime novel and a morality play was moderated by the same literary taste the authors shown us before.
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