Customer Reviews

The Terrorists

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4 star:		(2)
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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

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.

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.

Sjöwall and Wahlöö called the Martin Beck series The Story of Crime. This book is the perfect climax to their ambitious fictional undertaking. It deals with terrorism at all levels.

On the personal level, we witness the murder of a filthy rich producer of porno films. He's been a kind of one-man terrorist against young girls, luring them into nasty roles in his movies. Sjöwall and Wahlöö clearly relish the irony of hunting down a murderer who, in fact, has done society a favor.

Then we meet a victim of state terrorism. A young mother named Rebecka finds life impossible in Sweden's welfare state and falls into terrible trouble.

On an international level, we follow the assassinations of high-profile political leaders by a seemingly unbeatable organization of highly trained killers. Beck reluctantly accepts the job of safeguarding a likely target of this terrorist group. A U.S. senator, a reactionary warmonger, is about to visit Sweden. Again we have the irony of protecting the undeserving against monsters equally terrible.

The diverse subplots are quite well orchestrated, offering the reader lots and lots of tense moments, as well as some high comedy.

I'm fascinated by the fact that, although Sjöwall and Wahlöö are Marxists, they've created Martin Beck - a humane, intelligent, complex individual with no visible political agenda.

To my mind Beck transcends ideologies - quietly and effectively doing his job - and especially transcends the Marxism of his authors. On the surface he's the ideal worker, yet he thinks for himself and sidesteps authority far too often to be a mere worker bee.

I suggest reading this series entire and in order, along with a friend, as I've been doing with my husband. We've really enjoyed discussing the character of Martin Beck and debating the worldview of Sjöwall and Wahlöö.

I read most of these _ although not this one _ about a decade after they were written 40 years ago. Reading this now, I haven't changed the view I had then _ the Sjowall/Wahloo series was among the best written detective series ever. Certainly, they were the inspiration for the current boom in Scandanivian crime fiction, but much more for, say, Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallender series than for the cartoonish (cinematic) works of Stieg Larsson and Jo Nesbo.

All the Sjowall/Wahloo books were snapshots of Swedish society in the 1960s and '70s but none as much as this one, filled with Dickensian characters and finishing as an indictment of a failed attempt at socialism _ they seem to prefer communism that really seems to be a more utopian version of socialism than the Soviet system.

But forget the politics. Take the snapshots of Sweden and simply take the superior mystery writing _ and you've got ten of the finest police procedurals ever written. Yes, there is a school that can be called Scandinavian mystery writing, but it's more typical _ and more graceful _ in these novels than in the Larsson version. An aside: I recent finished a British version of Nesbo's "The Leopard,'' (Norway rather than Sweden) and it was almost unreadable, including 50 pages alone on a himan-induced landslide that has endless pages of human suffering. I notice the soon-to-be released U.S. version is 75 pages shorter. It could be trimmed by another 75 pages and that wouldn't be enough. By contrast, the Sjowall/Wahloo books are tight, pithy and to the point.

Most of all, they're about people. Enjoy the Larsson/Nesbo action all you want. I do. But those are comic books. These are novels.

There are ten mystery novels written by this couple. Get one and then read it slowly. Pace yourself in between books but keep them near you. Fall into their embrace and spend time with your friends in the Investigation Team. Slow down toward the end and savor each one. Woe is the day you have finished them all because they are wonderful.

Brian Oldham

I hate reaching the end of a series of well written, entertaining novels. Aside from the merit of each novel, the series gives the reader a sense of the changing climate of social life in this part of the world as a homogenous population becomes increasingly diverse and the old way of doing things gives way to newer, but less reassuring, aspects of modern life. The old neighbors disappear and impersonal structures rise. The social system decays and pursuit of material goals becomes the prevailing norm. The police change from community servants to community antagonists. Throughout the series, Beck and his associates remain committed to the pursuit of justice with a human touch and personal charm that is endearing. Great series.

"The Terrorists" is the last book in the terrific Martin Beck series by the Swedish writing team of Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo. In his introduction to the book, American mystery writer Dennis Lehane makes the apt observation that the authors "write of modern violence with clarity so fluid it achieves a kind of musical grace." And the masterful writing here, which certainly goes way beyond the description of violence, really is intelligent and entertaining. There is a wonderful central plot that is preceded and enhanced by two sub-stories relating to the main event, but which also serve to establish the political and social context in which the latter unrolls.

In a nutshell, the book is about the hunt for a team of hired terrorists which has arrived in Stockholm to assassinate a prominent right-wing American politician (circa 1975); a man who invited himself to the Swedish welfare state to score some kind of political points at home by celebrating the old order i.e. the late king of Sweden. Martin Beck is chosen to head the police team that is to protect the visitor and eradicate the terrorist threat. At about the same time, Beck is drawn into two other "lesser" crimes that will eventually intersect with the threatened assassination. One involves the alleged attempt to rob a bank by a young woman carrying a baby and the second is the murder of a highly successful pornographic film maker. The authors ultimately make clear that in their view these two events are far more important to the country's welfare than the possible death of an important political figure.

As extraordinary as the book's plot is, it is the terrific cast of characters that Sjowall and Wahloo have created that sticks with you at the end of the book. The lead character of Martin Beck is solidly human and sympathetic, as are his colleagues and loved ones--Gunvald Larsson, Crasher Braxen, Rhea Nielsen and several others. The authors have made these players look even more perceptive, brave and virtuous as they are starkly contrasted with a team of bumbling, venal and wantonly corrupt characters that mostly represent the top of the Swedish government at the time, the amoral visiting terrorists and the worst of private businesspeople.

Much is made of the authors' Marxist leanings, but "The Terrorists" is (in my opinion) about much more than politics and the problems of the Swedish social welfare state of the 1970s. It is first and foremost an excellent crime thriller and secondarily a plausible critique of a flawed social system. Sjowall and Wahloo are very fine writers who blazed a wide trail for later authors like Henning Mankell and Stieg Larrsson. This is a highly enjoyable read. Recommended.

This is the last of the Martin Beck mystery series and for enthusiasts like me and my sons who have read them from the beginning in order this was a good and fitting finish to the series. The characters get a last round of development and by now have become rather endearing to the reader. The authors indulged more than ever before in their rabid antagonism to modern western 'capitalist' trends in society ... at times its so over the top as to be absurd, even if there is a grain of truth to be detected in much of what they say.

This is the last of the books in the famous Sjoewall-Waehloeoe series on Martin Beck and his colleagues policemen. Even if you do not share the political convictions of the authors (which is my case), it is hard to dislike their heroes. In the myriad of police stories from all the world this series will stand as the standard, which is very difficult to rival. One of it's unusual features is the fact that the authors planned ten volumes from the start, and never consider follow-ups. So, if you have not read the series, start now - and finish with "The terrorists" regretting the sad fact, that it is really the last volume!